On the 6th June, Pujya Swamiji met with Honourable Sushil Kumar Shindeji, Union Home Minister. Pujya Swamiji spoke to about the urgent need to protect and restore Mother Ganga for the security of our nation, our home. He explained that if a bombing happens in our country than news channels and newspapers cover it for weeks, and rightly so. But the countless deaths due to waterborne illness from toxic chemical and effluents in our food and drinking water is going largely unnoticed.
The pollution abatement and restoration of these sacred water bodies was not merely a cultural and religious issue but one that, Pujya Swamiji explained, jeopardizes the economic and environmental security of the nation. With so much money being fueled every year into health-care to treat these preventable ailments the nation is facing a national security threat from within.
He explained that we often focus on outside terrorist groups and organizations as threats to the nation security, waging wars with countries for the sake of getting rid of terrorism. However, the next big war we would face would be one for clean water. The grave imbalance and mismanagement that we are facing with water has already put states within our nation in disputes with each other it would not be long til neighbors and countrymen would have to fight each other to have access to clean drinking water. He explained that the culprit for this dire situation is not an outside terrorist group or organization but the very citizens of this nation.
Polluting our water ways with waste-water, toxic effluents and solid waste is our own doing and that also, fortunately, means that we can do something about it before it is really too late. He explained that Ganga Action Parivar is working tirelessly in this direction, bringing various stakeholders together to spread and restore a clean and green Ganga. Respected Shindeji welcomed Pujya Swamiji’s and GAP’s efforts in bridging the gap formed by previous actions and invited His suggestions and innovative solutions of what could be done together to the pave the way for a truly secure and stronger nation. Pujya Swamiji also presented His biography, By God’s Grace, beautifully written by Pujya Sadhvi Bhagawatiji and Amazon’s #1 bestseller, to Shri Shindeji as a divine example of what happens if one becomes a tool of God’s Grace, selflessly dedicated to the welfare of humanity and the nation. He also applauded the important role and dedicated services of the Honourable Minister in protecting the sacred land of India and his pledge to join in the efforts to protect the heritage, identity and lifeline of India-Mother Ganga.
Pujya Swamiji and Dr. BD Tripathi, expert member of NGRBA met with Honourable Minister of Water Resources to discuss ways in which they can work together to address the challenges facing water management in the Ganga River Basin and restoration of the River Yamuna.
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