The first Member-Secretary of the Government of India's Central Pollution Control Board, former head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at IIT Kanpur, a PhD from University of California, Berkeley. But Dr. G. D. Agarwal seems to be better known as the simple man, "The Scientist and Rishi".

He is now on an aajeeva upavaasa satyagraha (fast-unto-death) to save Bhageerathi from destruction in the name of development.

Writes Ravi Chopra in a blog post at IWP:

Pained by the unrelenting destruction of the Ganga river, especially by a series of dams in its upper reaches, Dr Agrawal has decided to go on a fast-unto-death to oppose its continuing desecration. His conviction that we are staring at an unprecedented ecological and cultural catastrophe comes from his powerfully logical mind. Critique on proposed dams on Bhagirathi River.

Read the rest of the article.

Oh, and almost forgot! If you are a Kannadiga, read the article posted about this on Kannada Water Portal.

Announcement letter by Dr. Agarwal is here.

Photo Courtesy: http://watercommunity.blogspot.com