Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Farewell, Good Sir

  •  Civil Engineering from IIT Roorkee
  •  MS and PhD from University of California, Berkeley 
  •  HoD Civil and Environmental Engineering at IIT Kanpur 
  •  One of the founding members-cum-first secretary of 'Central Pollution Control Board of India' (CPCB) when it first came into being in 1979 
  •  Mentoring an entire generation of Indian environmentalists like Anil Agarwal and Dr Rajendra Singh also known as the 'Water man of India'


But is it these stellar academic and professional accolades alone that make Professor G.D Agarwal a true Hero?
NO! This only makes him a great scholar and academician.
 
What really makes him a real Hero in the true sense of the word is the fact that he chose a life of struggle when he could have very easily chosen a life of luxury, with such credentials under his belt.

A staunch Gandhian, Professor Agarwal was a life-long bachelor who cooked his own food and swept his own floor, all by himself right to the very end.
 
After having retired from IIT Kanpur, he finally joined a monastic order, became a Sanyasi, assuming the name of 'Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand' and dedicated his remaining years to the one cause that had been the closest to his heart throughout his life - the cleaning and rejuvenation of river Ganga.

And he did so in true Gandhian fashion ie through the route of 'Aamaran Anshans' or fast-unto-death.
His first such fast, undertaken in 2008, brought the issue of river pollution to the centre stage of the hydro-power production discourse. It led to the designation of the Ganga as India’s national river. His second fast in 2009 led to the formation of the 'National Ganga River Basin Authority'. The third one in 2010 forced the UPA government to cancel all the three new projects between Gangotri and Uttarkashi and the establishment of the 'Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone'.
In February 2018, after having waited for four full years, he wrote a series of letters to Prime Minister Modi requesting him to take some concrete action to stop further exploitation of Ganga.
But to no avail!

So, on June 22nd, he commenced on his fourth and final fast-unto-death for the cause of Clean Ganga.
On 11th October ie 111th day of his fast, he died under controversial circumstances at AIIMS Rishikesh.
It was only after his death that people in general, including myself, got to know of his valiant fight to save Ganga. A fight he undertook for the future of our children.

The general sense of apathy during his struggle and even after his passing away is another proof that we, as a society, have completely failed yet again and we don't deserve a genuine saint like Him.
What a shame!
 
It reminds me of these lines by the legendary Hindi poet, Baba Nagarjun..
बाल झबरे, दृष्टि पैनी, फटी लुंगी, नग्न तन
किंतु अंतरदीप्त था, आकाश-सा विस्तीर्ण मन
उसे मरने दिया हमने, मिट गया पागल पवन
अब भले ही याद में करते रहो सौ-सौ हवन


Nagarjun wrote these lines on a similar death due to neglect of one of his fellow legend of Hindi poetry, SuryaKant Tripathi 'Nirala'. But these lines ring equally true for Professor Agarwal.
We failed him while he was alive, fighting all alone. Let us not fail him in his death.




Let us all take a pledge to carry forward his fight for a Clean and Rejuvenated Ganga
That, and that alone can qualify as our true homage to his memory!