Namami Gange Mission.

20,000 crores dumped down the river in four years.

Namami Gange Mission is both a dream and a promise washed down the river (or should we call it washed down the sewage?). The mission was launched with much fanfare and enthusiasm as it should be for any new mission only to end up with no clean water flowing into the river as promised. Calling the 'Clean Ganga' scheme a failure, the National Green Tribunal slammed the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government for their failure to clean the river in Varanasi

The Ganga River is the longest river in the country. The basin of the 2525 km long river spans four countries (China, Nepal, India, Bangladesh) and 11 Indian states running across large areas of Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. It supports 29 Class I cities, 23 Class II cities, 48 towns and thousands of villages and serves around 400 million people. Few will actually admit it but the total sewage flow into the river system, with its 40 tributaries is greater than the water flow itself. 7,300 million litres of sewage is flowing directly or indirectly into the river every day in the form of effluents dumped from over 1500 polluting industries in the bank of the river and chemical fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural fields. The river which is worshipped and revered because of its purity is also subjected to religious rituals. More than 60 million people came to the Ganga river in the city of Allahabad for pilgrimage in January 2007 during Kumbh Mela, making it the largest gathering in the world. It will again happen in January 2019. 

The river with its long course of journey into villages and towns alike runs the risk of being subjected to various adverse anthropogenic activities like urban and industrial pollution, catchment degradation, flood plain encroachment, unsustainable sand mining, building of dams and hydropower projects, biodiversity loss, deforestation, loss of local water bodies, unsustainable groundwater extraction, failure of pollution control mechanism and governance, climate change and much more that affects not just the main stream but also most of it's tributaries.The project of cleaning a water body of this magnitude and diversity is a complex and challenging business. Integrated and systematic ramping up of cleaning process is the right way to do it. 

However the government's idea of pursuing a limited scope of cleaning up the sewage inflow would hardly qualify for a river cleaning project. Even if it’s attractive to look at the water pollution problem and treat it in isolation, one cannot lose sight of the fact that all the problems plaguing the river are inter-related. The government has misjudged, mismanaged  and underestimated the multidisciplinary technical expertise and synchronization that was required to achieve a clean Ganga river. Just creating a focused ministry on a project mode without the necessary comprehension of geological and ecological integrity of  nature was the tragic mistake of the Namami ganga project. The scheme is 100% centrally funded but is implemented by local authorities. Many STPs have been constructed and how it performs will show the feasibility of reducing the problem. A recent RTI revealed that the quality of Ganga has deteriorated in last four years even at Varanasi.

A mindset that does not really understand a river and sees it essentially as a water channel that can be endlessly dammed and exploited(waterways, dredging, river linking plan, riverfront development) in the name of development would apparently result in new threats for the river. In Uttarakhand, in the name of Char Dham Yatra, lakhs of trees are being cut, fraudulent ways are used to escape scrutiny, all affecting the river in the name of religious tourism, not even thinking who needs that all-weather road that looks more like an invitation to disaster. Each of them are pushed without even assessing the impact of these projects on the river and its health. Most importantly, the whole catchment is in a continuous process of degradation, reducing its capacity to hold, store and recharge rainwater locally. But there is no attention or effort of the state or the central governments to reverse that. Nevertheless, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been repeatedly saying that  Clean (nimral) Ganga can never be achieved without ensuring year round flow in the river (aviral) .

With the elections approaching, the government will surely come up with a dramatic quick fix to the problem. However, a government that remains in election mode will not always be able to comprehend the intricacies of such a complex subject. 

History of Ganga cleaning efforts

• Aug 2011

National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)[iv]was registered as a society on 12th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act 1860. It acted as implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),19

• June 2014

The newly elected NDA govt at center renamed Ministry of  Water Resources as Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and all the work related to Ganga and other tributaries was transferred from Ministry of Environment and Forests to the new ministry. The Union Government in June 2014 allocated a budget outlay of Rs.20,000 Crore

•Feb 2015

A High Level Task Force (HLTF) was constituted on 6th Feb 2015 under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary to facilitate interaction among Ministries/ Departments and State Governments and to ensure effective coordination and implementation of the program(first sign of ineffective structure and complications)

• 2016

Government of India constituted Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation consisting of Secretary of concerned Ministries and Chief Secretary of states and CEO, Niti Aayog.(repeated sign of nonperformance and capacity insufficience)

• Sept 2016 

The constitution of National Ganga Council (NGC) , justification “Although, the NMCG has been functional as a registered Society since 2012 its role has been largely limited to fund the projects to implementing organisations. It neither had the mandate to take cognizance of various threats to river Ganga nor the powers to issue directions to the concerned authorities/polluters. While the organisation has been made responsible as custodian of river Ganga in both public eye as well as various courts, the mission is grossly ill-equipped to handle such expectations. It is expected that the move (constitution of NGC and Ganga notification) will ensure effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the River Ganga, maintain ecological flows in the River, impose restrictions on polluting industries and carry out inspections to ensure compliance. In addition, it is proposed to maintain and disseminate data and carry out research on the condition of the river.” (full and final admission of failure and implementation and non feasible programme) There is no evidence to show any of these have been achieved."

• Oct 2016

National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council) was constituted under notification no. O. 3187(E) dt. 7th October 2016 under EPA 1986, to replace NGRBA. The NGC is headed by the Prime Minister

• Sept 2017 

With nothing to offer as explanation, the portfolio of “Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation” was given as an additional portfolio to Nitin Gadkar(a political apology)