New Delhi: The Union Government has declared the Famous Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary as the mascot of the 'Namami Gange Programme' at an executive committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga on Friday.
In the 37th Executive Committee meeting chaired by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, NMCG, major Namami Gange projects in Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar were discussed and evaluated, as per press statement.
NMCG has been focusing on youth as part of its outreach and public communications efforts as they are the impellers of change. As a step towards this NMCG has tied up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos. The content will be designed with the objective of bringing about behavioural change amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers.
The total estimated budget for the project is Rs. 2.26 cr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Executive Director (ED), Projects, presented the project details and shared that Chacha Chaudhary can be useful in ground-level activation for Ganga rejuvenation.
Initially, the comics will be launched in Hindi, English and Bengali. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said, “NMCG has always been into community engagement with special focus on youth and children. This association will be one more step towards it.”
Read: Sri Lankan PM commends Namami Gange programme
Dipak Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary of Climate Change Department presented a proposal for conserving and sustainably managing Gangetic floodplain wetlands in Bihar. The major components of the project will be Wetland inventory and assessment, Wetland management planning, Wetland’s monitoring, and Capacity development and outreach.
This will be a 100% centrally funded project with an estimated cost of Rs. 2.505 cr. The proposal aims at creating a knowledge base and capacities for effective management of floodplain wetlands in the 12 Ganga districts in Bihar to ensure sustained provision of wetlands ecosystem services and securing biodiversity habitats. He also gave an overview of the initiatives taken to conserve Gangetic Dolphins. He shared that the government is working on sensitizing local fishermen.
Mishra suggested that collaborating with other stakeholders like CIFRI can be beneficial in achieving the goal of conservation of Dolphins. Dr Ritesh Kumar, Director (Wetlands), International South Asia gave further detail on the Wetland Project.
The main aim of this project is the reduction of pollution load from Pratapgarh into river Sai along with the improvement in biodiversity and eco-system of the river and improvement in general hygiene and sanitation. It will also add to the overall aesthetics of the area.
