This document discusses the importance and challenges facing the Ganga River basin in India. It notes that the Ganga basin is the largest in India, hosting 43% of the country's population. However, growing population and industrialization are increasing water pollution and demand. Efforts over the decades through programs like the Ganga Action Plan, Namami Gange, and court interventions have aimed to manage the river in a holistic way and curb pollution. The current Namami Gange program takes a basin-wide approach and focuses on pollution abatement, conservation, and improving management across 11 states.

1. Vasundhara Singh Gautam

2. Source: ‘River Basin Atlas of India’ (2012), Ministry
of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga
Rejuvenation, Government of India
25 River Basins in India
Ganga
Basin

3. Importance of Ganga Basin
 Geographical coverage (largest)– 26%
 Most populated basin – hosts 43% of India’s
population, serving an estimated population of 500
million people across 11 states.
 Second highest average annual surface water
potential – 28% of India’s total
 38% of India’s total estimated utilizable water comes
from Ganga Basin – highest amongst all
 Total surface and groundwater storage in Ganga
basin is largest – groundwater share is 64%
 Nearly 40% of India’s total estimated replenishable
ground water resources comes from Ganga Basin

4. CHALLENGE
The per capita availability of India in 2010 is
1,588 m3/year – moving towards water
stress
Demand expected to increase by 38% in
next 4 decades
Based on a study, demand for domestic
sector to grow 2.6 times, energy 3.7 times
and industry 2.2 times in in next 4 decades
Partially or untreated municipal sewage –
75% of the pollution load to streams & water
bodies
Estimated sewage generation in India –
62000 MLD
Treatment capacity available only for 32% of
sewage generated (CPCB, 2015)
Industries contribute approximately 25% of
the pollution load – highly toxic in nature
GROWING POPULATION AND
INCREASE IN WATER
DEMAND:
INCREASE IN WATER
POLLUTION:
Irrigatio…
Domesti
c
6%
Energy
3%
Industrie
s
6%

5. CHALLENGE
Highly seasonal rainfall–
concentrated over 4-5 months
Huge geographical variations in rainfall
across the country
One-sixth of geographical area (40
million hectares) of country is drought-
prone
Around 7.5 million hectares affected by
flood
Forecasting and warning systems not
efficient
Ganga-Brahmaputra-Barak basins are
international river basins –
management driven by agreements or
treaties between riparian countries
Remaining basins are mostly inter-state
Water is a State subject – Centre only to
manage in case of inter-state disputes
Multiple rights holders – States, Sectors,
Individuals and Communities
High seasonal variations &
Extreme weather events –
floods/droughts
Trans- boundary water
issues:

6. CHALLENGE
Water is a State subject
Management of water by multiple institutions– CWC, CPCB, CGWB,
NDWA, etc.
River basin encompasses more than one State and its management
require coordination between all stakeholders/departments/institutions
Instead of following river-basin management, most efforts by Government
to manage river were town-centric and implemented by individual
States
Activities in the upstream of a basin affects the downstream – cannot be
managed by administrative boundaries
Management will not be holistic if basin approach is not taken
Most efforts have failed because of fragmented management
Fragmented Management

7. GANGA ACTION PLAN
 Launched on 14th January, 1986.
 Objective: Pollution abatement, to improve water quality by
interception, diversion and treatment of domestic sewage and toxic
and industrial chemical wastes present from identified grossly
polluting units entering the river.
 After reviewing the effectiveness of Ganga Action Plans, Government
announced “MISSION CLEAN GANGA ” Project on 31st December,
2009
 Objective: that by 2020, no municipal sewage and industrial waste
would be released in the river without treatment
 Budget allocated: Rs. 15, 000 Crore.
 Government also established the National Ganga River Basin Authority
(NGBRA), Chaired by the Prime Minister
 Objective: ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of
the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach.

8. NAMAMI GANGA PROGRAM
 Accordingly, an integrated Ganga Conservation
Mission called “Namami Gange” has been proposed to
be set up and a sum of Rs. 2,037 crores has been set
aside for the purpose of conservation and
improvement of the Ganga.
 Fund of Rs. 100 Crores has been allocated for
developments of Ghats and beautification of River
fronts of
KedarNath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Vranasi, Allahabad,
Patna and Delhi.

9. ‘Namami Gange’ – Holistic approach
Thrust Areas
Improved Inter-Ministerial and
Centre-State Co-ordination
Tributaries and sub-
tributaries of Ganga brought
under one umbrella –
Holistic Basin Approach
Pollution
abatement
Wholesome
River
Peoples’
participation
and creating
awareness
Research and
Monitoring
Capacity
Building and
State’s
participation
Conservation
of biodiversity
River Front
Developme
nt
Flood-plain
protection &
Sand-
Mining
Ganga River Basin
Management Plan (GRBMP)
by IIT Consortium

10. ‘Namami Gange’ – Holistic approach contd.
 Duration: 5 Years 2015-16 to 2019-20
 Cost (2015-16 to 2019-20): ₹20,000 crores
 Includes ongoing projects and new
initiatives
 Four-fold increase over the expenditure
in the past 30 years
 Primary focus on pollution abatement
 Moving from ‘River Cleaning’ to
‘River Rejuvenation’
Municipal Sewage
Management
River Surface Cleaning
Industrial Pollution
Rural Sanitation
Water Quality Monitoring
Biodiversity Conservation
Connecting People with
River
Aviral Ganga
Crematoria

11. Following are proposed to be taken up under
Namami Gange Program:
 1) Nirmal Dhara- ensuring sustainable municipal sewage
management
 Project prioritization in coordination with Ministry of
Urban Development
 Incentive for states to take up projects on Ganga Main Sem,
by providing them share of central grants for sewerage
infrastructure.
 Uniform standards for the both MoUD scheme and
Namami Gange programme, Mandatory reuse of treated
water.
 Expanding coverage of sewerage infrastructure in 118 urban
habitations on banks of Ganga – estimated cost by MoUD
in Rs. 51000 Crores.

12. Following are proposed to be taken up
under Namami Gange Program:
2) Nirmal Dhara- managing sewage from Rural Areas
 Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation scheme for
all Ganga bank Gram Panchayats(1632) free from open
defacation by 2022, at a cost of Rs 1700 Crores as
central share
3) Nirmal Dhara- managing industrial discharge:
 Making zero liquid discharge mandatory
 Rationalized water traffic to encourage reuse
 Real time water quality monitoring

13. Following are proposed to be taken up
under Namami Gange Program:
 iv) Aviral Dhara: Enforcing River Regulatory Zones on
Ganga Banks
 Rational agricultural practices, efficient irrigation methods
 Restoration and conservation of wetlands
v) Ensuring ecological rejuvenation by conservation of
aquatic life and biodiversity
vi) Promotion of Tourism and Shipping in a rational and
sustainable manner
vii) Knowledge management on Ganga through Ganga
Knowledge Centre leading to a Ganga University of River
Sciences

14. 14
Efforts Towards Ganga Conservation
GAP I
• Launched in
1985
• Focus on
Main stem of
River Ganga
• 25 Towns
Covered
• 260 schemes
completed
GAP II
• Extended from
GAP I in 1993
• Merged with
NRCP in 1996
• Taken up
works on four
tributaries –
Yamuna,
Gomti,
Damodar &
Mahananda
NRCP
• Launched in
1995
• Covered 41
major Rivers of
the country
• 8 Ganga basin
rivers taken up
viz Betwa,
Chambal,
Gang.a,
Mahananda,
Mandakini,
Ramganga,
Yamuna
NGRBA
• Separate
Authority for
Ganga
created in
2009
• Chaired by
Prime
Minister of
India
• NMCG as an
implementin
g body at
center and
SPMGs at
states
Namami
Gange
• Project under
Separate
Ministry for
Ganga
Rejuvenation
• All 11 Basin
states covered
• Conservation
measures for
all tributaries
of Ganga
• GAP :Ganga Action Plan
• NRCP : National River Conservation Plan
• NGRBA :National Ganga River Basin Authority
• NMCG :National Mission for Clean Ganga
• SPMGs :State Program Management Groups
A Shift Towards Basin Based
Approach

15. HOW COURT CAME TO RESCUE
 1) M.C Mehta v. Union of India (1985)
 In the pilgrimage city of Haridwar, along the Ganga;
 A matchstick tossed by a smoker resulted in the river catching on
fire for more than 30 hours, due to the presence of a toxic layer of
chemicals produced by a pharmaceutical firm.
 In response to this incident, environmental lawyer and social
activist M.C. Mehta filed a writ petition in the SC charging that
government authorities had not taken effective steps to prevent
environmental pollution of the waters of the Ganga.
 The scale of the case - the whole 2,500-km stretch of the river -
proved to be intractable.
 So the Court requested Mr. Mehta to narrow down his focus
 So he chose the city of Kanpur, despite neither being from the
city nor living there. In Mehta’s words, “It (Kanpur) was in the
middle of the Ganga basin; the reddish colour of the pollution
made the pollution highly salient, and the city seemed
representative of many other cities in the Ganga Basin.”

16.  2. M.C Mehta v. Union of India (1987)
 Court had issued certain directions with regard to the
industries in which the business of tanning was being carried
on near Kanpur on the banks of the River Ganga.
 The court directed:
 The nuisance caused by the pollution was a public nuisance,
 the water in the River Ganga at Kanpur had become so much
polluted that it could no longer be used by the people for
drinking or bathing. The Nagar Mahapalika of Kanpur had to
bear the major responsibility for the pollution of the river
near the Kanpur city.
 The construction of certain works, undertaken under the
Ganga Action Plan at Kanpur were going on at a snail's pace.
The Court expected the authorities concerned to complete
those works within the target dates .

17.  The Court directed the Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika to
submit its proposals for sewage treatment works to the
State Board constituted under Water Act, within 6 months.
 The dairies might either be shifted outside the city so that
the waste at the dairies did not ultimately reach the river
Ganga.
 The Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika should take immediate
steps to increase the size of the sewers in the labour
colonies.
 Immediate action should also be taken by the Kanpur
Nagar Mahapalika to construct sufficient number of public
latrines and urinals to prevent defecation by people on the
open land.
 The Court further directed that the practice of throwing
corpses and semi-burnt corpses into the river Ganga should
be immediately brought to an end.

18. 3. Rakesh Jaiswal vs. the State of UP (1997)
 It was initiated by a letter written directly to Justice Malaviya of the
Allahabad High Court.
 In this letter, an environmental activist from Kanpur alleged that
police officers were throwing unclaimed bodies into the river Ganga
to dispose of them and pocketing the money allocated by the police
department for cremation.
 The Justice treated the letter as a writ petition by way of public
interest litigation as it involved not only pollution of river Ganges
but also of the entire atmosphere at Kanpur.
 Accordingly, he ordered:
 To let the notice be issued to State of U.P., State Pollution Control
Board, U.P. Lucknow as, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi and
the concerned authority of Ganga Action Plan. The notices shall also
be issued to Director General of Police, U.P. Lucknow
 as the letter under reference states that even when eco-friendly
people or society try to clean Ganga by taking out the dead bodies
and carcasses the police, instead of appreciating them, their efforts.

19. 4. Ganga Pollution vs. State of U.P and Ors. (2012)
 This Public Interest Litigation was filed with regard to
immersion of Idols by Durga Puja Barawari in the Ganga and
Yamuna in the city of Allahabad.
 This Court after the hearing issued various directions were
passed, which was made effective by the year 2013 and stated
on behalf of the administration that in the next year i.e. 2013
the immersion of idols shall not be permitted in the river
Ganga and Yamuna and some other suitable arrangements
shall be made well in advance.
 The Court in its subsequent order had also noted the report
of the U.P. Pollution Control Board that the quality of water
deteriorated after immersion of idols in the rivers.

20. 5. Uttarakhand Ganga Pollution Case, 2017
 The Uttarakhand High Court in March 2017, recognised
river Ganga as the first ‘living entity’ of India, granting it
the same legal rights as a human being.
 Being recognized as a living entity has several legal
implications, “It means now Ganga and Yamuna rivers will
be treated like a natural person but only through a
designated person,”
 It arose by a PIL by advocate Lalit Miglani in December
2016. In the last hearing, the court had ordered the closing
down of 150 “defaulting” commercial establishments, and
asked for a fine on anybody who’s found defecating,
littering or urinating within a radius of 500 metre of the
river.

21. Meeting the challenge:opportunities
Problem flagged at
appropriate time
• River Ganga is still a living river (Dissolved Oxygen
meets the standard at majority of the segments)
• Rejuvenation efforts initiated with launch of
‘Namami Gange’
• Dolphins, turtles, ghariyals though threatened but
efforts to conserve these species are initiated
Existing Institutions
• River Ganga declared as ‘National River’
• Prime Minister announced ‘Namami Gange’ Program
• Budget allocated for Ganga Rejuvenation has increased
4 fold – Rs 20,000 Crores till 2019-20
Sharing of
international
experience
National Commitment
and Priority
• National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) – an
apex level Authority chaired by Hon’ble PM of India
• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) –
implementing body of NGRBA
• State Program Management Group (SPMGs) – in all 5
basin states
• Successful experience of international rivers such as
Rhine, Danube, Thames, Murray-Darling, etc.
provides learning for Ganga Rejuvenation