Source: The Hindu
Manifest pedagogy: Ganga is more than a river for Indians but it had been treated in a worse manner. Since NDA-I regime the river has been given special emphasis. All the activities and the progresses that have happened to those activities are important. One has to study them in detail for both Prelims and Mains.
In news: Modi chairs first meeting of Ganga Council
Placing it in syllabus: Environmental Conservation
Dimensions:
- NMCG
- Policy initiatives under NGRBA
- Namami Ganga
- HAM projects
- Ganga knowledge centre
- Clean Ganga fund (CGF)
Content: Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently chaired the first meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) in Kanpur. The council was constituted in 2016 to oversee the cleaning of the Ganga and is supposed to meet at least once a year with the Prime Minister chairing the session.
In the meeting it was decided that-
- ‘Namami Gange’ should holistically evolve to ‘Arth Ganga’ i.e. a sustainable development model with a focus on economic activities related to Ganga.
- A digital dashboard where data from villages and urban bodies to be monitored on a daily basis by NITI Ayog and Ministry of Jal Shakti would be set up.
- The of religious and adventure tourism in the Ganga river basin area to be explored in future.
The National Ganga Council is overall responsible for the superintendence, direction, development and control of River Ganga and the entire river basin for the protection, prevention, control, abatement of environmental pollution and rejuvenation.
NMCG:
- National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG) was set up as a registered 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 dissolved in October 2016, consequent to constitution of National Ganga Council.
- The Act envisages five tier structure at national, state and district level to take measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga.
- National Ganga Council under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
- Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga
- National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)
- State Ganga Committees
- District Ganga Committees
- NMCG has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee.
Policy initiatives under NGRBA:
- Tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).
- Independent Appraisal of Details Project Reports(DPRs).
- Third Party Inspections.
- City Level Monitoring Committees.
- Revised Guidelines for Preparation of Details Project Reports(DPRs).
- Dolphin Conservation.
- Streamlining of Review and Monitoring mechanism in States.
- Involvement of NGRBA experts.
- Public Outreach and Awareness, Involvement of youth.
- Ganga Knowledge Centre.
- Water Quality Monitoring with a focus on Real time, Online assessment.
- Ganga River Basin Management Plan(GRBMP).
Namami Gange:
- Namami Gange Programme is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as ‘Flagship Programme’ in June 2014 with total budgetary outlay of Rs 20,000 crore for 5 year period till 31 December 2020.
- It has twin objectives – effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
Main pillars of the Namami Gange Programme are:
- Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure
- River-Front Development
- River-Surface Cleaning
- Biodiversity
- Afforestation
- Public Awareness
- Industrial Effluent Monitoring
- Ganga Gram
Its implementation has been divided into:
- Entry-Level Activities (for immediate visible impact)
- Medium-Term Activities (to be implemented within 5 years of time frame)
- Long-Term Activities (to be implemented within 10 years)
HAM projects:
Under the hybrid annuity model (HAM), 16 more sewage treatments plants (STOs) aimed at checking pollution and fast-track Ganga cleaning programmes have been approved. These are in addition to three plants at Varanasi, Haridwar and Mathura to treat 200 MLD (million litres per day) on a cumulative basis.
The projects approved now are for about 725 MLD capacity. Under HAM, 40 percent of the capital cost is paid during the construction period and balance 60 per cent is paid as quarterly annuity, over a period of 15 years linked with STP performance.
On December 5th, 2019 the 14MLD Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Sarai in Haridwar was inaugurated. The Sarai 14 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant is the first STP to be completed under the HAM based Public Private Partnership Model.
This plant is based on advanced aerobic biological process, Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) process, capable of removing the nutrients during treatment and is a 100% eco-friendly project.
Another unique feature of this HAM project is that after its commissioning, this plant will also be maintained and operated for a period of 15 years by the same developer for efficient performance and for meeting output parameters.
In order to improve the quality of water in river Ganga in the state of Uttarakhand, 34 Projects of Sewerage infrastructure works have been taken up, out of which 23 have been completed and the remaining projects are at different stages of execution and implementation.
Ganga Knowledge Centre:
- Ganga Knowledge Centre (GKC) is set up at NMCG primarily to address issues of River Ganga and to enhance the quality of implementation of the NGRBA program.
- It is a premiere and autonomous knowledge based institution which will blend system characterization, innovation and stakeholder participation so as to optimize the investments of NGRBA.
- The major objectives of GKC are:
- Create and manage knowledge resources including analysis and modeling of diverse data sets relevant to Ganga River Basin.
- Design and foster research innovation through identification of knowledge gaps.
- Facilitate stakeholder dialogue through public involvement and building partnerships with universities/institutions of national & international repute, public & private entities and NGOs.
GKC is envisaged to generate state of the art scientific and technical knowledge even while reflecting constantly on traditional and local knowledge and stay connected to the stakeholders.
Clean Ganga Fund (CGF):
- In January, 2015, Clean Ganga Fund was set up which is funded by voluntary contributions from residents of the country and Non-Resident Indian (NRIs) / Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and others.
- The Fund will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of cleaning of the river Ganga.
- Domestic donors to the Fund shall be eligible for tax benefits.
- The Fund would be managed by a Trust headed by the Finance Minister.
The activities financed from the Fund are:
- Activities outlined under the ‘Namami Gange’ programme for cleaning of river Ganga.
- Control of nonpoint pollution
- Setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities.
- Conservation of the biotic diversity of the river.
- Community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river.
- Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment.
- R&D and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning the river.
- Independent oversight through intensive monitoring and real time reporting.
As of November, 2018, only 18% of the CGF money is spent. PSUs have made the largest contribution to the CGF, amounting to 83% of the total contribution. The lowest contribution has been made by NRIs and PIOs, which is only 1.6% of the total contribution.
