To

The Honourable Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi – 110 004

Dear Rashtrapati ji,

We are a group of citizens, volunteers with the Art of Living and IT professionals, writing this out of pain after reading news that you have decided to back out of participating from the World's biggest Cultural conglomeration – The World Culture Festival, being organized by the Art of Living whose founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji is respected worldwide for the humanitarian and environmental activities he has inspired.

Even by virtue of its sheer magnitude, this festival is a marquee event: showcasing India’s ability to plan, organize and execute a project of this magnitude, projecting our culture in harmony along with other cultures on one stage. This is truly a historic event, in terms of diversity, variety, and size. It is a matter of pride for those of us who value the multicultural fabric of India, and the diversity of the world's cultures. This can be proven by the fact that participants from 155 countries will be in attendance.

Sir, we are also IT professionals from Bangalore , Singapore and elsewhere and have greatly benefited by the art of living program. If we say that " Art Of Living" has transformed our lives, it is not an exaggeration. It has given us direction and purpose in life. Time to time we volunteer in Art of living projects.

We are deeply concerned that as the Head of State of the host country, you have chosen not to attend.

We understand that you might have been concerned about the claims of certain activists with questionable credentials about the potential damage this event could cause to Yamuna. We would like to put the record straight and are presenting some pertinent facts as well as some questions here for your kind consideration –

1) How many times did we hear Yamuna & the ecological nightmare that it was before this event was announced?

2) How many activists were around when the Art of Living Volunteers, numbering 5000 per day launched and executed Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna drive, cleaning 512 Tonnes of garbage before the Commonwealth Games?

3) How many are aware that the current site was a dumping ground for many construction debris which was cleared by Art of Living? Art of Living was accused of dumping malba in and around the river and huge diggers were filmed and televised doing the same. Please note that when the land was being surveyed, photographs of existing malba were taken and AOL fortunately made a request to the DDA asking them to remove it, in case they permit the event to be held there. The DDA asked AoL to have it removed at their own cost.

4) Are activists aware that the water was so polluted and Art of Living Volunteers with help of 100,000 Delhiites, have created enzymes out of kitchen waste that is being used to get rid/reduce toxicity of Yamuna – the effects are already starting to show today.

5) Shouldn’t Art of Living be rewarded for bringing this level of awareness and also walking the talk on protecting Yamuna and instead being hounded?

6) Permission was sought by the Art of Living from the Delhi Development Authority which was granted. This is the kick-off point of this entire program. Had it not come, the event would have been held elsewhere.

7) Aren’t these activists aware that the water in the Yamuna is extremely toxic, polluted and generally filthy? By holding its event there, Art of Living cannot be be accused of polluting it, rather should be lauded for the same. Why would Art of Living even chose a place like the banks of Yamuna (even in the safe zone, there was an unbearable stench) unless the cause was noble. As clarified by Sri Sri, this site was chosen to draw attention of people to the cause of Yamuna.

8) Are these activists are well aware that Art of Living has undertaken projects in various states for River rejuvenation across the country. Do they think, Sri Sri would allow any damage to Yamuna considering this fact?

9) You are aware that based on the work done by Art of Living, the Delhi Government for making Yamuna cleaner http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/aap-turns-to-gurus-for-river-revival/1/537380.html

You must be also aware that many heads of state across the world, and Prime Minister of our country attending this event and hence it is surprising that you have taken a painful decision not to attend the same – an event that is very much yours as Head of the State. Sir, these events don’t happen often in one’s lifetime and a decision of yours to not participate may leave a permanent scar on ordinary citizens like us – an event to celebrate humanity, environment, diversity, harmony and peace.

When the Executive Heads of other states turn out just for being part of this Historic moment, the host country’s president giving it a pass is totally out of place and is quite unusual in the scheme of things.

We sincerely hope you heed this logical and reasonable plea of ordinary citizens like us and reconsider your decision.

You can read more on the ecological benefits this event would bring to the Yamuna and Delhi here http://srisriravishankar.org/yamuna-and-the-world-culture-festival/

We hope to see you on 13th March and eagerly waiting to hear your Valedictory address.

Art of Living Volunteers and IT Professionals

Ashwin B, Bengaluru

Balu Mash (Trissur)

Bijukumar (Trivandrum)

D Mohan (Allapuzha)

Jayachandran (Ernakulam)

Kalyani O, Ahmedabad

Kumar Rajan (Pathanamthitta)

Mahesh Valera(Idukki)

Mandakini S , Delhi

Meenakshi Krishna Albany NY

Muralidharan (Palakkad )

Nandakishore (Allapuzha)

Nivedita Amin from St.Paul Minnesota, US

Padmakaran(Kollam)

Rajendran (Kozhikode)

Sudheer Aravind(Malappuram)

suresh Babu(Wayanad)

Suresh N, Bengaluru

TCV Sasi (Kasargode)

Valsa Vijayan (Kottayam)

Vijay Dwivedi, Singapore

PS: Some news articles of the past, on the state of Yamuna

1) http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/yamuna-story-of-a-river-being-poisoned-to-death/article3494901.ece (2012)

2) http://file.scirp.org/Html/12-9401064_1806.htm (2010)

3) http://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/yamuna-a-river-thats-all-but-dead-516345 (2013)

4) http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/the-yamuna-our-biggest-source-of-water-is-dead/story-eWhS6kKaoF05HGHmEjpabK.html (2015)