Context:
Hundreds of turtles to be released into river Ganges under a joint aegis of the NamamiGange Programme, Forest and Wildlife Department and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
Key Points:
- Under the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), the centre has so far released over 40,000 turtles.
- Turtles feed on meat and waste products thrown in the river.
- Improvement in biochemical demand (BOD), faecal coliform (FC) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in river water.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) represents the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic (oxygen is present) conditions at a specified temperature.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a measure of how much oxygen is dissolved in the water i.e. the amount of oxygen available to living aquatic organisms.
Ganga Action Plan:
- Aim – To improve the water quality of Ganga to acceptable standards by preventing the pollution.
- 100% centrally sponsored scheme.
- National River Ganga Basin Authority (NGRBA)declared Ganga as a national river of India under Environment Protection Act, 1986.
- 7 States/UTs covered – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Delhi and Haryana.
Namami Gange Programme:
- Aim – To accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
- Ministry – Ministry of Jal Shakti
- Implemented by – National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)and its state counterpart organizations.
- NMCG: Implementation wing of National Ganga Council (which replaced NGRBA)
- Centrally-funded, non-lapsable corpus fund of ₹20,000-crore.
- Main Pillars:
- Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
- River-Front Development
- River-Surface Cleaning
- Biodiversity
- Afforestation
- Public Awareness
- Industrial Effluent Monitoring
- Ganga Gram
Previous year question
Which of the following is/are the possible consequence/s of heavy sand mining in riverbeds?
- Decreased salinity in the river
- Pollution of groundwater
- Lowering of the water-table
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2018 Prelims]
- 1 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Practice question
