Figure 5 . Ganga Basin Regions and the Key Agricultural Products (Source: Sati, 2021)
The NGP has achieved various milestones so far, including assisting in the release of Kanpur from the harmful effects of the Sisamau drain after a 128-year gap, which was infamous for the filth it was contributing to the Ganga. According to reports, approximately 140 MLD of waste has been stopped from flowing into the Holy Ganga. 97 towns within a 5-kilometer stretch of the Ganga have been identified to make necessary interventions, and several user-friendly mobile-based applications, such as the Green Ganga App and the Bhuvan Ganga App, have been launched for the sake of convenience . The Green Ganga App is used for geo-tagging seedlings and delineating plantation borders as part of Namami Gange’s continuous afforestation initiatives, whilst the Bhuvan Ganga App is utilized by the public to collect and submit information on different pollution sources that influence Ganga water quality.
The fundamental goal of the planned forestry interventions is to contribute to the holistic protection of the Ganga River, including enhancing the flow of the river (Aviralta) through a multi-pronged strategy across the Ganga riverscape. Since 2016-17, the project ”Forestry Interventions for Ganga” has been executed by the State Forest Departments of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal in accordance with the FRI DPR, with NMCG providing financial assistance to the relevant State Forest Departments .
As per Mr. Raman K. Tyagi, Director, NEER Foundation, apart from Ganga rejuvenation, we should also focus on Ganga’s tributaries and also on Yamuna (and the tributaries). Mr. Tyagi says that there is a perception among people, especially urban world that small rain-fed rivers can’t be revitalized, which is not true. The results of successful efforts made on the Ganga’s major tributary River Kali and Neem and while of Yamuna’s, the Hindon River have given us energy, enthusiasm and courage, but a concerted and systematic effort is needed. He then suggested a ‘Meri Nadi, Meri Pehal’ initiative where he quoted ten ‘Mool Mantra’ for rejuvenating the rivers. These are, ‘Knowledge of River; Mapping of Main River body; Rejuvenation of river resources; Solid-Liquid waste management; Cleaning of River bed; Public Awareness; Intensive Afforestation; Lake conservation; and Chemical free Agri practices .
NITI Aayog has recently declared ‘Jakhni’ village in Banda district of Bundelkhand as the Model ‘Jal Gram’, because, here the villagers have made the village green by planting trees along the ridges of the fields. Under the leadership of Uma Shankar Pandey, a social-worker from Jakhani, and hero of this initiative, almost 10-15 years ago few awake persons of the village formed the ‘Sarvoday Adarsh Jalgram Swaraj Abhiyan Samiti’. The samiti started to make people aware of conserving water. Neither any grant was taken from government in the course of this collective endeavor for water-conservation, nor utilized new machine-run technique― rather peasants, youths, unemployed-persons of the village themselves picked-up the spade, offered their time, provided selfless labor under shramdan, constructed ridges, prevented the water of village from being drained out, vitalized the water of village, emerged their village as the first Jalgram of country .
Furthermore, Secretary of Jaladhikar Foundation (Delhi), Mr. G. K. Agrawal, who is very active regarding the water conservation aspects of NGP, has been discussing the issue of water with different people of the society for quite a time now, advocates free water for everyone as he believes water is a natural commodity and no one should have rights to commercialize it, no matter what their obligations are. He believes that we all are equally responsible for ensuring clean water for everybody. He also says that the government expects the people to follow the constitution but the government itself is disobeying the constitution of nature. Instead of providing free water for living beings, the government is promoting its indiscriminate commercialization. The issue according to him is of mismanagement and unjustified allocation of water resources, especially among urban communities. He then concludes by praising the government’s Jal Jeevan Mission (Har Ghar Jal) initiative in this regard, but notes that more effort is needed to ensure the water quality, price, and distribution status scenarios .

Arth Ganga, Brand Ganga and Ganga tourism

To energize socio-economic development along the banks of the Ganges, a concept of ‘Arth ganga’ was visualized under “Namami Gange” mission which is now being pushed as a sub component of Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). During the inaugural meeting of the NGC in Kanpur on 14th Dec, 2019, Prime Minister Modi conceptualized the ”Arth Ganga” in order to revitalize economic activities along the Ganga River bank . Project’s major objective was to channelize economic activity along the Ganga River’s banks in order to support India’s inclusive growth and provide enormous job oppertunities. Project is currently being implemented by Ministry of Shipping of the Government of India in coordination with Ministry of water resources (via NMCG).
PM Modi, in this meeting also instructed the governments of the five gangetic states to focus on increasing religious and adventure tourism on the river in order to create sustainable coinage for cleaning the Ganga. He believes that the focus should change from Namami Gange to Arth ganga, which will support the sustainable development paradigm through economic activity. He went on to say that a digital dashboard should be built up to collect data on water quality from villages and urban bodies, and that it should be monitored by the Niti Aayog .
Speaking at the sixth India Water Impact Summit, current Union Water Resources Minister, Sh. G. S. Shekhawat, urged for collaboration among diverse activities being performed throughout the world to address increasing water concerns, and stated that information gained from the Ganga will be shared with the rest of the world. He then stressed the terms ‘Arth Ganga’ and ‘Gyan Ganga,’ saying that in order for Ganga to have a worldwide appeal, it must be branded, and that eventually, Ganga tourism, Ganga Medicine, Ganga Products, and so on will demarcate the Ganga River .
In a case study, based on the E-Flows Related Livelihood in the Ganga River, Mr. Panta (IIT, Kanpur) focuses on the interaction between river resources and livelihood, with the backdrop of river resource exploitation generating an imbalance in flow-related livelihood, ultimately leading to the extinction of river resources. For the first time, a study recommended that the river’s Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) be kept in a desirable state in order to increase environmental flows (e-flows) and encourage livelihood opportunities such as tourism and pilgrimage in the states like Uttarakhand (Haridwar-Rishikesh) and Uttar Pradesh (Kachhla Ghat-Bithoor) .
Ms. Gupta, in The Print news article, regarding ‘Arth Ganga’ writes that the government now plans to make Ganga a focus of economic activities by establishing floating flower and fruit markets similar to those seen in Srinagar’s Dal Lake, as well as ferry service to transfer commuters to various areas inside towns. This project envisions the construction of small community jetties to convey farmers selling flowers, vegetables, milk products, and pottery to lively markets in the four states along the Ganga’s banks. In addition, the government has proposed launching boat services connecting various sites throughout the city, including tourism attractions. It was first presented by the PM as a concept of sustainable development model centered on economic activities and livelihood generating from the river .
Current DG, NMCG, Mr. G. Ashok, while talking about Arth Ganga, at 7th Smart Cities India Expo where NMCG had also set up a booth on the theme ‘Arth Ganga for Smart Cities,’ said that the objective of ‘Arth Ganga’ is primarily to connect people and Ganga through the bridge of commerce. He also discussed the six pillars, which include monetizing sludge (by supplying farmers with natural manure), monetizing cleaned water, establishing ghats and other infrastructure, generating markets/tourism, institution building, and capacity building. Other topics discussed at the event included the need to strengthen people-river connections, promote circular water economy, adopt sustainable agriculture practices, conserve and protect riverine ecosystems and biodiversity, localized climate change mitigation solutions, and revitalize natural and cultural heritage .
The minister of State for Shipping, Sh. Mandaviya, while speaking at a press conference, emphasized that inland waterways is one of the most significant pillars of the “Arth-Ganga” project, which would result in inclusive growth and play a vital role in the creation of massive job possibilities along the National Waterways stretch. Many initiatives, such as the development of tiny jetties by the Ministry of Shipping, have been carried out for the benefit of local communities, particularly farmers, traders, and the general public, along the 1400km stretch of National Waterway-1 from Banaras to Haldia. Farmers will earn a higher return on their produce since transportation of goods will be easier and less expensive as a result of this. It will increase the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and the ‘Ease of Living’ .

Soil health and Industrial waste management, wetland monitoring and conservation

Modern agricultural practices are major contributors to soil degradation and fertility loss, water pollution, and natural resource depletion in the river system. While these are global issues, the extreme land and water constraints of the Ganga basin’s agriculture have accelerated the degradation of its agricultural lands, with eroded soils and nutrients running into the Ganga River network and seriously affecting the rivers and other ecosystems. As a result, there is an urgent need to develop and promote appropriate sustainable agricultural practices to prevent further damage to the basin and its agricultural lands. Soil Erosion, Soil Nutrient Availability, Soil Biodiversity, and Water Usage are the primary concerns and for this reason environmentally sustainable agriculture should be promoted in the basin area.
Pollutants such as industrial waste, sewage, toxic chemicals, solid waste, dead bodies disposal, pollutants from cremation grounds, temple wastes, and the plastic usage, are all contributing towards deterioration of the Ganga basin eco-system (Figure 6). Due to rapid urbanization, Ganga collects an average of over 6 billion liters per day of untreated sewage into her from the cities, towns, and villages along her banks. Every day, hundreds of factories and tanneries discharge an additional 260 million liters of untreated industrial wastewater. Pollution is caused by the application of six million tons of chemical fertilizer and 9,000 tons of pesticides to agricultural fields in the basin .