GS Paper 3:
Topics Covered: Conservation and Pollution related issues.
Context:
The National Mission for Clean Ganga has set a Guinness World Record on the first day of the Ganga Utsav for the highest number of photos of handwritten notes uploaded on Facebook in an hour.
Background:
The event was held to raise awareness on Ganga rejuvenation and to expand the reach of the festival.
People posted poems or articles on ‘Maa Ganga’ on the Namami Gange Facebook page.
National Mission for Clean Ganga policy document on the conservation of river Ganga:
- Cities situated on Ganga river banks will have to incorporate river conservation plans when they prepare their Master Plans.
- These “river-sensitive” plans must be practical and consider questions of encroachment and land ownership.
- There is a need for a systematic rehabilitation plan for such encroaching entities that emphasizes alternative livelihood options in addition to a relocation strategy.
- The Master Plan shouldn’t mandate specific technologies, but it can “create an environment” for facilitating the use of state-of-the-art technologies (without naming the providers) for river management.
Applicability:
The recommendations are currently for towns that are on the main stem of the river Ganga. There are 97 of them encompassing 5 States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal.
About the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG):
It was registered as a society on 12th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
It acted as the implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986.
- Please note, NGRBA was dissolved with effect from the 7th October 2016, consequent to the constitution of the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council).
Some facts related to Ganges:
- Ganga is the third largest river in the world by discharge.
- The mouth of River Ganga forms the world’s largest delta, known as Sunderbans, and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
Insta Curious:
Do you know about MITRAS – FRIENDS OF THE GANGES ? Read Here
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Composition of NGC.
- About NGRBA.
- What is NMCG?
- Components of Namami Gange Programme.
- World Bank group.
Mains Link:
Discuss the roles and functions of NMCG.
Sources: the Hindu.
