UPSC Articles
Ganga Utsav 2020
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I – Culture & GS-III – Environment
In news
- Recently, the Ganga Utsav 2020 has begun.
- It celebrates the glory of the National river Ganga.
Key takeaways
- The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) celebrates the festival every year.
- Aim: To promote stakeholder engagement and ensure public participation.
- It celebrates river Ganga through storytelling, dialogues with eminent personalities, displaying traditional art forms, dance and music performance, etc.
- Ganga Task Force (GTF) also conducted an afforestation drive with National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets and educational tour for youth.
- Mini Ganga Quest was also held which was designed to make youth and students aware of environmental issues and explain their role in conservation.
Important value additions
River Ganga
- It is the longest river of India.
- It is revered by Hindus as the most sacred river on earth.
- It originates in the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas as the Bhagirathi River.
- The Ganga river basin is one of the most fertile and densely populated areas of the world.
- The Ganges River Dolphin, an endangered animal, specifically habitats this river.
- It ends its journey by emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
- Ganga was declared as the National River of India on 4th November 2008.
