Ganga Utsav to be organised from Nov 1

This year’s Ganga Utsav is being organised from 1st to 3rd of next month. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) celebrates Ganga Utsav every year to mark the anniversary of announcement of River Ganga as the National River on 4th November.

Ganga Utsav, the River Festival will be celebrating not just River Ganga but all the rivers across the country. Activities have been planned across 150 districts, 112 in the Ganga belt and the remaining along other major rivers. The celebrations this year will be part of the ongoing celebrations for 75 years of Independence and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

This year, the aim will be to take Ganga Utsav to the various river basins in India and promote the celebration of  River Festival which was highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the World River Day on 26th September this year in order to connect with the traditions which are associated with rivers for centuries in our country.

Inspired by the Prime Minister’s call for River Festival, this year’s event is being organised under the leadership of Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Dignitaries for the inaugural function will include Union Minister of Tourism and Culture G. Kishan Reddy, Ministers of State for Jal Shakti Prahalad Singh Patel and Bishweswar Tudu, Secretary in Ministry of Jal Shakti Pankaj Kumar and many Olympic players.

The Utsav celebrates the mystical and cultural river Ganga through storytelling, folklore, dialogues with eminent personalities, quizzes, displaying traditional artforms, dance and music performances by renowned artists,



photo galleries and exhibitions and much more. 

Celebrating the glory of the holy river Ganga, this year the Utsav will also appreciate living and practised cultural richness along river Ganga. Some prominent music and dance performers like Anuradha Paudwal, Prachee Shah Pandya, Rahul Sharma, Revati Sakalkar and Prahalad Tipaniya will be performing at the Utsav.

The message of river rejuvenation will be communicated through stories at Kahani Junction organised by Rituparna Ghosh’s Your story bag. Himanshu Bajpai too will be performing Dastangoi. In Ganga Dialogue, well-known personalities like Ashok Chakradhar, Piyush Mishra, Divya Prakash Dubey and Rajeev Khandelwal from different fields will engage in interesting conversations.

An expedition ‘Ganga Mashal’ led by the Ganga Task Force would be flagged off in a ceremony from Delhi and will travel the route including 23 stations along the river Ganga which will help sensitization of the local people and bodies like NYKS, Ganga Mitras and Ganga Praharis. The event will also comprise, launch of the Ganga Tarang Portal, curtain raiser on Ganga Knowledge Portal and many more.

At the state level, 75 events at 75 different locations, Ganga Deepotsava, Ganga Aartis along the Ghats, Ganga Exhibitions, participation in the Meri Ganga Meri Shaan Campaign - Ganga Mashaal being executed through Ganga Task Force and other activities like painting competition, afforestation drive, organizing blood donation camps, quiz, Ganga runs, Ganga Dialogues, signature campaigns, and others.