Ujjain, Dec 29 (PTI) Humans are tenants and not the owners of nature and Hindu scriptures revere rivers and treat them as mothers, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said here on Thursday.
He was speaking at the concluding session of the three-day ‘SuJalam’ conference for water conservation.
“Humans have had their genesis on earth and nature has helped us to dwell here. However, in the last couple of years, human beings are trying to overpower earth, thus causing imbalance. We have forgotten the earth has given birth to us. If humans don’t respect it, we will be finished,” he said.
Citing religious texts, Scindia said India is the only place where rivers are given the status of mother, adding such reverence was part of the country’s values, civilisation and history.
“We are tenants, not owners of the earth. If humans don’t strike a balance with nature, it is bound to throw up challenges. We are going to head towards doomsday,” he added.
“Global warming is a signal and it is giving room to humans to take corrective measures,” Scindia said, citing a United Nations of report of 1999 that held water as the biggest challenge for humans.
He said due to population explosion, water bodies were depleting and claimed “if there is water, there is life tomorrow”.
“Our history shows we were number one in water conservation. Our Vedic tests speak of water as the most important of the ‘pancha tatva’, without which life is impossible,” he added.
The conference was organised by Deendayal Shodh Sansthan and Madhya Pradesh Jan Abhiyan Parishad. PTI COR LAL BNM BNM
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