Krishna Consciousness & Ecological Awareness

By Govind Singh, Eco-Worldly website

It took a radical fast-unto-death decision by a professor, playing the religion-political card and much activism, that the Government of India has now accepted the fact – otherwise as crystal clear as should have been the water of the Ganges – that the holiest of holy River Ganga is polluted, the Ganga Action Plan has failed and that constructing dams upstream of the river is only making matters worse.

Earlier this year, pained by the unrelenting destruction of the Ganga river, Dr G. D. Agrawal, India’s pre-eminent scientist and a legendary Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at IIT-Kanpur went on a fast-unto-death to oppose the river’s continuing desecration.

His campaign was taken up by leader of the opposition party who called for stopping all dam constructions upstream of the river and the Government of India (GoI) was quick to commit itself to ensuring perennial environmental flows throughout the river while also informing Dr. Agarwal the same. Now, the GoI has gone a step ahead and declared Ganga a National River. (more…)

By Reenita Malhotra, Eco-Worldly website

The mango is so widely available in India, that the fruit itself is named Aam which translates from Sanskrit as ‘common.’ Even though the Indian subcontinent is home to more than a thousand varieties of mango, most Indians identify the fruit with the Alphonso variety. Popularly regarded as the reigning king among Indian mangoes, the Alphonso has a unique flavor – sweet and sumptuous with an aromatic citrus overtone. Cultivated primarily in the state of Maharashtra, along the verdant shores of Konkan coast, the Alphonso mango fruit fills the narrow lanes of Crawford Market in Mumbai every year from March to May. (more…)