• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the second meeting of the National Ganga Council meeting in Kolkata via video conferencing.

• The meeting was attended by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and other Union Ministers who are members of the Council besides the chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Instead of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav was present at the meeting.

• During the meeting, the PM emphasised on ways to enhance various forms of herbal farming along the Ganga. He also laid foundation stone and dedicated Namami Gange and Drinking Water-Sanitation Projects to the nation via video conferencing.

• The first meeting of the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (known as National Ganga Council) was held in Kanpur in December 2019.

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 river passes through mainly five states — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

• 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: 

i)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. 

ii) 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.

• National Mission for Clean Ganga acted as implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986. 

• NGRBA was dissolved with effect from October 7, 2016, consequent to the constitution of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (known as National Ganga Council).

The Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 envisages five tier structure at national, state and district level to take measures for prevention, control, and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water to rejuvenate the river Ganga as below:

i) National Ganga Council under chairmanship of Prime Minister of India.

ii) Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga under chairmanship of Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

iii) National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

iv) State Ganga Committees.

v) District Ganga Committees in every specified district abutting river Ganga and its tributaries in the states.

• NMCG has a two-tier management structure comprising of Governing Council and executive committee which are headed by director general, NMCG.

• NMCG has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with various central ministries for effective implementation and success of its multi-disciplinary programme.

• 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.

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