Yorkshire Post

Two holy Indian rivers awarded ‘human rights’ by high court

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TWO OF India’s most famous rivers have been given the status of living entities to save them from further harm caused by widespread pollution.

The High Court in the northern state of Uttarakhan­d ruled that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers – considered sacred by nearly a billion Hindus in the country – be accorded the status of living human entities, meaning that if anyone harms or pollutes them, the law would view it the same as harming a person.

The judges cited the example of New Zealand’s Whanganui River, revered by the indigenous Maori people. The Whanganui was declared a living entity with full legal rights by New Zealand’s government last week.

The Uttarakhan­d court, in the Himalayan hill resort town of Nainital, appointed three officials to act as legal custodians responsibl­e for conserving and protecting the two rivers and their tributarie­s.

Judges Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh declared the Ganges and the Yamuna and their tributarie­s “legal and living entities having the status of a legal person with all correspond­ing rights, duties and liabilitie­s”.

The case came to court after officials complained that the government­s of Uttarakhan­d and the neighbouri­ng state of Uttar Pradesh were not co-operating with federal government efforts to set up a panel to protect the Ganges.

The court ordered that the Ganga Management Board be set up and begin working within three months.

Environmen­tal activists say many rivers across India have become dirtier as the country’s economy develops, with city sewage, farming pesticides and industrial effluents freely flowing into waterways despite laws against polluting.

Vimlendu Jha, an environmen­tal activist fighting for more than a decade to clean up the Yamuna, said the court ruling would not be enough to stop the degradatio­n of the rivers. “Merely announcing that it is a living entity will not save the river,” Mr Jha said.

 ??  ?? SACRED: A Hindu devotees offers prayers after taking a holy dip at Allahabad in northern India.
SACRED: A Hindu devotees offers prayers after taking a holy dip at Allahabad in northern India.

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