The Ganga River originates from the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas and flows through northern India and Bangladesh before draining into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta. It is over 2,500 km long and is considered sacred by Hindus, with many pilgrims visiting its waters and ashes being immersed in the river. However, the Ganga River is also increasingly polluted due to waste from numerous cities, towns and industries located along its banks, threatening the river's ecology and spreading water-borne diseases. Efforts have been made through plans like the Ganga Action Plan to reduce pollution and clean the river, but with limited success so far.

1. By Anirudha
Rai

2. It drains into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the
Sunderbans.
The Ganga is a major Indian river flowing through the plains of
Northern India into Bangladesh.
The 2510km[1557m] long river begins at the Gangotri Glacier
in the central Himalayas.

3. COURSE
The Ganga originates in the Himalayas after the
confluence of six rivers.
The streams are fed by the melting snow and ice
from the glaciers.
It emerges from the Himalayas at the pilgrimage town
of Haridwar.

4. The Ganges which till this point flows in a South-Western
direction now begins to flow in a South-Eastern
direction.
It is joined by the River Yamuna at a point called Sangamam
a scared place in Hinduism.

5. It flows through the plains and enters Bangladesh.
It fans out into the 350km wide Ganges Delta.
It empties into the Bay of Bengal.

6. The Story Of The Descent Of
Ganga
King Bagiratha
through his penance
was responsible for
the descent of Ganga
from Heaven to Earth
As the might of the
river was too much
for Earth to
withstand, he prayed
to Lord Shiva who
caught the river in
his matted hair.

7. HISTORY
Megasthanese was the first Westerner to
mention Ganges in his work Indika.
Jawarharlal Nehru in his book ‘ Discovery of India’ says
The story of the Ganges from her source to the sea
is the story of India’s civilization and culture, of the
rise and fall of empires ,of great and proud cities,
of adventures of man…..

8. In Rome’s Piazza Navona, there is a fountain
of four Rivers–
The Ganges, The Nile, The Daunbe and The
Rio De La Plata.
This is the architectural creation of Bermin in
1651.

9. RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
The Ganga is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the
earliest Hindu scriptures.
Ancient scriptures mention that The Ganges
carries the blessings of Lord Vishnu’s feet
and hence the name ‘Vishnupadi’ meaning
‘Emanating from the lotus feet of the
Supreme Lord Vishnu’.

10. The Ganga is worshipped by the Hindus
and personified as a Goddess.

11. The reverence accorded to rivers is a gesture
of acknowledgement of their life sustaining
abilities.
The Indian system of beliefs is based on an
intimate relationship with Nature.

12. Hindu belief holds that
bathing in the River
causes
forgiveness of sins and
helps attain salvation.

13. The immersion of ashes of people is believed
to send the soul to Heaven.

14. Drinking the water of The Ganges is believed
to purify the soul.

15. ECONOMY
The Ganges basin
with its fertile soil
is instrumental to
the agricultural
economy of India.
The Ganges with
its tributaries
provides a
perennial source of
irrigation for crops.

16. The two main dams at Haridwar and
Farakka are a source of power generation.

17. The three towns holy to Hinduism – Haridwar,
Varanasi and Allahabad attract thousands of
pilgrims to its waters.

18. The rapids of the Ganges are popular river
rafting area, attracting hundreds of adventure
seekers in the summer months.

19. ECOLOGY
The Ganges collects large
amounts of human
pollutants as it flows
through highly populous
areas, carrying high health
risk of infection.
 The Ganga Action Plan
has been set up under the
Indian government and is
attempting to build waste
treatment facilities.

20. Today, over 29 cities, 70 towns, and thousands of villages extend along the Ganga banks.
Nearly all of their sewage - over 1.3 billion liters per day - goes directly into the river, along
with thousands of animal carcasses, mainly cattle. Another 260 million liters of industrial
waste are added to this by hundreds of factories along the rivers banks. Municipal sewage
constitutes 80 per cent by volume of the total waste dumped into the Ganga, and
industries contribute about 15 percent. The majority of the Ganga pollution is organic
waste, sewage, trash, food, and human and animal remains. Over the past century, city
populations along the Ganga have grown at a tremendous rate, while waste-control
infrastructure has remained relatively unchanged. Recent water samples collected in
Varanasi revealed fecal-coliform counts of about 50,000 bacteria per 100 milliliters of
water, 10,000% higher than the government standard for safe river bathing. The result of
this pollution is an array of water-borne diseases including cholera, hepatitis, typhoid and
amoebic dysentery. An estimated 80% of all health problems and one-third of deaths in
India are attributable to water-borne diseases.The sacred practice of depositing human
remains in the Ganga also poses health threats because of the unsustainable rate at which
partially cremated cadavers are dumped. Hundreds of corpses burn on the line of wooden
pyres. Soot-covered men bustle about, raking in the still-glowing ashes, sweeping them
into the river. Ganga is getting polluted day-by-day. Nearly 170 factories and tanneries
located between Kannauj and Varanasi, covering an area of 450 km, were found
responsible for polluting the river by discharging wastes into it without treatment,” Union
Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told reporters on August 28, 2010.
There is an urgent need to aware people and get started to stop its pollution and
degradation.

21. After two Ganga Action Plans failed to deliver the goods, seven major IITs of the country
have joined hands to find ways to clean up the national river. The Ganga Action Plan
(GAP) was initiated by the late Prime Minster Indira Gandhi, who called for a
comprehensive survey of the situation in 1979. In 1985, the government of India launched
the Ganga Action Plan, which was devised to clean up the river in selected areas by
installing sewage treatment plants and threatening fines and litigation against industries
that pollute.
The 2006 official audit of the Ganga Action Plan has revealed that it has met only 39 per
cent of its sewage
treatment target. The 2006 official audit of the Ganga Action Plan has revealed that it has
met only 39 per cent of its sewage
treatment target. Moreover, the plan is behind schedule by over 13 years. According to the
legal counsel, Central Pollution Control Board, Mr Vijay Panjawani, even after spending
Rs 24,000 crore, the Ganga remains as dirty as ever
A total of 146 industries are reported to be located along the river Ganga between
Rishikesh and Prayagraj. 144 of these are in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and 2 in Uttrakhand. Of
the grossly polluting industries in U.P., 82 industries have installed Effluent Treatment
Plants (ETPs) and are reported to be complying with the standards, 27 industries, though
have installed ETPs are not reported to be complying with the prescribed standards and
35 industries are reported to have been closed.

22. BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.google.com
http://searches.omiga-plus.com/search/web?qsi=11&q=gange