Relevance: GS III (Environment & Pollution) & GS II (Governance & Social Justice) | Source: The Hindu

1. The Context: What is the current issue?

Recently, a massive religious event in Madhya Pradesh concluded with devotees pouring 11,000 litres of milk into the Narmada River as a sacred offering. This has sparked a major debate on two fronts:

• The Ecological Crisis: Mass dumping of any organic matter directly pollutes and damages fragile river ecosystems.
• The Ethical/Social Crisis: Madhya Pradesh suffers from a high rate of child malnutrition. From an administrative and ethical viewpoint, the same 11,000 litres of milk could have been used to feed thousands of malnourished children under state schemes (like the Anganwadi network).

2. The Core Science: Why is “Pure” Milk Harmful to Rivers?

Culturally, milk and flowers are considered pure. However, scientifically, dumping them in rivers is highly destructive.

• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD): Milk is a heavy organic waste. When dumped in a river, millions of bacteria start breaking it down. To do this, the bacteria consume a massive amount of the river’s oxygen. This sudden demand for oxygen is called BOD.
• Suffocating Aquatic Life: Because the bacteria consume so much oxygen, the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in the water drops rapidly. Without enough oxygen, fish and other aquatic life literally suffocate and die.
• Eutrophication: Milk and floral waste add excess nutrients to the water. This acts like a fertilizer, causing a sudden, uncontrollable growth of algae (algal blooms) on the river surface, which blocks sunlight and turns the river “ecologically dead.”

3. Constitutional and Legal Safeguards

How does the Indian Constitution balance religious faith with environmental protection?

• Article 25 (Right to Religion): Indian law clearly states that the right to practice religion is not absolute. It is strictly subject to public order, morality, and most importantly, public health.
• Article 21 (Right to Life): The Supreme Court has repeatedly declared that the fundamental Right to Life includes the right to a clean, healthy, and unpolluted environment. This overrides polluting religious practices.
• National Green Tribunal (NGT): The NGT strictly applies environmental rules (like the Water Act, 1974) and mandates the use of artificial tanks for mass immersions to protect natural rivers.

4. Administrative Solutions

To solve this, the administration must focus on practical and cultural shifts:

• Circular Economy: Promoting startups that collect floral waste from temples and upcycle them into useful products like incense sticks (e.g., the Phool initiative).
• Social Diversion: Encouraging temple trusts to redirect massive food and milk offerings to local orphanages, schools, and the poor, framing social welfare as the highest form of devotion.

UPSC Value Box

With reference to water pollution and the ecological health of river systems, consider the following statements:

1. A sudden influx of organic waste, such as mass milk or floral offerings, typically results in an immediate decrease in the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the river.
2. Eutrophication in a water body is often triggered by excessive nutrient enrichment, leading to rapid algal blooms and the depletion of Dissolved Oxygen (DO).
3. Under the Constitution of India, the Right to Freedom of Religion (Article 25) is absolute and cannot be restricted on the grounds of public health.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b)