The Ganges is the largest river in South Asia and one of the largest runoff rivers in the world, and its name is thunderous in many parts of the world, but not because of its huge water volume or developed shipping.
The Ganges is famous because it is of great importance in traditional Indian culture, and because the Ganges is so polluted that no major river in the world has a comparable level of pollution.
Originating in the Himalayas, the Ganges covers almost the entire northern part of South Asia, not only northern India, but also parts of Nepal and Pakistan, which after impacting a huge fertile plain, the Ganges formed a large delta plain in Bangladesh and then split into numerous tributaries rushing into the Bay of Bengal.
Because of pollution, the waters of the Ganges often have a lot of foam
The basin area of the Ganges River accounts for about a quarter of India, although this river is not unique to India, even the main source and estuary are not in India, but India is extremely important to the Ganges, the Ganges is extremely important to India, when crossing the Khyber Pass to eliminate the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley Aryans, into South Asia after the continuous migration to the east, and finally established a new ancient Indian civilization in the Ganges Plain.
From the Peacock Empire in the third century BC to the later Mughal Empire, the main essence of the Ganges River is basically located in the Ganges River basin, and the Ganges River is revered by Indians as the "Holy River" and "Mother of India".
In India, Buddhism calls the Ganges the "blessed water", while Hinduism calls it the "holy river", in Hindu legend, the water of the Ganges rushes from the snowy mountains, in order to prevent the flood from causing disaster, the great god Shiva spread his hair to let the flood flow, which also gave rise to the Ganges, Hindus worship the Ganges as a god, drink the water of the Ganges, bathe in the Ganges section of Varanasi, is the greatest desire of Hindus in life.
The Ganges is the most important river in South Asia
But it is such an important river, but now it is polluted beyond recognition, the United Nations has rated the world's ten most polluted rivers, the Ganges Bears the brunt, and among these ten rivers, the Ganges Has the largest runoff and the largest basin area, and the other rivers cannot be compared together.
In Varanasi, the E. coli content in the local Ganges section exceeds the normal value of more than two hundred times, and the E. coli in each hundred milliliters of Ganges water is at least more than 100,000 units, and its pollution level has exceeded the normal natural water pollution value set by the United Nations by 650 to 800 times, so strong pollution that many sections of the Ganges Are completely extinct.
Indians like to bathe and wash in the Ganges, there was a Japanese tourist who arrived in Varanasi to experience the local culture, washed his hands in the Ganges, and as a result, he had diarrhea after going back, and after returning home, he was seriously ill, and this situation is applicable to almost all foreigners, do not compare with Indians, they have been trained.
The banks of the Ganges in Varanasi
Generally speaking, natural water bodies have a relatively strong self-purification ability as long as they are not closed, especially for rivers as large as the Ganges, not to mention, the reason why the Ganges is polluted like this is because it unfortunately appears in India.
First, the Ganges basin is really overwhelmed
Although the area of the Ganges River basin can not be compared with the Yangtze River Basin, the Yellow River Basin, but the population density here is very amazing, the current Ganges River Basin living population of at least 800 million, in addition to India, the population of about 200 million Bangladesh, but also almost completely dependent on the Ganges River to live, the Ganges River is also very important to Pakistan, no river in the world needs to feed the population, can be compared with the Ganges.
Such a huge population, industrial and agricultural water, industry and agriculture and all kinds of pollution generated by life must all be discharged into the Ganges, although the Ganges has a strong ability to purify itself, but it is really too late.
Hindus bathe in the Ganges early in the morning
Second, Indians are too polluting
Usually, the main pollution of a river is nothing more than all kinds of industrial pollution and urban domestic sewage, other aspects of pollution is actually not so much, but India's Ganges River is different, in addition to a staggering amount of industrial pollution and domestic sewage, there are many incredible sources of pollution.
Because of the culture, Hindus not only like to bathe and wash in the Ganges, but also popular to throw their bodies into the Ganges after leaving this world, on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, incineration points can be seen everywhere, many of which are not burned into ashes and thrown directly into the river, in addition to a large number of tribute offerings, as well as Hindu sacred beasts and sacred cattle, sometimes floating around in the Ganges, which is a scene that is almost impossible to see in other countries.
Over the years, India's economic development is also by leaps and bounds, because the innate conditions are very good, India has long become one of the world's fastest growing major economies, after the economic development, normal countries think about how to manage the environment, so as to improve their living standards, but India's Ganges, pollution is not only not improving, but increasingly serious, and India does not seem to spend any effort to govern.
Indians who worship God in the middle of the Ganges
Naturally, this looks strange, but in fact this phenomenon is "very Indian".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > First, India does not have the financial resources to govern the Ganges</h1>
India is indeed one of the world's major economies at present, and its total economic volume even exceeds that of the United Kingdom, but India has a population of more than 1.3 billion after all, India's per capita GDP is not enough to be a fraction of the British, and even less than Vietnam, and the added value of the huge Indian manufacturing industry is not yet half of the level of South Korea.
In fact, India is very short of money, in recent years India has been buying arms everywhere to look very angry, in fact, it is all foreign debt, and what is more embarrassing is that India has swollen its face and become fat in arms procurement, but in its own infrastructure and other fields, it has not been able to come up with money.
India, with a large geographical area and a large population, has less than three hundred reservoirs, power outages are also common in India, look at the plug-ins on Indian trains to know how many years its transportation industry has stagnated for many years, and India, which is stretched in terms of financial resources, of course, has little money to use to control the Ganges.
A bubble in the Ganges
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="54" > Second, the ganges is not only costly but also costly</h1>
Everyone knows that environmental governance in many cases is a temporary loss, only the return on investment is difficult to see, when the river is comprehensively treated, it means that a large number of factories along the coast need to be rectified, the amount of sewage is sharply reduced, and naturally means that a lot of industrial production is difficult to continue, and the economic losses brought about by this are visible to the naked eye.
After all, India is still a not very developed country, especially the industry is a short board, India's economy, a variety of small workshops and small factories occupy a huge proportion, once the Ganges River governance, these polluting small enterprises shut down, the overall impact on the Indian economy is also very obvious, and the closure of factories and enterprises, will also bring unemployment and other issues, involving the whole body, India is difficult to bear the consequences of doing so.
Almost all of the major cities in northern India are on the Banks of the Ganges
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > Finally, there are too many Hindus in India</h1>
India is the country with the largest number of Hindus in the world, more than three-quarters of Indians believe in Hinduism, and those who like to bathe and wash in the Ganges and throw themselves into the Ganges after death are almost all Hindus, if India wants to govern the Ganges, these people must not be ignored, must be dealt with.
In the Indian Parliament, the proportion of Hindu priests, that is, brahmin castes, is very high, and the existence of these people often affects many national policies in India, and the Ganges is the holy river of Hinduism, and if it needs to be governed, it will inevitably hinder the activities that Hindus think are normal, and it will inevitably lead to conflict.
The level of pollution of the Ganges is too high, even if you want to treat, you can not see the effect overnight, if it is a short time, it is better to say, once the time is long, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction, not to mention, many Indians do not care about the Ganges pollution, after all, today's Ganges are dirty like this, to bathe or even gargle people are still everywhere.
Ganges bathing crowds
"Drink this cup of The Ganges and be an Indian again in the next life!" Many people laughed at this sentence, but in fact, the former Ganges was indeed a magical river, according to the British records, in the British Indian period, when the British traveled from Delhi to Calcutta, they would prepare a lot of Ganges water on the boat as daily drinking water, and in the Mughal Empire, since the reign of Akbar the Great, the water of the Ganges was the special water in the court.
Because the Ganges water has a very magical ability, that is, self-purification, this is not a legend, modern scientific research has found that the Ganges contains a large number of radioactive elements bismuth 214 and bacteriophages, plus it itself is located in the tropics with huge precipitation, the river runoff is very rich, and its purification ability is therefore far stronger than ordinary rivers.
But even if the Ganges is magical, it can't help the Indians from being so polluted, and the current Ganges can only be described by not being able to look directly, and whether the Ganges can return to its original appearance in the future depends on when Indians can recognize the reality.
The Polluted Ganges