Context
The Government inaugurated the 3-day ‘Ganga Utsav 2021- the River Festival’ (1st to 3rd November, 2021).
About
- National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) celebrates Ganga Utsav every year to mark the anniversary of announcement of River Ganga as the ‘National River’ i.e. 4th November.
- The celebrations this year will be part of the ongoing celebrations for 75 years of Independence and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
- ‘Ganga Utsav 2021 – The River Festival’ will be celebrating not just River Ganga but all the rivers across the country.
- This year, the aim will be to take Ganga Utsav 2021 to the various river basins in India and promote the celebration of ‘Nadi Utsav’ (River Festival).
Causes of river pollution
Rivers in the country are polluted mainly due to:
- discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage from cities / towns and industrial effluents in their respective catchments
- problems in operation and maintenance of sewage / effluent treatment plants
- lack of dilution
- dumping of solid waste on river banks
- Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation
- other non-point sources of pollution
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
- National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
- Established in: 2011
- It acts as implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) that was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA), 1986.
- The Act envisages five tier structure as below:
- National Ganga Council under chairmanship Prime Minister
- Empowered Task Force (ETF) on river Ganga under chairmanship of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation)
- National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)
- State Ganga Committees
- District Ganga Committees
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