River cleanup is difficult because pollution comes from many sources at once: untreated sewage, industrial effluent, solid waste, drains, urban growth, weak ma…
India launched the Ganga Action Plan in June 1985, its first major state-funded initiative to abate river pollution, targeting 25 Class-I towns across Uttar Pradesh, Bih…
Phase II of the Ganga Action Plan extended the interception-and-treatment approach to major tributaries including the Yamuna, Gomti and Damodar, marking a shift from a s…
India created the National Ganga River Basin Authority in 2009, shifting from isolated town-level sewage projects to a river-basin-wide strategy spanning multiple states.
The government approved Namami Gange as an integrated conservation mission with a Rs 20,000 crore outlay through 2021, expanding the focus beyond sewage treatment to riv…
The Cabinet approved the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, dissolving the NGRBA and giving NMCG Mission status with enforcem…
India's river-cleanup conversation widened beyond the Ganga to the Yamuna, urban drains and smaller rivers. CPCB reporting during the 2025 Maha Kumbh found faecal colifo…
Surendra Singh Chaudhary, known online as Bittu Tabahi, began manually clearing the Ajnar River on 26 January 2026. His viral cleanup drew a public 'come work for us' jo…
Read the complete story, FAQs and key facts.