Explainer / Namami Gange programme

The World Bank will provide $400 million (Rs 3,023.10 crore) assistance to enhance support for the Namami Gange programme that seeks to rejuvenate the Ganga river.

The Second National Ganga River Basin Project (SNGRBP) will help stem pollution in the iconic river and strengthen the management of the river basin, the World Bank said.

India’s National River

River Ganga has significant economic, environmental and cultural value in India. Rising in the Himalayas and flowing in to the Bay of Bengal, the river traverses a course of more than 2,500 km through the plains of north and eastern India. 

The Ganga basin – which also extends into parts of Nepal, China and Bangladesh – accounts for 26 per cent of India’s landmass, 30 per cent of its water resources. Over 40 per cent of India's gross domestic product is generated in the densely populated basin. 

The river is facing pressures from human and economic activities 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.

Following the declaration of Ganga as the National River in 2008, there was a paradigm shift in the efforts at cleaning the river. 

National Mission for Clean Ganga

National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) started the Mission Clean Ganga in 2009 with the objectives of: 

* Ensuring effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning and management. 

* Maintaining environmental flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development. 

In 2011, National Ganga River Basin Project helped set up the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) as the nodal agency to manage the river, and financed sewage treatment infrastructure in several riverside towns and cities.

Namami Gange Programme, is an integrated conservation mission, approved as a flagship programme by the Union government. It was launched in May 2015 with a budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of national river Ganga.

NGRBA was dissolved in 2016, consequent to constitution of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council).

The main pillars of Namami Gange are:

* Sewerage treatment infrastructure

* Riverfront development

* River surface cleaning

* Biodiversity

* Afforestation

* Public awareness

* Industrial effluent monitoring

* Ganga Gram

In 2019, the ministry of jal shakti was formed by merging ministry of water resources, river development & ganga rejuvenation and ministry of drinking water and sanitation. 

Now, NMCG falls under the department of water resources, river development & ganga rejuvenation in ministry of jal shakti.

Till September 2019, a total of 305 projects have been sanctioned under the mission for a cost of Rs 28,614 crore. 

World Bank’s support to the programme

The World Bank has been supporting the government’s efforts since 2011 through the ongoing National Ganga River Basin Project (NGRBP). 

A World Bank funded National Ganga River Basin Project (Ganga–I) for an amount of $600 million is currently ongoing and is approved up to December 31, 2021 for funding infrastructure projects of pollution abatement in the river Ganga.

With a funding of Rs 4,535 Crores, Ganga-I helped build sewage infrastructure in 20 towns along the main stem of the Ganga. Sewage Treatment Plants with a capacity of 793 million litres per day (MLD) have been created, along with 3,589 km of sewage network. Several crucial projects have been completed in Rishikesh, Muni Ki Reti, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Narora, Anupshahar, Patna, Sahibganj.

The Second National Ganga River Basin Project has now been given the go-ahead for an amount of $400 million for taking up projects on the tributaries of Ganga with a view to address pollution abatement in the entire Ganga basin, a statement by the National Mission for Clean Ganga said.

Under Ganga-II, 482 MLD STP (sewage treatment plant) capacity would be created. In addition, 378 MLD STP capacity and 911 kilometres of sewage network approved under Ganga-I will be funded. The SNGRBP will finance sewage networks and treatment plants in select urban areas to help control pollution discharges.

These infrastructure investments and the jobs they will generate will also help India’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, the World Bank said.

The project will also help NMCG develop state-of-the-art tools to help manage the river basin more effectively.

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