Cleaning the Ganges River

Location

CSU 203

Start Date

16-4-2013 9:00 AM

End Date

16-4-2013 10:00 AM

Student's Major

English

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Mary Susan Johnston

Mentor's Department

English

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

Last semester I took a course on Indian American women writers. In order to understand many of the stories properly, I had to “think like a Hindu.” I choose to do a project at the end of the semester about the Ganges River, which flows across northern India. Hindus believe that the Ganges is a goddess who is revered for her cleansing powers. Unfortunately, the Ganges is also an ailing river that is seriously threatened by a multitude of pollutants and the increasing global temperature. Most of the 400 million people who live along the Ganges River and whose livelihood depends on the Ganges are Hindu. While researching my project about the perils of the river, it became impossible to ignore the conflict between environmental issues and religion. I read articles and books to research the different influences affecting the river, particularly matters that were cited in the 1980 Ganga Action Plan. The Ganga Action Plan established the National Ganga River Basin Authority to address the hazards. I concluded that the efforts of the Ganga Action Plan did not meet expectations and the lack of religious consideration given to the project contributed to its failure.

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Apr 16th, 9:00 AM Apr 16th, 10:00 AM

Cleaning the Ganges River

CSU 203

Last semester I took a course on Indian American women writers. In order to understand many of the stories properly, I had to “think like a Hindu.” I choose to do a project at the end of the semester about the Ganges River, which flows across northern India. Hindus believe that the Ganges is a goddess who is revered for her cleansing powers. Unfortunately, the Ganges is also an ailing river that is seriously threatened by a multitude of pollutants and the increasing global temperature. Most of the 400 million people who live along the Ganges River and whose livelihood depends on the Ganges are Hindu. While researching my project about the perils of the river, it became impossible to ignore the conflict between environmental issues and religion. I read articles and books to research the different influences affecting the river, particularly matters that were cited in the 1980 Ganga Action Plan. The Ganga Action Plan established the National Ganga River Basin Authority to address the hazards. I concluded that the efforts of the Ganga Action Plan did not meet expectations and the lack of religious consideration given to the project contributed to its failure.

Recommended Citation

Bluth, Caroline. "Cleaning the Ganges River." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 16, 2013.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2013/oral-session-02/3