The ascendency of India as an economic world power

India has one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world. India was always a prosperous land that attracted foreign invaders for its wealth. One of the reasons India was so prosperous was the fact that India has many rivers. Indians respect their rivers and Ganges is the most sacred river to millions of Indians. Well, it seems that Indians only respect their rivers not care for them. According to a report of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Ganges is under serious threat.

The Hindu reported:

The report lists the top 10 rivers, including two in the Subcontinent — the Ganga and the Indus — that are severely impacted by over-extraction and climate change respectively and are fast dying. According to the report, the Ganga is facing a serious threat owing to increased water withdrawals.

"In India, barrages control all the tributaries to the Ganga and divert roughly 60 per cent of the flow to large-scale irrigation. Over-extraction for agriculture in the Ganga has caused reduction in surface water resources, increased dependence on groundwater, loss of water-based livelihoods and destruction of habitat of 109 fish species and other aquatic and amphibian fauna,'' says the report.

Unless Indian government comes out with some drastic measures to save the Ganges, there will be no future for the river. May be, Indian officials should think of charge tax to the users of the Ganges.