I&B minister calls upon people to contribute to rejuvenation of Ganga

NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur on Monday gave a call to people to contribute to the rejuvenation of Ganga, saying while the river has an emotional and spiritual connect with all Indians, it also has a great economic importance.
He also exhorted the jal shakti ministry to turn the mission clean Ganga into a people's movement, assuring that the Parsar Bharati, which functions under his ministry, will provide all the support needed for this.
Thakur was addressing an event organised to launch Season-2 of 'Rag Rag Mein Ganga', a travel series, which will be aired on DD National every Saturday and Sunday at 8.30pm from August 21.
Jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and minister of state for jal shakti and food processing industries Prahlad Singh Patel were present on the occasion.
"Gau, Gita, Gayatri and Ganga are integral parts of Indian culture, and they touch our daily life positively. Hence, every Indian has an emotional connection with Ganga. Ganga is not just 'Astha' (faith) for us, but it also has an emotional and a spiritual connection with us along with economic importance. Let's all come together and contribute towards rejuvenation of Ganga," Thakur said while addressing the event.
The information and broadcasting minister said the government has been taking measures for conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga.
"I am happy that responsibility of this work has been given to Gajendra Sekhawat ji along with the responsibility of providing drinking water to people. Your name wall be written in history. Make it a 'Jan Andolan (people's movement)' from 'Jan Bhagidari'. I assure you that Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan will provide all the support needed for this," he added.
Thakur also highlighted the impact of global warming and appealed that children should be made participants in the efforts to combat climate challenges of today.
Addressing the event, Shekhawat said the government has been able to place Ganga among top 10 cleanest rivers of such length "in a short span of three years".
"The programmes initiated by the government have achieved their goals ahead of time and that has been a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mantra of four Ps - political will, public spending, partnership with stakeholders and peoples' participation," he said.
Season 2 of 'Rag Rag Mein Ganga' travelogue, which consists of 26 episodes, will cover the cultural, mythological, historical and socio- economic details of this great river while being centric to the theme of 'Nirmalta' and 'Aviralta', a Doordarshan official said.
The travel series, anchored by actor Rajeev Khadelwal, will also establish the work being done by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to save the majestic Ganga, the official added.
"It's not just a (television) programme but a huge effort to take 'Jan Bhagidari' to Jan Andolan," the I&B minister said.
The travel series will not only be aired on DD National but also be made available on various social media platforms, he added.
Addressing the event, Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the travel series will be dedicated to 'arth-Ganga', "the river that laid the foundation to expansion of our civilisation".
The first series of 'Rag Rag Mein Ganga' was launched by Doordarshan in February 2019 as a flagship programme on Doordarshan national channel. Commissioned by NMCG, this 21-part series covered the 2,525-km-long journey of the mighty Ganga from its source Gomukh Glacier to Gangasagar, where the river merges into the Bay of Bengal.
The I&B minister said the first series of the travelogue had been watched by 1.75 crore people because of the quality of its content.
He asserted that Doordarshan will become "the most watched channel" in the next three to four years, saying that the public broadcaster will focus on creating the right content to increase its viewers.