Namami Gange

 The Government of India (GoI) launched the Namami Gange Programme in 2014-15, to clean the river Ganga and other small rivers in the Ganga basin in a holistic manner with a basin approach along with a diverse set of interventions such as pollution abatement measures to tackle different sources of pollution such as municipal sewage, industrial effluents, interventions for improving ecological flows, biodiversity conservation, afforestation, improving amenities and sanitation at riverbanks, capacity building, research & monitoring and public awareness.

1. To date, a total 457 number of projects (including sewage infrastructure) have been sanctioned at an estimated cost of ₹ 38,438.05 crore, out of which a total of 280 projects have been completed and made operational. A total 198 number of sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up with a cost of ₹ 31,575.84 crore for creation & rehabilitation of 6,208.12 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity. Out of these, 111 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in the creation & rehabilitation of 2,844.00 MLD of sewage treatment capacity;
2. For industrial pollution abatement, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has identified the industrial clusters and supported them through finance to sectors like tannery, textile effluent, and others. NMCG till date has sanctioned 5 industrial projects of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) i.e. Jajmau CETP (20 MLD), Banther CETP (4.5 MLD), Unnao CETP (2.65 MLD), Mathura CETP (6.25 MLD) and Gorakhpur CETP (7.5 MLD). Out of these, the Mathura CETP (6.5 MLD) project has been completed. CETP Jajmau has also been completed and inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 30th Dec 2023. Other CETPs are also in progress;
3. To conserve wetlands, NMCG has brought wetland conservation to the basin level, with priority to floodplain wetlands and urban wetlands. Under the ‘Namami Gange’ program, 4 projects have been sanctioned in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & Jharkhand at a cost of ₹ 12.53 crore for the conservation of wetlands;
4. An annual inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) operating in the main stem of river Ganga & its tributaries has been undertaken under the Namami Gange Programme since 2017. Inspection of 1109 GPIs in 2017, 961 GPIs in 2018, 1072 GPIs in 2019, 2740 GPIs in 2020, 2706 GPIs in 2021, and 3186 GPIs in 2022 were carried out by a joint team of technical institutes and concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs);
5. PRAYAG or Platform for Real-time Analysis of Yamuna and Ganga & their Tributaries (Monitoring Centre) is meticulously being used for planning and monitoring of projects, river water quality, performance of STPs, etc. through various online dashboards such as Ganga Tarang Portal, Jajmau Plant through Online Drone Data, Project Monitoring Tool (PMT) Dashboard, Ganga Districts Performance Monitoring System, etc;
6. NMCG under "National River Ranching Programme 2023" a total of 93 lakhs of Indian Major Carp (IMC) fingerlings have been ranched in the Ganga since 2017 to conserve fish biodiversity and prey base for river Dolphins and ensure the livelihood of fishers in the Ganga basin;
7. For the conservation of riverine ecology, NMCG has sanctioned four Ganga Biodiversity Parks in the districts of Uttar Pradesh viz. Mirzapur, Bulandshahar, Hapur, and Budaun (one park for each District) at Rs. 24.97 crore. Significant improvements in biodiversity with increased species sightings of Dolphins, Otters, Hilsa, Turtles, and other riverine species have been observed. Other measures include the implementation of comprehensive programs for fisheries which has resulted in the development of fish mapping of River Ganga on the GIS platform; etc. Over 30,000 Ha area has also been afforested;
8. Construction of independent household toilets in 4,507 identified villages in the five River Ganga States has already been completed. All these Ganga bank villages have now been declared Open Defecation-Free (ODF);
9. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has undertaken comprehensive public awareness campaigns to foster a sense of responsibility and engagement among the public in efforts to clean and conserve the Ganga River. Sustained efforts to increase people’s participation have transformed the Mission into a Jan Andolan. Activities include – Ganga Utsav, Nadi Utsav, regular cleanathons and plantation drives, Ghat Par Yoga, Ganga Aartis, etc. The efforts are also supported by dedicated cadres of Ganga saviours such as Ganga Praharis, Ganga Vichar Manch, Ganga Doots, etc;
10. A cadre of Ganga Doots (45,000 Nos), Ganga Praharis (2,900 Nos), and Ganga Mitra (700 nos) are involved in public participatory activities;
11. To promote the cleanliness of the Ganga River at the district level, 139 District Ganga Committees (DGC) have been constituted under the chairmanship of District Magistrates. The performance is monitored by the Digital Dashboard for District Ganga Committees Performance Monitoring System (GDPMS). District Ganga Committees conducts 4M (Monthly, Mandated, Minuted, and Monitored) meetings regularly that was started on April 6, 2022 under the auspicious presence of the Hon’ble Minister of Jal Shakti. As of date, more than 2,493 meetings have been conducted;
12. NMCG together with other agencies in coordination with the selected DGCs have prepared District Ganga Plans for 4 districts in Ramganga Basin i.e. Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, Shahjahanpur, Moradabad, and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh using a common methodology and River Basin Management framework developed by NMCG with technical support under the India-EU Water Partnership (IEWP). These help in fostering decentralized planning and better participation of people in river basin management;

The government has taken several steps for the conservation of water and rejuvenation of small rivers. Some of them are detailed below;

1. Hon'ble Prime Minister launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA): Catch the Rain (CTR) campaign on 22nd March 2021, World Water Day, with the theme – “Catch The Rain, Where it falls, When it falls” to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country during the pre-monsoon and monsoon period i.e. from March 2021 to 30th November 2021. The focused interventions of the campaign included (1) water conservation and rainwater harvesting (2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making an inventory of all water bodies; preparation of scientific plans for water conservation based on it, rejuvenation of small rivers (3) Setting up of Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts (4) intensive afforestation and (5) awareness generation. Funds from MNREGA and finance commission grants were also pledged for the water conservation works, including the rejuvenation of small rivers, to be taken up. During this campaign, a total of 46,76,852 water-related works were completed/ongoing, in addition to 36,76,60,580 afforestation activities were carried out;
2. The Ministry of Rural Development in consultation and agreement with the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare has developed an actionable framework for Natural Resources Management (NRM), titled 'Mission Water Conservation" to ensure gainful utilization of funds. Types of common works undertaken under these programmes/ schemes are water conservation and management, water harvesting, soil and moisture conservation, groundwater recharge, flood protection, land development, Command Area Development & Watershed Management;
3. A joint advisory of the Department of Rural Development (DoRD), Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DoDWS) was issued on 24.04.2020 to all States/UTs to emphasize efforts in the area of water conservation and water management in the country essentially for rejuvenating small rivers by engaging the communities through participatory mode;
4. Hon'ble Prime Minister launched the Amrit Sarovar Mission on 24th April 2022. The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country as a part of the celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav;
5. Under the Namami Gange programme, for integrated rejuvenation of the National River Ganga and its tributaries, large numbers of smaller tributaries have been mapped along with their catchment areas/watersheds and wetlands. A GIS-based inventory of small rivers has also been created with additional district-wise information (https://nmcg.nic.in/abamaps.aspx). Restoration and rejuvenation of over 75 small rivers (lower order rivers/ tributaries of large rivers) leveraging support from MGNREGA, UP, and involving the District Ganga Committee in the Ganga basin have also been attempted. Besides, technical handholding through the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (c Ganga) led by IIT Kanpur for providing scientific/ technical support;
6. Apart from these, State Governments have also taken up many special programs for water conservation and rejuvenation of smaller rivers e.g., under the Small River Rejuvenation & Conservation plan, 19 rivers have been successfully taken up by the Uttar Pradesh Government. These rivers are River Tedi, Manorama, Pandu, Varuna, Sasur Khaderi, Sai, Gomti, Aril, Morva, Mandakini, Tamsa, Nad, Karnavati, Baan, Sot, Kali East, Dadi, Ishan and Budhi Ganga. For the conservation and rejuvenation, six projects on River Shivna, Mandakini, Rispana & Bindal, Kosi, Budhi Gandak, Ramrekha with focussed interventions have been taken up in the Ganga basin.