Focus: GS III- Environment
Why in News?
Recently, The 43rd meeting of the Executive Committee of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was held.
About National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
- National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was registered as a society on under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
- The government had set up the Clean Ganga Fund in 2014 – Using the funded money to finance NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga 2011), cleaning the river, setting up Waste Treatment Plants, Conservation of river biodiversity and related R&D projects.
- NMCG is the implementation wing of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council NGC).
The NMCG now has the status of an Authority and its key focus would be maintaining required ecological flows in the Ganga, abate pollution through planning, financing and execution of programmes including that of –
- Augmentation of Sewerage Infrastructure
- Catchment Area Treatment
- Protection of Floodplains
- Creating Public Awareness
Objectives :
- The mission incorporates rehabilitating and boosting the existing STPs and instant short-term steps to curb pollution at exit points on the riverfront in order to check the inflow of sewage.
- To maintain the continuity of the water flow without changing the natural season variations.
- To restore and maintain the surface flow and groundwater.
- To regenerate and maintain the natural vegetation of the area.
- To conserve and regenerate the aquatic biodiversity as well as the riparian biodiversity of the river Ganga basin.
- To allow participation of the public in the process of protection, rejuvenation and management of the river.
Need for Ganga Rejuvenation
- The Ganga Basin provides over one-third of India’s surface water, includes the country’s largest irrigated area, and is key to India’s water and food security.
- Over 40 percent of India’s GDP is generated in the densely populated Basin.
- But the Ganga river is today is facing pressures from human and economic activity that impact its water quality and flows.
- Over 80 per cent of the pollution load in the Ganga comes from untreated domestic wastewater from towns and cities along the river and its tributaries.
