International Rivers Day 2021: This year we are celebrating ‘Rights of Rivers.
International Day of Action for Rivers is observed every year on March 14. This year, it is the 24th edition of the International Day of Action for Rivers. It is a day dedicated to save, celebrate and make people around us aware about our life-giving source of water. Solidarity is important and people must be committed to river management, across borders, if rivers have to be protected and used for economic purposes. Communities dependent on the rivers for their livelihood, globally, must come together to tell decision makers that rivers matter.
Theme of International Day of Action for Rivers 2021
Just as people have their right to freedom, rivers too should have rights. International Day of Action for Rivers 2021 celebrates the ‘Rights of Rivers’. For years, eco-warriors have demanded that rivers be declared a “national asset” and given legal rights. Many rivers around the world, especially in backward countries, have been reduced to sewage canals or choked with toxic industrial pollutants. Often there are encroachments on the flood-plains, which have also become dumping sites. Therefore it’s high time that we unite for the ‘Rights of Rivers’.
International Rivers day 2021: River pollution in India (file photo of Ganga)
History of International Day of Action for Rivers 2021
“The International Day of Action Against Dams and For Rivers, Water and Life was adopted by the participants of the first International Meeting of People Affected by Dams in March 1997 in Curitiba, Brazil,” according to the internationalrivers.org. River experts from 20 countries decided that March 14 will be the ‘Day of Action for Rivers’. The aim of the participants was to unite against the destruction of rivers, other water bodies and the ecologically fragile watershed areas.
International Rivers day 2021: PM Modi offered prayers and performed aarthi by river Ganga (2019)
India and the International Day of Action for Rivers
India is a unique country where rivers are revered but unfortunately pollution is a huge problem. Rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Godavari, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and Cauvery are worshipped as gods and goddesses. The Jal Shakti Ministry, created in the recent past, focuses on the revival and conservation of wetlands in the river basins and tackling the alarming levels of river pollution. The country’s pollution watchdog, the National Green Tribunal, earlier had asked the Jal Shakti ministry to plan an appropriate mechanism for cleaning up the polluted river stretches in the country.
International Day of Action for Rivers: What you can do
If we love our country and its people, we have to care for our rivers. At a local level, we can plan awareness campaigns in the neighbourhood or host online events and talk about the importance of rivers in our lives on International Day of Action for Rivers. We can also share with children the wonderful mythological stories around the great Indian rivers.