YET ANOTHER project conceptualised to safeguard the Ganga is over without even nearing its target. A Right To Information (RTI)-based investigation by Down To Earth (DTE) finds that the first phase (2016-21) of an afforestation drive along the banks of the Ganga is over after managing to plant trees only in a little over 22 per cent of the target area.
Trajectory of Himalayan rivers keeps changing. The Ganga, too, has shifted northward, which requires forestry to be done in the vacant catchment area, as per a 2016 meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which works under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti. Forests have the ability to hold water and release it slowly into rivers an important component of ensuring uninterrupted flow in rivers and improving the overall hydrological cycle.
This was the reason NMCG, in 2014, asked the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, to prepare a detailed project report for an afforestation drive along the Ganga. FRI took two years to prepare a list of areas using, for the first time, geographic information system and field surveys, in which 8,394,600 hectares (ha) along the Ganga were scanned. The report, submitted by FRI to NMCG in March 2016, said that afforestation was to be done on a stretch of 2,500 km along the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, covering 134,106 ha in five states-Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Denne historien er fra August 01, 2023-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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Denne historien er fra August 01, 2023-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A SPRIG TO CARE FOR
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DIGGING A DISASTER
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REVIEW THE TREATMENT
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Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to reorient India's innovation goals but funding issues, old mindsets remain a drag
TROUBLED WOODS
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BLINDING GLOW
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GROUND REALITY
What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?
GM POLICY MUST BE FARMER CENTRIC
On July 23, the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to develop a national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce through public consultation.
Vinchurni's Gandhi
A 96-year-old farmer transforms barren land into a thriving forest in drought-prone region of Satara
