The Varanasi Environment

“Walking ten thousand miles of the world is better than reading ten thousand scrolls” –Proverb (Chinese). Even though I had some previous academic knowledge about the Ganga Rive, everything that I observed was new to me. Taking a walk in Varanasi and looking around has made me witness many of the environmental issues in this city, whether its in the river or outside the river. The smell of culvert, the street animals, smoke and cow manure were some of the things I witnessed everyday. I saw regular civilians burning their personal garbage outside their homes. I asked my host mom Manju why is it that people do that and if there is a place where people can drop off their garbage. She told me that there is a place for the whole city but it’s a little further than where most people live so that discourages people from going all the way to the disposal area and because of that they just either throw their garbage in the river or burn it outside their homes. This also brought me to my second observation on the Ganga Ji river. Even though this river is the most sacred river to Hindus, it is also the most polluted river in the world because of all the human waste and industrial waste that is dumped on the river everyday. Geographically and economically this city is one of the oldest cities in the world and it has many rural areas. There aren’t as many garbage cans as there should be and there are no garbage trucks that come around the neighborhoods to collect garbage which is one of the main reasons why people throw their trash everywhere even in the river because of the lack of resources. The only reasonable place to throw garbage is not in a convenient location for the majority and that is a disadvantage in their case and it makes it harder for them to take care of the environment. My host mother was also giving me an insight about the different types of projects going on to save the river but she didn’t have much hope in It because of all the governmental corruption in the country. She said that “the government is very corrupt in India and they have a lot of money that is suppose to go into the river but it it never goes to the river; they either pocket it or give it to their relatives. The system is very corrupt and in order to have the river fixed we must have a better government” – Manju.  Because this is such a holly river for Hindus, even if its polluted and dirty I was still seeing people swim in the river and fish from the river. This river was also like a hangout spot for people and many people come there with their families to drink tea as well as listen to the rituals that happen daily at the river. I am hopeful for future projects to clean this river and keep it healthy because its such a beautiful river that has the love and respect of billions of Hindus.


​By: Rowaida Mohammed 
University of Washington Bothell
Educational Studies, '18
Study Abroad: Varanasi, India 

​Photo of Ganga Ji river by Niko Serpanos

Photo of Ganga Ji river by Niko Serpanos