When the new list of ministers and their portfolios was released after the oath ceremony, the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Drinking Water and Sanitation ministries were merged into “Jal Shakti” under one minister. This had been promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, on April 13. Interestingly, the relevant rules of Business Allocation are yet to be amended and in the absence of any such order, several officials of related departments in Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the erstwhile Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and some other departments are holding their breath and speculating on which ministry they will go to. All correspondence of the Jal Shakti ministry is at present being done with the earlier names. Green Thoughts At a recent World Environment Day event, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, heading the new Jal Shakti Ministry, spoke of how environmental degradation has much to do with straying from Indian culture. He lamented how a country that until two-three generations ago revered the environment in the form of jal (water), vaayu (air) and bhoomi (earth) now has to observe World Environment Day like other countries. His Cabinet colleague from the Environment Ministry, Prakash Javadekar, gave a more contemporary reference. Recalling how he too didn’t have access to a toilet as a child, and how over the years human waste has contaminated our water bodies, he repeated the lyrics of the Bollywood song ‘Ram teri ganga maili ho gayi paapiyon ke paap dhote dhote’.
