What is Ganesh Chaturthi ?
Ganesh chaturthi also known as Vinayaka
chaturthi is celebrated across India every year to mark the birth of Lord
Ganesha. This is a ten day celebration celebrated in the month of Bhadra
usually comes in the month of August/September, this year Ganesh chaturthi
celebration starts from August 22 and
ends on September 02 2020. Lord Ganesha also addressed as Vinayaka, Ganapathi,
Ganesh having 100plus names is worshiped all across India and is considered to
be the symbol of power, wisdom, courage, to remove obstacles and bringing good
fortune. This festival is celebrated publically with huge crowd and with great
competition. Everyone focuses to display huge and impressive Ganesh idols, huge
decors and loud music resonating all across streets. Huge clay model or ganesh
is made with great lovely competitive spirit and after the 10 days of Ganesh
Chaturthi, the idols used in the festival are sent off with a “visarjan,” or
immersion in a body of water.
History Behind Ganesh Chaturthi
According to history, Goddess Parvati created
Ganesha out of dirt off her body while having a bath and set him to guard her
door, Lord Shiva who has gone out restored at the same time but lord ganesha
who gave a word to parvathi stopped him, Lord Shiva got exasperated and severed
the head of Ganesha after a combat between the two. Parvathy was overwhelmed
and heartbroken. This is when Lord Shiva promised that he would bring baby
Ganesha back to life. The devas who went in search of a head
facing north of a dead person could manage to find only the head of an
elephant. Shiva fixed the elephant's head on the child and brought him back to
life. This is believe to be the reason behind the celebration of Ganesh
Chaturthi.
Environmental Pollution Caused By Ganesh Chaturthi- Ganesh Visarjan
Bright painted huge and those beautiful
Ganesh idols are usually made with with Plaster of Paris (PoP) and those bright
paints are chemical paints. In addition to these cements, plastics, thermocole
and other non-biodegradable or harmful substances are used to make these Ganesh
Idols. As you know as per the celebration of Ganesh Charurthi these idols are
immersed in water known as Ganesh Visarjan. Plaster of Paris(POP) is not a
naturally occurring substance and its is calcium sulfate hemi hydrate (CaSO4, ½
H2O), POP contains contains gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium. The
Ganesh idols made using these POP takes months even years to completely
dissolve in water. Due to this it reduces the oxygen level in water and making
it difficult for aquatic life to survive. In addition to these the use of
cements, plastics and thermocole like materials will never get dissolved in
water thus leading to cut the oxygen from water and the intakes of these
materials by any aquatic life will kill fishes and other aquatic life. These chemicals even poisons the aquatic body
and making the situation worse and which leads to severe water pollution which
will take years to replenish, but since this festival is celebrated every year
the amount of pollution gets increased year by year.
The colorful paints used on these Ganesh
idols contains harmful chemicals like mercury, lead, cadmium and carbon, which
changes the pH of the water making it more acidic, which will eventually kills
the life in these water bodies. Careless immersion or Visarjan or these Ganesh
idols will also blocks the natural flow of river leading to huge environmental
impact and these static water bodies will results in stagnation and breeding of
mosquitoes and other harmful insects which will spread harmful or deadly
diseases like Dengue, Malaria etc. The chemicals from these idols will also
cause direct effects on humans like skin diseases, allergic and some of these
chemicals are carcinogen leading to cancer. In some places these waters are
also used in domestic use and even pumped to houses.
Widespread campaigns are happening all over
India from years against the use of these non biodegradable and harmful
substances to create Ganesh idols. Fews weeks back we all discussed about
environment protection and its impact by EIA and EIA draft 2020, if you are unaware about EIA and its impact check out EIA and Environmental impact. We still
believe that its late but not too late, change yourself, change the way of
celebrations and use eco friendly materials to protect our environment.
Ways To Celebrate Eco-friendly Ganesh Chaturthi
As we said now it’s not too late still we
have some chances to protect our mother earth and aquatic life. There should be
a perfect balance between our celebrations and environment. There are lots of
steps which we can take to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in a eco-friendly manner
and reduce those environmental impact.
- Eco Friendly Ganesh Idols
Steps a foot to go green avoid use of those
POP, cements and other non-biodegradable materials to make idols. Go with
natural, biodegradable material so that after immersions (visarjan) it does not
pollute water and surroundings. Choose idols made out of organic non-baked clay
or mud that dissolves easily in water bodies, use natural materials to make
Ganesh idols. A Mumbai-based group is offering an alternative to Plaster of
Paris (PoP) via seed balls placed inside Ganesh idols that can grow into plants
after immersion. Even they are using natural colors to color the idols.
- Natural Paints On Ganesh Idols
To color the Ganesh idols use natural colors
extracted from natural resources which can easily dissolve in water with no
chemical effect. Usually turmeric, chandan, green leafs or flower colors can be
used for painting the idols. Those colors can also be some food stuffs which
can even used as a fish food after immersion.
- Ban Plastics from Ganesh Idols
Complete avoid use of any plastic materials
and go with the alternative of plastic available in the marked, the impact of
plastic on the environment is known too all and we also know that is completely
bio degradable and if some aquatic animals intakes these it will leads to their
death. Paper, bamboo or other natural alternatives should be used instead of
plastics. Remove all non organic decorations before immersion.
- Permanent Ganesh Idols
Use permanent Ganesh idols made using stone
or metals and worshippers can undertake a more symbolic immersion use the same
idols for number of years.
- Avoid Public water bodies for Visarjan
Our public water bodies are already filled
with domestic and industrial waste, so instead of increasing more pressure on
these public water bodies, the immersion of Ganesh idol or visarjan can be done
at home, the household idols can be immersed in tanks or ponds which save
public water bodies.
Ganesh Chaturthi 2020 general Guidelines
Considering the rising cases of Covid-19 all state government have passes some general guidelines with the celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi. In all major cities government had asked to limit the public celebrations, avoid large gatherings and keep social distance. Delhi government told that no idol of Lord Ganesha will be set up in public places. A fine of ₹ 50,000 will be imposed on violators and Idol immersion in the Yamuna River is banned. Maharashtra government made it mandatory for all 'mandals' to take prior permission from the concerned municipality or local authority and also limited the size of idol to max 4feet height. Processions to mark arrival and immersion of idols will not be allowed There should be no crowds during daily aarti' and noise pollution norms must be followed. Most of the state government has restricted crowd and public gathering due to covid-19 crisis.Enjoy Ganesh Chaturthi, follow rituals and celebrate the festival but also respect our environment. We considered earth to be our mother earth so go green. Encourage people to use environmentally safe and organic idols and decorations. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.
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