Page 16 - 6th NamamiGange NewsLetter
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Ganga Praharis: Guardians of the Ganga
A grassroots level movement for the conservation and cleanliness of Ganga river
To elicit the participation of local people in conservation of creating awareness and motivating other members of their
Ganga river biodiversity and cleanliness, the Wildlife community to adopt sustainable practices for resource
Institute of India has created Ganga Praharis- a cadre of extraction.
self-motivated and trained volunteers from the local As an output to this initiative, a database of the Ganga Praharis
community. Coming from different walks of life, this cadre is across the five Ganga states has been created. This retrievable
created to ensure the sustainability of efforts in conservation of database has complete information of each and every Ganga
the depleting biodiversity in the Ganga river. Till date, 427 Ganga Prahari. This includes personal information such as age,
Praharis across the five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, gender, educational qualification, occupation, skills and
Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) have been involved in the interests besides expedient details of their contact along the
program. Trained in ecological monitoring of Ganga aqualife, Ganga river. Details on the number of awareness meetings,
plantation techniques, awareness creation and community training workshops conducted for Ganga Praharis and onsite
mobilization activities, these individuals are tirelessly working activities conducted by the Praharis have also been listed. All
with the NMCG-Wild Life Institute of India team. These Praharis the organizations associated with NMCG can access this
were trained through a series of national, state and site level information through NMCG and WII http://wii.gov.in. They can
workshops in diverse skills such as, ecological surveys, rescue further train these individuals in the respective R&D activities
and rehabilitation of aquatic species, awareness meetings, and get necessary support at grass root level. In turn, Ganga
social interactions and green livelihood skills. They are now Praharis will be linked to various institutes of national and
capable of assisting any governmental and non governmental international importance. By igniting a grassroots level
organization in site level activities related to the Ganga river at movement for a clean and vibrant Ganga, these Praharis are
various levels and in different aspects. Ganga Praharis are ensuring Nirmal and Aviral Dhara of Ganga river.
ensuring protection and conservation of biodiversity of the river
in their stretch and carrying out cleanliness of the ghats. They are For Further details, please visit @https://nmcg.nic.in/
wii/prgbggp.aspx
Ganga Prahari conducting awarenss program for school Ganga Praharis at Ramghat bridge, Narora
children on World wetlands day 2018, Devprayag
Ganga Praharis trained in alternative livelihood skills, Plantation by Ganga Praharis during World
Village Rampur, Varanasi Environment Day, Farrukabad
