Amidst COVID 19 precautions, Ganga Utsav begins virtually with much fun and festivities

He said, “This festival is to celebrate the glory of National river Ganga. Only if the younger generation is made aware of her ancient history and cultural significance, they will revere her not just as a source of water but as an integral part of our civilization.”

"We need to do our kartvva (duty) towards Ganga along with our deep rooted astha. Ganga represents all rivers and sources of water and festival is designed to be a river festival too," he added.

Day 1 of the Utsav was buzzing with the diversity of events. One could not escape the devotion for Maa Ganga in the voice of Dr Revati Sakalkar, Indian semi-classical vocalist.

The Kashi Kokila brought river before the audience through her bhajans starting with “Chalo man Ganga Yamuna teer”.

In Kahani Junction, legendary storyteller Rituparna Ghosh’s“Whose River Is It Anyway?” the message was clear if you don’t care for nature, nature won’t care for you. 

Bestselling author Anand Neelkantan, shared fascinating mythological stories of Ganga from Mahabharat and ancient Puranas. Kapil Pandey was another well-known story-teller at the festival.

Mini Ganga Quest organised in association with Tree Craze Foundation, which started two days before the festival has seen overwhelming response.

More than 4000 students participated in the quiz so far. The quiz is designed to make youth and students aware of environmental issues and explain them their role in conservation.

Mini Ganga Quest will continue throughout the festival and results will be announced on the final day. Tree Craze Foundation led by Bhawna Sharma along with NMCG conducts Ganga Quest annually during April- May which had evoked massive million plus response this year.

Ganga Utsav has received support from different countries.

Shin Bongkil, Korean Ambassador to India said Ganga is important not only for India but for the whole world as a symbol of Indian spiritual mysticism. Walter J. Lindner, German Ambassador to India praised NMCG efforts and congratulated Ganga Utsav. Marten van den Berg, Netherland Ambassador to India gave his greetings to Ganga Utsav.

He said, “Netherland government is committed to work with India. Together we can get the Ganga cleaned and keep it clean.”

An award-winning film “The Miracle Water Village”, directed by Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh showed how a drought-prone village came together to start a revolution of rain-water harvesting. Another inspiring tale came from “Locals Become Geohydrologists in Rapar”, directed by Usha Dewani and Nilutpal Das where an arid village in Kutch became water secure by the efforts of visionary villagers.

Thirst by Sivanageswara Rao, Angioplasty Of Dreams by Aditya Seth, Water Warriors by Nutan Manmohan and Revival Of AharPynes Systems by SoumitraDey were other notable movies. The idea behind Ganga film festival was to use films as a medium to evoke critical thinking and empathy towards ecology and environment.

Ganga Dialogues, which is a series of discussions with eminent personalities, started with renowned author and researcher Rajiv Malhotra in conversation with Shri Satyanarayana Dasa, a Vaishnava scholar.

Taking a leaf out of their upcoming book Sanskrit Non- Translatables, they discussed the idea of Ganga being more relevant than Ganges as it conveys its uniqueness and sacred nature. Ganga, they said is a living entity translating it to Ganges makes her just a water body and prone to exploitation and neglect.

Sharing the innovative ways in which NamamiGange engaging in activities throughout the year, Meenakshi Payal spoke about Art and Murals project along Ganga ghats. She showed the glimpses of massive designs created by her team at Mozarto in association with NMCG.

This Project is a CSR initiative under NamamiGange, supported by Union Bank of India. Painters of international repute have contributed to mural painting and facelift in this project making remarkable contributions at Chandighat, clock tower areas in Haridwar and on several iconic ghats at Varanasi.