The Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, Shri G. Asok Kumar launched the project on ‘Capacity Building Programme for Leveraging Community and Local Resources Based on Technology’ under Arth Ganga in the gracious presence of Padma Bhushan Shri Anil Joshi, Founder, Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO). The project is being jointly implemented by NMCG and HESCO. The programme aims to develop new need-based skills for the future amongst the local community along River Ganga and provide alternative solutions to the community membersunder Arth Ganga.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri G. Asok Kumar said “Namami Gange, so far, has been tirelessly working on building adequate sewerage infrastructure to abate pollution from River Ganga. NMCG’s priority has been to stop dirty water from falling into Ganga and its tributaries and they have been successfully achieving the goals. So far, sewage treatment capacity of around 973 million Litres per day (MLD) has been created. Apart from the sewerage management and other activities under the Namami Gange Programme, the focus now is on Arth Ganga, which was espoused by the Prime Minister in the first meeting of the National Ganga Council held in 2019. Arth Ganga, primarily, means linking people with the river through the bridge of economy”.

Shri Kumar informed that promoting Natural Farming amongst the farmers has been one of the targeted areas under Arth Ganga. “We organized exposure workshops and visits for several farmers in Shirdi, Bulandshahar, Sonipat, Haridwar and Meerut in which the farmers were nudged to shift to Natural Farming and 75 ‘Sahakar Ganga Grams’ will be developed, he said, adding, “As part of our MoU with Sahakar Bharati, 75 Ganga Sahakar Grams will also be developed under Arth Ganga”.

NMCG has also begun working in the direction of imparting trainings to locals for Ganga Artis and Ganga Sewaks to facilitate visits of older citizens to religious pilgrims. The training will also be imparted to people for Responsible Tourism and conservation of ecosystem. Tourism guides will be readied for traditional trek routes in the Ganga Basin.He Informed that together with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Jalaj Livelihood Model has been launched at 26 locations. He said that NMCG is preparing to market Ganga-related products as a brand under the umbrella of Namami Gange and Arth Ganga. He also expressed happiness over the regular meetings of District Ganga Committees (DGCs) since April 2022 for planning of activities and timely resolution of issues.

Padma Bhushan Shri Anil Joshi said “today the world's biggest challenge is the lack of resources in the villages, due to which all the countries of the world suffer. The biggest challenge was meeting the village's resource crunch. There has been complete cooperation from the Namami Gange Mission”. Talking about the importance of villages, he said that India is a country of six and a half lakh villages, and the rivers of the country have always been connected with the villages. Talking about Namami Gange Mission, he said that the Mission is doing excellent work in the direction of connecting people with Ganga. He said that the Mission's Arth Ganga project is a very serious and timely initiative and it is a matter of honour to be associated with it.

Emphasizing on the long-term sustenance of the Mission, he said “steps should be taken so that even after 10 or more years, Namami Gange remains as a Model for River Rejuvenation and future generations know that it played an unprecedented role in Ganga conservation. Rejuvenation of Ganga is a life-long commitment for each individual of this country”.

The project on ‘Capacity Building Programme for Leveraging Community and Local Resources Based on Technology’ under Arth Ganga aims to empower the Ganga Basin's local communities by working towards their economic upliftment through ecological perceptions. The project also envisages establishing Arth Ganga Centres (AGC) and three Ganga Resource Centres (GRC). The program will also source the latest technologies and disseminate economically and ecologically viable interventions for the community. Under the project, capacity-building workshops/trainings for communities in 4 states Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand would be organised through GRC centres under the guidance of the HESCO’s Master trainers.

 

DG NMCG Shri Asok Kumar along with Padma Bhushan Shri Anil Joshi, Founder, HESCO, launches project on ‘Capacity Building Programme for Leveraging Community and Local Resources Based on Technology’ under Arth Ganga

 

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AS

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