Yamuna Nama: a book review

The Yamuna Manifesto -or Yamuna Nama- is a bilingual book with passages in both Hindi and English, published as part of the Yamuna Elbe project. In five deceptively short sections, the book takes us from the birth to the river to its future. The Manifesto is exhaustively researched and includes in one volume authentic data about dams, pollution, withdrawals, and flood plain encroachment on the river.

Meet the Yamuna:

The river that becomes a drain:

If this was not enough, the map is supplemented with a detailed account of the damage caused by each dam. This account points out that below Dakpathar in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand, a mere 172 kms from the source of this 1,376 km long river, there is no free flowing stretch at all. It has been strangled before completing even one tenth of its journey.

Has the state been fiddling?:

The river is a victim of the current idea of development:

The road ahead:

After presenting the facts, the Yamuna Manifesto ends with a section on the art created as part of Project Y.

Want the book? Download it here or call/write to SANDRP for a copy.