New Delhi: The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), in partnership with the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), has launched an initiative titled ‘Ganga Bhog – Gangotri Se Ganga Sagar Tak’ in Rishikesh to promote awareness on livelihood generation among locals.
The initiative, which was launched on 22 April as part of the Earth Day celebrations, is yet another project under the ‘Arth Ganga’ concept of the Namami Gange programme.
The ‘Ganga Bhog’ initiative is centred on the ‘5 Ms’: maa (mother), mandir (temple), mitti (land), women and mota-anaj (millets).
Millet grown by local women (mahila) on the fertile soil (mitti) of the Ganga river bank is offered as prasad (offering) to temples (mandir) situated by the river.
According to a press release by the government, the initiative is also aimed at promoting the wellbeing of local women who cultivate millet and facilitates the preparation of nutritious bhog (a community meal or offering) at temples. This was done keeping in mind the United Nations General Assembly’s designation of 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’.
What is Arth Ganga
Arth Ganga is a sustainable economic model conceptualised under the Namami Gange programme. Under the Arth Ganga model, a number of initiatives have been taken up by the NMCG, in coordination with ministries/departments of the central and state governments as well as NGOs.
Through the Arth Ganga initiative, NMCG hopes to promote organic farming of millet in the Ganga basin in future.
The initiative was launched virtually at 61 places across India, including in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand among others. The press release for the initiative noted that it “aims to develop a rural entrepreneur’s network, establish a brand and have a global market for these products”.
Speaking at the event, G. Asok Kumar, director general of NMCG, expressed his delight that the Arth Ganga initiative was being inaugurated on the occasion of Earth Day.
He also informed that the Namami Gange programme has been recognised by the United Nations as one of the top 10 flagship restoration programmes in the world for its efforts to implement the three principles of ‘Stopping Environmental Degradation, Reversing the Degradation Cycle, and Public Participation’.
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