{"id":4017,"date":"2016-01-19T15:58:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T15:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=4014&preview_id=4014"},"modified":"2016-01-19T15:58:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T15:58:26","slug":"indian-government-criticised-after-scores-of-bodies-surface-in-ganges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=4017","title":{"rendered":"Indian government criticised after scores of bodies surface in Ganges | The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

India\u2019s special environmental court has criticised the government for its failure to curb river pollution, a lawyer petitioning the court has said, after scores of bodies surfaced in the Ganges river.<\/p>\n

Last week more than 80 bodies \u2013 mostly decomposed skeletons and half-burned corpses \u2013 surfaced in the river in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after a drop in water levels.<\/p>\n

Their emergence has reignited concerns among environmentalists over the uncontrolled practice of body disposal in the Ganges by Hindus, who consider the river to be sacred.<\/p>\n

On Monday the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a court set up to look at environmental grievances, ordered both the water resources and environment ministries to explain who should be held responsible for the pollution in the Ganges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court said that it was really very unfortunate that the pollution levels are increasing and told the central government to do something about it,\u201d said Gaurav Bansal, a lawyer representing a group of environmentalists petitioning the NGT. \u201cThe government has to reply by 27 January.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1,600 mile (2,500km) Ganges river, which originates in the Himalayas and spills out into the Bay of Bengal, is a means of livelihood for more than 400 million people, as well as being Hinduism\u2019s holiest river.<\/p>\n

Millions visit places along its banks, such as the sacred city of Varanasi, to cremate their dead and scatter their ashes in the river.<\/p>\n

Others bathe in the Ganges in an act of ritual purification, believing the river cleanses them of sin and frees them from the cycle of rebirth.<\/p>\n

Authorities say the corpses in the Ganges are the deceased from poor families who cannot afford to buy enough firewood for cremation and are forced to immerse the half-burned bodies of their loved ones in the river.<\/p>\n

Unmarried women and children are often buried in shallow graves along the riverbank, and their remains can be washed into the river when water levels rise.<\/p>\n

Bansal said at least 3,000 bodies were recovered from the Ganges annually, yet the government had remained a \u201cmute spectator\u201d to the health risks of cremations and burials along its banks.<\/p>\n

The Ganges is considered to be the country\u2019s most polluted river, tainted by industrial effluents, sewage and waste from human settlements built on its shores.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who represents a constituency in Varanasi, has pledged to clean up the river as part of a broader push to harness scarce water resources and improve public health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Indian government criticised after scores of bodies surface in Ganges | The Guarian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s special environmental court has criticised the government for its failure to curb river pollution, a lawyer petitioning the court has said, after scores of bodies surfaced in the Ganges river. Last week more than 80 bodies \u2013 mostly decomposed skeletons and half-burned corpses \u2013 surfaced in the river in the northern state of Uttar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1134],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}