The father of the Theory of Evolution, Carles Darwin says humans originated in water. The Hindu belief is that Matsya Avatara (fish in water) is the first incarnation of God, Vishnu. Lord Krishna ended his incarnation in water.
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Mark Sholekov’s ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’ and Mark Twain’s ‘Life on the Mississippi’ are classics. Indians worship rivers. Many women are named after great rivers — Yamuna, Ganga, Sararswati, Bhagrati or Caveri,.to name some.
Linking rivers is said to be the dream of India. A great engineer Dr K L Rao is called the architect of the Ganga-Cauveri link plan though the river necklace plan of C. Doctor & Co. was older, Dr Rao is credited with the idea. It would stop several lakh crores of rupees damage every year. For the corrupt politicians of Bihar annual floods are a boon to make money and also “play dirty politics” at the cost of hundreds of lives. ‘Everybody Loves a Good ‘ Drought’ by P. Sainath. V.V. Giri’s grandson, its the Bible of India’s responsible journalism.
Just because water is almost free, no one cares about saving it. We have reached a stage when hundreds of villages in India do not have safe water supply. No wonder the UNO has declared March 21 World Water Day’.
Even today rural women walk miles to fetch water. Water conservation has to become a part of our mindset, our culture. Millions of litres of water can be saved if water conservation is a national mission. All leaking tanks and pipes should be immediately fixed. Even drinking water should be taken only as much as required and not left to be just thrown away. Water pollution is a world issue, not just Bengaluru’s Bellandur lake with its foam and flamess.
Rainwater harvesting is said to be compulsory for all flats, but strict checks and denial of occupancy certificates on that ground are rare. When power shortage was common it was said replacing all old fan regulators in the country with new electronic ones will save as much as starting a new power plant. Similar steps to save water are needed.
All drops added will make an ocean.
