UPA now admits
Vedic Sarasvati river existed
http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/NadiNadi
The ancient channels identified by ISRO may be seen on the map
prepared by ISRO based on an analysis of satellite images and
ground truth: http://tinyurl.com/yc2oxsf
UPA now admits Saraswati existed
Rajesh Singh/Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi, Pioneer, Sunday, December
13, 2009
Earlier, had refused to agree despite Govt agencies confirming
existence of river
In a significant shift from its earlier stand that probes conducted
so far showed no trace of the mythical river, the Union Government
has recently admitted that scientists have discovered water channels
indicating beyond doubt the existence of the Vedic
Saraswati.
The Governments fresh submission came in response to an
unstarred question in Rajya Sabha on December 3 by Prakash Javadekar
(BJP), who wanted to know whether satellite images had established
the underground track of Saraswati, and if so, why should the
precious water resources not be exploited to meet growing demands.
To this, the Union Water Resources Ministry quoted in writing
the conclusion of a study jointly conducted by scientists of ISRO,
Jodhpur and the Rajasthan Governments Ground Water Department,
published in the Journal of Indian Society of Remote Sensing.
Besides other things, the authors had said that clear signals
of palaeo-channels on the satellite imagery in the form of a strong
and powerful continuous drainage system in the North-West region
and occurrence of archaeological sites of pre-Harappan, Harappan
and post-Harappan ages beyond doubt indicate the existence of
a mighty palaeo-drainage system of the Vedic Saraswati river in
this region
The description and magnanimity of these channels
also matches with the river Saraswati described in the Vedic literature.
A leading educationist and currently chancellor of Jawaharlal
Nehru University, Yash Pal, who had published in 1980 in his own
words a small paper on the existence of Saraswati river
which attracted attention, concurred with the view. Surveys
so far have brought out clearly the path the river had taken when
in flow, the national research professor told The Pioneer.
He did a stint with ISRO (which has played a pivotal role in the
probes so far) from 1973-1980 where he set up the Space Application
Centre.
On whether the Union Government should assume a proactive role
on the issue of reviving the river to tackle the water shortages,
he said, With advancement of technology more research should
be conducted. The river was not lost yesterday; perhaps due to
tectonic shifts it disappeared ten thousand years ago. We have
to keep these issues in mind.
All through its tenure until now, the UPA Government had denied
the existence of the mystery river. Then Culture Minister Jaipal
Reddy had told Parliament that excavations conducted so far at
nine sites had not revealed any trace of the lost river Saraswati.
He stated that the UPA Government had not extended the sanction
for the project given by the NDA Government. Giving a progress
report of the Saraswati River Heritage Project launched by the
NDA Government, he had said that though the project report was
prepared in September 2003 envisaging a cost of Rs 36.02 crore,
it was later slashed to Rs 4.98 crore.
The Leftists, who commanded great influence over the first five
years of the UPA regime, too, were dismissive of the evidences.
Senior leaders even castigated probe agencies for wasting
time and money over the study of the mystery river. Three years
ago, senior CPI(M) leader and Politburo member Sitaram Yechury
slammed the ASI for its efforts.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and
Culture, which he headed in 2006, said, The ASI has deviated
in its working and has failed in spearheading a scientific discipline
of archaeology. A scientific institution like the ASI did not
proceed correctly in this matter.
These assertions had come despite mounting evidence of the river
collected by central agencies such as Indian Space Research Organisation
( ISRO), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Geological Survey
of India (GSI), Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Central Groundwater Authority
(under the Water Resources Ministry). The Government had also
failed to acknowledge expert opinion that the rivers revival
could tackle the increasing water demands of more than 20 crore
people in the North-West region of the country.
The first national impetus for research on Saraswati came during
the NDA regime when the then Union Culture Minister Jagmohan in
June 2002 announced excavations to trace the rivers course.
He named a team of four experts - Baldeo Sahai of ISRO, Ahmedabad,
archaeologist S Kalyan Raman, glaciologist Y K Puri and water
consultant Madhav Chitle - for the task. But even earlier, States
like Haryana had begun their study of the underground river.
Talking of the progress, SL Aggarwal, an official in Haryana
Irrigation Department said, Work on the 3.5 km stretch of
river Saraswati between Jyotisar and Bibipur would be completed
in one-and-a-half months and then we would be able to revive the
ancient river and be able to use the water for irrigation purposes.
The Haryana Government recently sanctioned Rs 10.05 crore for
the project of revival of the river, with the Oil and Natural
Gas Commission carrying out geophysical and geoelectric surveys
for drilling of wells in association with Kurukshetra University
for exploratory purposes.
A non-government organisation ( NGO), Saraswati Nadi Sodh Sansthan,
has also been working for the revival of the ancient river through
its entire track. Two seminars were held on this issue on October
22, 2008 and November 21, 2009 at Kurukshetra where representatives
from ONGC, Geological Survey of India and Indian Space Research
Organisation were invited.
Rajasthan too has been an active participant in the project.
Some four decades ago the Archeological Survey of India (GSI)
had conducted excavations at a village named Kalibanga in Srigananagar
district of Rajasthan, unearthing a full- fledged township beneath
a mound, locally called Thed.
The ASI researchers came to the conclusion that the sight belonged
to the Harappan period. Subsequent studies revealed that this
flourishing town was situated on the banks of the Saraswati which
once flowed from this part of the Rajasthan desert.
About two decades ago, scientists at Central Arid Zone Research
Institute ( CAZRI) at Jodhpur launched a project to track down
the traces. They concluded that the ancient channels were a dead
river that could well be Saraswati. Interestingly, here, the ancient
texts and the geographical history of the region were constant
bases of reference of the studies.
Analyses of images earlier taken by the American satellite Landsat
in the 1970s clearly showed the presence of underground
water in a definitive pattern in the Jaisalmer region. As part
of the project, then, underground water researchers were asked
to dig bore wells at places from where this lost river used to
flow. They selected Chandan Lathi near Jaisalmer for this purpose.
To the surprise of researchers, the water found after digging
the bore wells at places on the course of the river was not only
sweet but available in plenty. Encouraged by this discovery, they
dug two dozen bore well in the area, from where the river used
to flow, and in all of them they found sweet water.
A few years later Dr Vakankar, a noted historian, as part his
Itihas Sanklan Yojna, visited this and other sites linked with
the river. Together with another expert Moropant Pingle, he concluded
that the Saraswati used to flow from this part of Rajasthan, Sirsa
in Haryana, Bhatinda in Punjab and Srigangangar district in Rajasthan.
With the Government indicating a shift in its position, it remains
to be seen whether the research work by central agencies that
had come to a near halt, will now resume.
-- With inputs from Lokpal Sethi in Jaipur and Nishu Mahajan
in Chandigarh
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