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NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 13, 2003: Environmentalists and climatologists are deeply concerned over the rapid shrinking of the Himalayan glaciers — the origin of most of the rivers in northern India — even as the Indian government seems indifferent to the grim implications of the scenario. The majority of the 15,000 or so glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world, says a study by the International Commission for Snow and Ice. The director of the glaciology division of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Mr Deepak Shrivastava, admits that most of the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking, but says the recession and advancement of glaciers are a natural, cyclical process. In addition to having possible adverse effects on the regimes of snow rivers, the alarmingly melting of the Himalayan glaciers might result in outburst of glacial lakes, ice avalanches, landslides and debris flows, and rise in water level of the oceans, which could trigger disastrous consequences for human life and property. The recession could also affect climatic conditions besides putting pressure on the fragile ecology of the Himalayas, a mega-biodiversity zone. The Union mines minister in-charge of the GSI, Mr Ramesh Bais, conceded that the government has “no proposal under its consideration to formulate any special scheme for conservation of the originating sites of snow rivers.”

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