To Keep Civilization And Culture Prosperous, Rivers Will Have To Be Given Human Status: Waterman Of India Rajendra Singh

If we talk about the relation of Uzbekistan with Himalayas, then the name of the mountain range connected to the foothills of Himalayas is Karakoram. There are small mountain ranges which we can call the children of Himalayas, so the small rivers which emerge from these mountain ranges, once upon a time due to very good rains, the water impact of the rivers here was very high, so these looked like big rivers and very good water, but as it always happens that when there is power and money, then the perspective of seeing and understanding nature breaks.

The way both Amudariya and Surdariya rivers were exploited during the period of USSR and the flow of the river was diverted by encroaching on their land and then all that water was exploited in industries for drinking water for cities and for cotton farming, today this is not only the story of Uzbekistan. This is the story of the whole of Central Asia and the world. It is the story of rivers.

India considered the rivers as Narayan. As long as it treated the rivers like Narayan and like a mother, the rivers of India always flowed as pure, uninterrupted and clean. During the British rule, the condition of the rivers of India was the same as that of the SurDariya, Amu Dariya and Aral Sea. At present, our greed in the name of development is taking us towards destruction. It has made us greedy and only looking for profit.

Today, everyone’s positive attitude has vanished. In Uzbekistan, there was no positive attitude. Wherever there was positive attitude, it also does not exist in the 21st century and where this attitude was not there, there is no thought about the rivers. Without thinking, man has considered the rivers as an object of his enjoyment and has made it a goods train carrying fairs. And somewhere, considering it an object of their enjoyment, they diverted it and took it to a place where they could enjoy its water, as the Russian government has done in Uzbekistan by taking the water of Amu Darya thousands of kilometers away. This view about rivers is not being followed with respect in Central Asia, that is why most of the treaties that have been made in Asia are failures, no country is accepting them. The current government says that the previous government had taken this decision without understanding it, that is why we do not accept it, so at this time a big injustice is being done to the rivers, if this injustice has to be stopped.

If the injustice being done to the rivers is to be stopped, then now give human rights to the rivers. The river has the right to its own land.

The river has its own right to flow, there should be environmental flow, dirty drains should not mix in the rivers, maintaining the flow of pure water, these are the basic fundamental rights of the rivers, human greed has destroyed them. We will have to make arrangements for the fundamental rights of rivers in such regional conferences by giving them human status. It is necessary to give them human status. It is not only New Zealand’s river that has been given human status so far. All the rivers of the world should be given human status because rivers have been the originators of all the civilizations of the world. Rivers are the originators of civilizations.

If you do not treat them with human status, their condition will keep deteriorating. Therefore, just like there are human rights, there are river rights too. So we should ensure river rights, then treaties should be made for rivers and in that situation, river rights should be given first and then arrangements for human use should be made, then there will be sensitivity in the agreements that are made.

All governments will not give priority to national boundaries, rather they will find their good and their interest in getting the flow of the river to the environmental flow and the impact of the rivers on the environment.

Today, the vision of all the ministers present in this forum of Samarkand Climate Forum is to obtain as much water as possible by considering water as a commodity of trade. If there is no vision of the rights of the river, then if this vision remains, then tribunals will be formed to resolve many disputes and by the time a decision is made at the terminal, the situation there will change and the decision taken by the tribunal will not be effective. Therefore, we will now have to give priority to the flow of rivers and the right to life of rivers at regional forums like Samarkand. If we give priority to the rights of the river, then the rivers will flow as pure and eternal water and then our civilizations and culture will keep reviving. Otherwise, the trend of water trade has increased today and in this trend, encroachment, pollution and exploitation of rivers is becoming a habit. This nature of rivers is the killer of rivers. If we want to revive the rivers, then in Samarkand Climate Change Forum, we all should come together and ensure the rights of rivers to soil and air. Climate forums like Samarkand should be formed at the regional level all over the world. Like this forum of Central Asia.

Such forums should be formed all over the world. If we give life to rivers by ensuring their environmental flow, then our civilization and our culture will have the culture of living happily with peace, prosperity and solutions. Just for the culture of happiness in peace, let us all unite and take a decision together in Samarkand Climate Forum. This work is adaptation and eradication. If we do it together, we will get good change and results.