HUMANIZING THE GANGA & YAMUNA: A BOON OR BANE?

Abstract

Soon after river Whanganui of New Zealand was given the status of a living entity, India also had its share in the feat when the Uttarakhand High Court on 20th March, 2017 declared that the rivers Ganga and Yamuna be given the status of a legal entity. The primary objective of this paper is to critically examine the decision from various angles and contend that albeit being seemingly environmental-friendly, it needs to answer a plethora of difficult issues that would arise from its implementation, both procedurally and substantively. The author apart from raising legal and beyond-legal approaches, also emphasizes on the key contradictions between growth-led development and that of ecological sustainability from a human‟s perspective and contends that they need to be resolved or else the HC decision will be rendered meaningless. Few of the issues would involve the Ganga‟s transboundary nature, the consequent impossibility to interlink it to other rivers and the effect of conferring legal personality rights on a river. Lastly, the author contends that one needs to view the decision as an opportunity for man to revisit his relationship with nature and press for a deeper dialogue and, if necessary, legislation by the Centre.