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 .