Namami Gange is set to turn more youthful. Nearly 20,000 youths groomed as volunteers or “Swachchha Doot” will be deployed in around 2000 villages along the river for clean Ganga initiatives among the local dwellers and visitors.
The Rs10-crore project envisages deployment of youths in 29 districts across 2,336 villages along the river in the Ganga basin States of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. A project officer will be assigned to each district. The idea is to generate awareness and motivate the local communities residing along the banks on the importance and ecology of the river.
The initiative is being taken under the Centre’s flagship programme of Namami Gange, focusing on the zeal of the young to garner support from all walks of life in conservation of the river, saving it from domestic and industrial effluents.
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), an autonomous organisation under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, has been entrusted with the task of building capacities of young men and women from Ganga basin states, so that they can represent Namami Gange programme as youth ambassadors.
From among the youths, as many as 50 enthusiastic spearhead campaigners would be identified and trained for a week. These campaigners will then be asked to lead this army of the young in their assigned jurisdictions in spreading the message of clean Ganga. All this will be done in consultation with village youth clubs. The youth, once trained, would exhort and motivate local population and tourists to refrain from polluting river Ganga.
The volunteers would not only educate the target audience about the adverse consequences of polluting Ganga but will also be an asset in providing information on existing government activities like construction of toilets, water harvesting and conservation for creation of a comprehensive database in coordination with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the implementing arm of Namami Gange programme.