The river must flow | The Indian Express

The river must flow | The Indian Express

Written by Bibek Debroy |Published: August 15, 2019 12:14:16 am

The writer is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM. Views are personal.

The river must flow

Ascribing legal rights to rivers helps counter pollution, may revive water bodies.

Rivers now have legal rights. In a way, it started with some rivers in Victoria. (File)

At the time of taking a bath, many people still recite a shloka. Without using diacritical marks, rendering a shloka in Roman is difficult. Nevertheless: “Gange cha Yamune chaiva Godavari Sarasvati Narmade Sindhu Kaveri jale asmin sannidhim kuru.” “O Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri! Please be present in this water.” Eric Newby’s Slowly Down the Ganges also quotes this, with the comment: “Prayer to the Seven Sacred Rivers recited by every devout Hindu at the time of taking his bath”