Arth Ganga

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, spoke about the Arth Ganga model during his virtual keynote address to the Stockholm World Water Week 2022.

Since 1991, the Stockholm International Water Institute has been organising the World Water Week every year to address global water concerns.

The Arth Ganga Concept

• PM first introduced the concept during the first National Ganga Council meeting in Kanpur in 2019, where he urged for a shift from Namami Gange, the Union Government’s flagship project to clean the Ganga, to the model of Arth Ganga. 
• The latter focuses on the sustainable development of the Ganga and its surrounding areas, by focusing on economic activities related to the river.
• At its core, the Arth Ganga model seeks to use economics to bridge people with the river.

Features

Under Arth Ganga, the government is working on six verticals. 

• The first is Zero Budget Natural Farming, which involves chemical-free farming on 10 km on either side of the river, and the promotion of cow dung as fertiliser through the GOBARdhan scheme. 
• The Monetization and Reuse of Sludge & Wastewater is the second, which seeks to reuse treated water for irrigation, industries and revenue generation for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• Arth Ganga will also involve Livelihood Generation Opportunities, by creating haats where people can sell local products, medicinal plants and ayurveda. 
• The fourth is to increase public participation by increasing synergies between the stakeholders involved with the river. 
• The model also wants to promote the cultural heritage and tourism of Ganga and its surroundings, through boat tourism, adventure sports and by conducting yoga activities. 
• Lastly, the model seeks to promote institutional building by empowering local administration for improved water governance.

Arth Ganga Initiatives

• The Arth Ganga campaign including the virtual launch of Jalaj initiative under Arth Ganga by the Minister for Jal Shakti on the main stem of Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. 
• Jalaj is being implemented in association with Wildlife Institute of India. 
• A trained cadre of Ganga Praharis have been created from among the local people by WII for biodiversity conservation and Ganga rejuvenation.
•  Jalaj, innovative mobile livelihood centre, are aimed at aligning the skill enhancement activities with Ganga conservation. 
• Jalaj is visualized as a model for livelihood diversification, through promotion of local produce and facilitates stakeholder participation in ecological and economic spheres for river conservation in line with “Arth Ganga” objectives.

ImAvatar

• A tourism related portal ImAvatar to promote livelihood opportunities along the Ganga basin by promoting Arth Ganga initiative through tourism, marketing of local products, both agriculture and handicrafts, sustainability of ghats and other assets created by NMCG was also launched on the occasion. 
• Both NMCG and ImAvatar would work together in the areas of public participation through religious and spiritual tourism and creating market linkages. 

New course ‘River Champ’ on CLAP:

• The continuous learning and activity portal (CLAP) is an online platform for raising awareness, actions and debates around river conservation in India.