Reviving a ‘dead’ river: a cultural event to celebrate legacy of Yamuna

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated25/04/2023

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) will host a cultural programme on the banks of the river yamuna in Delhi
It is under its special project- Riverine Cultures of India that began in 2018.

There will be a short festival of films on water bodies, shot by children from across the country.
The programmes will include a photo exhibition comparing the Yamuna of today with what the river was like 50 years ago
There will also be symposia on various aspects such as ecology and conservation of India’s rivers and their importance in the country’s heritage
There will be an exhibition themed on 15 ghats across the country in Sanjhi or paper stencil art.
The larger project is focusing on six rivers right now: Ganga, Yamuna, and Sindhu in the north; and Krishna, Godavari, and Cauvery in the south.
The Yamuna’s confluence with the Ganga and the mythical Saraswati at Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj is one of the country’s most important pilgrimage spots for Hindus.

The river had been declared “almost dead” by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2015 citing untreated waste flowing into it from several cities along its banks.
The definition of a river is that it must have life, which is measured by its capacity to dissolve oxygen.
The dissolved oxygen content in the Yamuna as it passes through Delhi is zero.

It was established in 1987 as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, as a centre for research, academic pursuit and dissemination in the field of the arts.
It has a trust (i.e. Board of Trustees), which meets regularly to give general direction about the Centre’s work.
The Executive Committee, drawn from among the Trustees, functions under a Chairman.
It is a research unit under Project Mausam.
A project on design and development of a Vedic Heritage Portal was also initiated at IGNCA