Sewa Parv: Festival of Service, Dedication & Resolve
Sewa Parv or the Festival of Service is being celebrated across the country. The Govt officials in J&K are on the tenterhooks. Seminars, workshops, musical programmes, cleanliness drives are being held across different states and UTs. Govt has also announced a series of programmes that began from September 17th 2025 and would culminate on Oct 2nd the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Sewa Parv is a national initiative to celebrate the spirit of Sewa (service) in its truest form of patriotism. This nationwide campaign has been anchored by the Ministry of Culture’s guiding vision “Vikas bhi, Virasat bhi” (Development as well as Heritage).
The initiative seeks to weave together cultural pride with a deep sense of social responsibility, but are our Govt officials really serious about their responsibilities? Are our Govt officials or even citizens really concerned about their duties? We talk a lot about our rights but never fulfil our duties as citizens. Programmes like Sewa Parv are meaningless if we don’t inculcate these values into our lives. The Govt officials have to be more serious on these issues because they are the people who propagate and promote these campaigns ?
Mobilizing Gen Z & Alpha
Under the nationwide Sewa Parv 2025 celebrations this author spoke on Climate Change in Kashmir with special focus on protection of our water bodies especially Doodh Ganga which flows through Chadoora and Srinagar uptown. I chose to address students of Govt Higher Secondary School Zoohama Chadoora with an aim of reaching out to Gen Z and Gen alpha. These generations will have to strive and struggle a lot in future, not only regarding their career or livelihood but they will enter in such a phase of climate change may be after 40 or 50 years which will be terrible and unimaginable especially in Kashmir valley?
New Educational Policy-NEP talks about Multidisciplinary Approach; a student of biology needs to understand basic concepts of history or philosophy as well and vice versa. Kashmiri students read about Nile or Amazon rivers but they are unaware about the rivers and streams which flow through their cities, towns and villages? I spoke on this issue. The students were unaware that Doodh Ganga is also known as Chaz-Koul? They were unaware of Chazkani-naad, the small valley in Pir Panjal mountains wherefrom Chazk-Koul passes. Many were even unaware of Chazbal or Chattabal Srinagar – which used to be the meeting point (sangam) of Doodh-Ganga and Jhelum in the past.
This is not the case with students of Zoohama Hr school, but even the students from top private schools of Kashmir also sail in the same boat. We have to change the system of pedagogy and involve students with local geography, geology, history or culture. By doing this they can give solutions to the problems as well which should be the aim of our education. When the Flood Spill channel was built by Dogra Rulers around 1907 onwards the Chaz-Koul or Doodh Ganga’s course was changed and was allowed to pass through this canal at Bemina and then enter Hokersar wetland. Part of the Chaz-Koul passed via its old route Batmaloo through a wooden flume that was built on a flood spill channel near Barzulla. Unfortunately this small Doodh Ganga canal was also encroached upon and converted into shopping complexes.
Lifeline of 1 million people
I laid emphasis on environmental conservation, especially protection and conservation of Doodh Ganga which happens to be the lifeline of around 1 million people in Chadoora and Srinagar uptown. I told students that glaciers were melting at faster speed and in future Kashmir would face a severe water crisis. Kashmir will have to be dependent on monsoon rains in future as glacial water would vanish. We will face both floods and drought and this is what climate change is all about. The weather patterns are changing and this will see more changes in the coming decades.
The illegal riverbed mining has impacted the small irrigation canals that emerge from Doodh Ganga. Almost 3 canals - Kralpur Koul, Doyen Koul, Machi Koul have been washed away with floods recently around Chadoora. The reason is they were weak and riverbed mining had severely impacted the embankments of Doodh Ganga in the last 5 to 6 years. The damage caused in 5 years was more severe than what this stream (Doodh Ganga) went through in the last 30 to 40 years? In future the agricultural land especially paddy, vegetables and apple cultivation will get impacted.
From 2020 onwards I had been urging the authorities to not allow use of heavy machinery for riverbed mining in Doodh-Ganga or even its tributary – the Shali Ganga around Chadoora. The Govt officers at helm never showed any seriousness? They were in fact being paid for protecting these small rivers, while I had to spend my hard earned money to protect it by filing cases in the National Green Tribunal.
Conclusion
I earn my livelihood through my writings and then I spend the same for paying to my counsels who in-fact charge me very minimal fees. In the Shali Ganga case, the opposite party M/S NKC Pvt Ltd went to Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. I won the battle in the Supreme Court as well after 2 ½ years! By the time judgement was pronounced, a lot of destruction had been caused to Shali Ganga or Doodh Ganga. Same officers who were involved in destruction of these water bodies now talk about Seva Parv-Sewa, Samarpan and Sankalp i.e., Service, Dedication and Resolve?
Isn’t this a cruel joke?
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman J&K RTI Movement
