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