Guardians of the Ganga: task force keeps a watchful eye on the river

Guardians of the Ganga: task force keeps a watchful eye on the river

Subject : Environment

Section: Pollution

Context:

Over 4,000 volunteers under the NamamiGange initiative have been keeping a check on littering and poaching in the river to make sure that its flora, fauna are intact; in return, the Wildlife Institute of India has helped them with livelihood training

Concept:

NamamiGange Programme:

• It an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ in June 2014.
• It seeks to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
• It is being operated under Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The program is being implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organizations i.e., State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
• NMCG is the implementation wing of National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NRGBA).
• National Ganga Council (NGC) was Created in October 2016 under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016. It is Headed by Prime Minister.
• It has a Rs. 20,000-crore, centrally-funded, non-lapsable corpus and consists of nearly 288 projects.
• Main Pillars of the NamamiGange Programme are:
• Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure
• River-Surface Cleaning
• Afforestation
• Industrial Effluent Monitoring
• River-Front Development.

The United Nations in December 2022 recognised the initiative as one of the top 10 World Restoration Flagships involved in reviving the natural world

Ganga Prahari

• This is a task force of volunteers constituted by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the Wildlife Institute of India (NMCG-WII) under the NamamiGange programme
• The concept of the Ganga Prahari was mooted by Ruchi Badola, the dean at WII and nodal officer of the Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation project.
• The task force, which now has over 4,000 volunteers in 100 districts across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal, keeps a check on river protection, preventing people from littering, as well as reports poaching.