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In a push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Clean Ganga’ plan, the Union Government will start making efforts this week to implement <keyword id="2413594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Namami-Gange-project">Namami Gange project</keyword>, which it claims will bring visible change to the waters of the sacred river. 
 
The Namami Gange project is fully funded by the Indian Government for which it has okayed Rs 20,000 crore. 
 
Under this scheme, intensive river surface cleaning will be taken up in 10 identified cities along the banks of the holy river. Floating debris will be collected and cleaned off the Ganga river surface to see a visible difference in the cleanliness levels of the river waters. 
 
It will also cover ghat cleaning and drain-river confluence for ten priority locations is being prepared by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). 
River surface cleaning boats, trash skimmer machines and trash booms will be pressed into service to collect floating material. 
 
The Modi government will invite global tenders this week for river surface cleaning. The ten identified cities are Haridwar, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Mathura and Vrindavan, Garhmukteshwar, Patna, Kolkata, Sahibgunj and Nabadwip. 
 
Meanwhile, officials at the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation told Economic Times that aerators will be plied into action at river ghats to keep the gathering moss away. 
 
ET reported that the ministry wrote to the Central Pollution Control Board to install real-time monitors at 118 locations on Ganga where a nallah meets the river (drain-river confluence) to ensure that the cleaning is actually taking place and water quality is maintained. Ten of these have already been started on pilot basis. 
 
Moreover, the project will be backed by a mobile application- Bhuvan Ganga, which will enable people to see the difference at the surface of the river. 
 
This ISRO-backed India specific GIS tool will ensure real-time, public monitoring of pollution at the river bed on ground situations. The government is set to launch a Bhuvan Ganga app whereby real-time images of the Ganga can be captured by the public through smartphones and uploaded right away to check for any river surface pollution. 
 
This will bring in public participation as well as officials will be held accountable, if any laxity pointed out. 
 
Another public participation initiative- Ganga Volunteer Corps – which is yet to be launched initiative would channelise public volunteer services for cleaning of ghats and generating awareness. 
 
The Nirmal Ganga Bhagidaari project will see NGOs being involved in Ganga cleaning. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

Narendra Modi is ensuring you will get to take a dip in a visibly ‘Clean Ganga’ in the next few weeks

The government has transferred its nodal agency - <keyword id="76373" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Ganga-River-Basin-Authority">National Ganga River Basin Authority</keyword> (NGRBA) - from the <keyword id="68998" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="environment-ministry">Environment Ministry</keyword> to the <keyword id="557073" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="water-resources-ministry">Water Resources Ministry</keyword>. 
 
The transfer follows the government's recent move to expand the role of the Water Resources Ministry by adding 'Ganga rejuvenation' and 'river development.' 
 
"All issues related to conservation, development, management and abatement of pollution in river Ganga and its tributaries will also be looked after by the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation," said an official statement. 
 
The NGRBA was constituted in February, 2009, when the then UPA government gave Ganga the status of 'national river.' It is a planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating body of the Centre and the states. 
 
The objective of the NGRBA is to control pollution and conserve the river by adopting a river-basin approach for comprehensive planning and management.

Ganga Nodal Agency Transferred To Water Resources Ministry

<keyword id="87" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Germany">Germany</keyword> has offered its expertise for the <keyword id="6357202" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ganga">Ganga</keyword> clean-up mission by bringing in the experience of cleaning the <keyword id="1354414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rhine-river">Rhine river</keyword> in the European country. 
 
"Rejuvenation and cleaning of the river Ganga is one of the top priorities of Indian government. We are now just in the phase where we are going to see how we are going to assist the Indian government in this important endeavour," Heiko Warnken, head of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, said. 
 
"We will soon have a mission who will be coming to India with experts from Germany. We have also cleaned the river Rhine in Germany. We will see how we can assist in the Ganga mission," Warnken said. 
 As per a <keyword id="67999" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Central-Pollution-Control-Board">Central Pollution Control Board</keyword> report, around Rs 20,000 crore has been spent by the government on various cleaning projects for the Ganga. However, the impact was negligible. 
 
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0">
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</table> Warknken said they were approached by India’s <keyword id="2301959" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Water-Resource-Ministry">Water Resource Ministry</keyword> for the Ganga clean-up project. On the question of funding, Warnken said, "this is too early to say... We have to see what is needed to be done". 
 
When asked about timeline, he said "Rhine is also a long river which comes from Switzerland to Germany. It took almost 10 years to clean Rhine."

Germany Offers Help For Ganga Clean-up Mission

It is an irony that the river that has always been considered the holiest for the Hindus and whose banks held the most profound form of knowledge is also one of the most polluted water bodies in India. River <keyword id="6357202" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ganga">Ganga</keyword> is considered the ultimate cleanser of sins while her banks hold spiritual experiences for a practising Hindu. At least, people do believe it to be so. 
 
That is till they visit the river to get rid of their sins. But one look at the River Ganga is enough to understand that we would better retain our sins within ourselves. If getting rid of our sins means courting some serious skin diseases, keeping them might be a feasible solution. After all, we do commit sins now and then, and cleansing them is going to cost a lot – physically, mentally and medically! 
 
On a serious note, talks of cleaning the River Ganga are getting more serious and louder by the day. What was started by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, way back in 1985, has always remained in debates and discussions, without any effective action plan in place. 
 
But between then and now, much water has flown under the bridge and a huge amount of human debris has been dumped, too. The half-burnt bodies float on the surface like they always did. But then, that’s the sacrifice the river has to make to keep her worshippers off the sins they have committed. 
 
According to recent estimates by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), fecal coliform levels in mainstream Ganga have shot up much above the acceptable levels since years. And the stretch of the River Ganga that remains polluted is said to be well beyond 2,500 km. It starts from Gangotri where the religious ceremonies take place and goes up to Diamond Harbour. 
 The highly oxygenated upper stretches are not spared from pollution either. It is a surprise that the river has not dried up yet, as a result of such action. Places like <keyword id="146132" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rudraprayag">Rudraprayag</keyword> and <keyword id="697497" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Devprayag">Devprayag</keyword> leave the river increasingly polluted, thanks to the religious tourism and the mindless urban travellers always in a hurry to cleanse themselves. 
 
Ganga absorbs as much as 3,364 litres of sewage on a daily basis apart from the regular dumping of burnt dead bodies, flowers from religious offerings and discarded clothes. Then there is a large amount of plastic in various forms, dumped by tourism-promoting hotels and mindless travellers. 
 The <keyword id="68133" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ganga-Action-Plan">Ganga Action Plan</keyword> (GAP) has been receiving money for a long time, but the operations were not sustainable enough to keep the river clean of pollutants. 
 
The key here is not just cleaning the River Ganga. It is not a one-time operation or a permanent solution. The government is simply pumping in more and more money into Ganga cleaning operations, but environmentalists have been warning us throughout that it will not resolve the issues in the long run. They say the operation has to be a mammoth exercise only in the beginning, with effective cleaning practices being strictly imposed and followed in the subsequent phases. 
 
The focus should be on a few key areas. Once we have enough water to carry out the operations, the ‘need’ is to filter the water from this point to dilute and assimilate waste from the water. Another stage will be to implement sustainable methods of treating the waste that is currently being released into the river. Making policy-level decisions to stop industries from releasing effluents into the river is of great importance as the ‘Clean Ganga’ operations have to reach a level of participation from those who are abusing it. 
 
Although religious institutions make for a small yet considerable part of the groups that are polluting the river, it has to receive a complete buy-in from all the parties concerned – the Ganga now needs their help to stay clean. 
 
After all, changing a few practices to save the Ganga (an integral part of the Hindu psyche) for future generations is something that could go a long way in protecting the river and its tributaries. No matter how significant our beliefs are, the cost of treating a water body, polluted with dangerous waste, is simply much higher than maintaining the cleanliness. And the cleanliness can be maintained with people’s understanding and active participation. 
 
In fact, simple economy would be enough to understand this. If rivers have enough clean water for dilution, cities need to spend less on hardware and energy for water treatment. If this can be reduced over a period of time, the assimilative capacity of the river for self-cleaning the waste will surely improve, thus benefiting both humans and the nature. 
 
Moreover, instead of expecting the upper riparian states to release more water (in the absence of water-sharing agreements, as of now), states can become self-sustainable by building checkpoints to collect the rainwater, to be used for river waste dilution. This can also increase the water table in the area. 
 
Therefore, when the exercise of cleaning the Ganga is undertaken, it should also change the way we look at the river. Until then, governments can keep pumping in money without the people taking any responsibility for the project.

Cleaning River Ganga Is Not A ‘One-time’ Operation

India’s two holiest Rivers, <keyword id="6357202" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ganga">Ganga</keyword> and <keyword id="6354936" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yamuna">Yamuna</keyword>, are dying a slow death and in a bid to save them, a high court pronounced them as “living beings”. 
 Yes, this is true! Rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been declared as “living entities” by the <keyword id="44522" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttarakhand">Uttarakhand</keyword> High Court. 
 
A division bench of Justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh of the High Court said, "Holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been declared to be treated as a living human entities." 
 
Well, if you are wondering this is happening for the first time in the world, a look into the history will tell you River Whanganui in New Zealand has been given such status. 
 
Giving the "legal status" of living humans to the holy rivers, the court ordered that the Director, Namami Gange project for cleaning and rejuvenating the river, the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General of Uttarakhand will act as the "legal parents" of the holy rivers and work as a the human face to protect, conserve and preserve them and their tributaries. 
 
These officers will be bound to "uphold the status" of the two rivers and also promote their "health and well being", the court said. 
 
The matter related to mining and stone crushing along the banks of the Ganga. 
 On a PIL filed by <keyword id="6355106" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Haridwar">Haridwar</keyword> resident Mohammad Salim, the court ordered the Dehradun District Magistrate to remove encroachment from the Shakti canal of the Ganga at Dhakrani within the next 72 hours. It ordered that the DM be suspended if he failed to comply with the directive. 
 
The petitioner contended that though the holy rivers connect the two states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, there is "no effective distribution of properties attached to their tributaries between them". 
 
The court also ordered the authorities to work out the division of various properties between the neighbouring states under Uttar Pradesh Re-Oganization Act, 2000, a matter pending since the inception of Uttarakhand in the year 2000. 
 
The court also directed the government to form a Ganga Management Board within the next eight weeks in accordance with an earlier order of the court in December 2016.

India’s sacred River Ganga is a “living being” now; has parents too

The government has given nod to set up ‘<keyword id="2532822" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Clean-Ganga-Fund">Clean Ganga Fund</keyword>’ (CGF), which will accept donations from for cleaning <keyword id="6357202" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ganga">Ganga</keyword>. This will be in addition to what the government had allocated for the ‘<keyword id="6377031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Namami-Gange">Namami Gange</keyword>’ (Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission) project in the budget for FY2014-15. 
 
Domestic donors will be entitled to avail tax benefits as per the rules. Foreign donors, too, may get tax exemptions wherever applicable. The government will also consider constituting ‘daughter funds’ in other countries such as USA, UK, Singapore and UAE. 
 "The fund will be managed by a trust to be headed by finance minister. The secretariat of the trust will be set up in the ministry of water resources under the mission director of the <keyword id="130364" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="clean-Ganga">Clean Ganga</keyword> projects. It will be operated through a bank account by the Trust", said an official. The CGF will be used for the steps charted out under the 'Namami Gange' project. 
 
The government had set aside a fund of Rs 2,037 crore for the mission in this financial year. "The fund will be catalytic in nature and will identify and fund specific projects which could be pilot projects, R&amp;D projects, innovative projects or other focused projects. It will define specific and measurable objectives to form the basis for planning, funding, and evaluation," said an official statement.

Govt
To Set Up 'Clean Ganga Fund' To Accept Donations From People

New Delhi, Jun 30 () The World Bank on Monday said it has enhanced its support for Government of India's program to rejuvenate Ganga river with a USD 400 million (about Rs 3,000 crore) assistance that will help stem pollution in the river. The assistance will help strengthen the management of the river basin which is home to more than 500 million people, the World Bank said in a statement. "The Second National Ganga River Basin Project (SNGRBP), approved by the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors on June 25, will support the government's Namami Gange program and its long-term vision for controlling pollution in the river and restoring its water quality," it said. It further said the bank has been supporting the government's efforts since 2011 through the ongoing National Ganga River Basin Project, which helped set up the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) as the nodal agency to manage the river, and financed sewage treatment infrastructure in several riverside towns and cities. "The first World Bank project helped build critical sewage infrastructure in 20 pollution hotspots along the river, and this project will help scale this up to the tributaries," World Bank Country Director (India) Junaid Ahmad said. "It will also help the government strengthen the institutions needed to manage a river basin as large and complex as the Ganga Basin," he added. The Ganga basin covers a quarter of India's landmass, and is a critical economic and environmental resource for the country. It provides over one-third of India's surface water, includes the country's largest irrigated area and is key to India's water and food security, the statement said. "Over 40 per cent of India's GDP is generated in the densely populated basin. But the Ganga river is today is facing pressures from human and economic activity that impact its water quality and flows," it added. The Second National Ganga River Basin Project comprises a loan in the amount of USD 381 million and a proposed Guarantee in the amount of up to USD 19 million. The variable spread loan has a maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of 5 years, it said. Meanwhile, the Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu and the World Bank on Monday signed legal agreements to help low-income groups in the state get access to affordable housing. The legal agreements were signed for two projects -- USD 200 million First Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Programme and USD 50 million Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project -- to strengthen the state's housing sector policies, institutions, and regulations, the Finance Ministry said in a separate statement. The loan agreements were signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Country Director (India) on behalf of the World Bank. Khare said providing safe and affordable housing is a key priority for the state of Tamil Nadu as identified in its vision document. With the allocation provided under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and the two projects from the World Bank, a large number of urban poor in the state are expected to get access to better housing and, in the process, improve their living conditions, he added. Nearly half of Tamil Nadu's population is urban, and this is expected to increase to 63 per cent by 2030. DP RVK

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Narendra Modi is ensuring you will get to take a dip in a visibly ‘Clean Ganga’ in the next few weeks

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India’s sacred River Ganga is a “living being” now; has parents too

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Govt To Set Up 'Clean Ganga Fund' To Accept Donations From People

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World Bank enhances support for rejuvenating Ganga, sanctions USD 400 mn

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