Gujarat Govt To Conduct 41 “Yajnas” On Taxpayers' Money To Appease Rain God

Summer has proven to be particularly bad this year for Gujarat. With the scorching heat drying up the rivers in the state and giving much agony to the public, the government of the state has finally turned to the rain god for respite. The Vijay Rupani-led BJP government has decided to conduct 41 “Parjanya Yajnas” on May 31 across 33 locations in the state to appease Lord Indra (rain god) and Lord Varun (water god).

Gujarat government had undertaken a month-long drive “Sujlam Suflam Jal Abhiyaan” at the beginning of the month to curb the menace of water shortage. Under this initiative, various rivers, lakes, ponds, canals and other water bodies were de-slitted and deepened to harvest more rainwater during the forthcoming monsoon season. The Parjanya Yajnas will culminate this month-long drive.

The decision to perform Yajnas was taken on the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel has said that he along with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will attend these Yajnas. As reported by The Times of India, deputy CM Patel said, “The government has decided to organise parjanya Yajnas on May 31 to pray for a good monsoon. The Yajnas will be held at 41 places across Gujarat after which Prasad will be distributed. Myself, along with CM Vijay Rupani, state ministers and senior officers will take part in the Yajnas, which will be followed by a public meeting.”

With just 29% of the storage capacity in the 204 dams across the state, Gujarat has been witnessing a water crisis this summer.

The Logical Indian take

We appreciate the Gujarat govt’s other initiatives to harvest rainwater but to do Yajnas is an extremely bizarre way to deal with a problem as serious as that of acute water shortage. In March too, about 500 Quintal of Mango wood was burnt in Uttar Pradesh to solve the problem of air pollution. Not only are the activities like these are futile, they also further contribute to ecological damage and waste taxpayers money.