New Delhi, April 30
Discovering the Yamuna from ‘beginning an end’ is a study about a
river which is owing to human neglect and abuse ‘beginning to end’.
Starting May 23, the effort that aims to save the Yamuna from further
devastation and degradation is being undertaken by ‘We for Yamuna’, an
initiative of Swechha-We for Change Foundation and Development Alliance
Private Limited.
“The programme is a yatra which we are undertaking
along with the children of Shriram School. We are going to trace the
journey of the river from where it begins and along the way we will
study its journey from purity to profanity”, says Vimlendu Jha of We for
Yamuna.
The desire to work for the Yamuna and with the youth led Jha to
start the organisation in 2000 after he finished college. And ever since
with his troupe of volunteers Jha has been relying on street plays and
awareness campaigns to get “people to identify themselves with the
Yamuna”.
“As much as 70 per cent of the people in Delhi get drinking
water from the Yamuna and 70 per cent of our body is water. Which means
70 per cent of us is Yamuna. It is this connection that we are trying to
make between people and the Yamuna”, says Jha.
Concerned about the
state of neglect of the Yamuna, which is “ on its deathbed today,
primarily because of pollution emanating from industrial waste and the
callousness of the human populace”, Jha has roped in school and college
children to do their bit for the river, “which has a historical and
sociological significance”.
An alumnus of St Stephens, Jha’s homework
on the river has been meticulously done. He offers, “Over 3,000 million
litres of wastewater flows into the Yamuna and only five per cent of
this is treated. Sewage too flows in untreated”.
With no money in his
pocket, Jha maintains that “money is not the consideration”. He says,
“We have over the last four years spent about Rs. 80,000 where as others
who have undertaken projects to clean the Yamuna have spent
crores”.
For him it is “creating awareness”, which is of paramount
importance. “We have to understand where we are going. Attitudes need to
change. Through this yatra we want trace the degradation of the river by
the modern temples, the industries, the traditional temples and the
people. And it is incorrect to say that people who live on the banks of
the river are polluting it. We, we who live kilometres away from it, are
polluting it as much”.
We for Yamuna has been reaching out to people
through shramdaans, clearing debris and pollutants. The NGO has also
been conducting environment workshops in schools and colleges. “We do
not want environment education to be limited to just plain text books”,
says Jha.
Explaining the course of the 14-day yatra, which begins in
Yamnotri, Jha says it will travel to places sacred to different
religions, thereby aiming to tell the story of a river, which “connects
so many religions, so many societies and so many cultures”.
The yatra
will travel to Paonta Sahib, revered by the Sikhs, Vrindavan, and
Mathura, places of reverence for Hindus and also Buddhists, and finally
to Agra.
Apart from schools students the yatra will also include film
makers, environmentalists and development professionals. “On the yatra
they will be determining the content and filming of the events and
experiences with guidance and help from highly experienced filmmakers.
The resulting programme will be a documentary on the Yamuna, based on
the group’s experience and the perceived understanding of the river. The
students will be educationally guided by environmentalists supported by
a team of experienced professionals of various disciplines, drawing and
painting, film and animation techniques, stills photography, social
science, ecology and environment and residents at the locations to be
visited”, adds Jha.
