Uttarakhand

• 22 Apr 2024

Sadbhavna Sammelan in Uttarakhand

Why in News?

Recently, on the left bank of ‘Har Ki Paudi’ in Haridwar, Uttarakhand tourism minister organised a two-day ‘Sadbhavna Sammelan’.

• Thousands of people assembled for the conclave in which the minister spoke on spirituality and importance of the Ganga for Hindus.

Key Points

• Flowing for over 2,600 km across northern and eastern India, the Ganga is considered a goddess and a focus of religious devotion for Hindus.
  • The river is source of drinking water for more than 40% of India’s 1.4 billion population living in the Gangetic river basin spread across six states and a union territory between Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
• According to Jal Shakti ministry data, around three million litres of sewage is emptied into the Ganga everyday and only about half of that is treated.
  • In the holy city of Varanasi alone, it is estimated that 4,000 bodies are burnt on the banks of the river everyday.
  • Dams in Uttarakhand block the river flow, turning the river into a stream at several places during the summer months.
  • The hydropower projects in the state are mostly run of the river (ROR), except the Tehri Dam Project, which is a storage project for hydropower development and augments the non-monsoon river flows.
  • According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB), testing of samples from 59 of the 97 water quality monitoring stations along the river the faecal coliform in the river was above the permissible level at 70% of the locations in January 2023.
    • Faecal coliform is a group of bacteria found in the gut and faeces of warm-blooded animals and its contamination indicates presence of human faecal matter.
• In 2024, the Namami Gange scheme, a diverse set of interventions to clean and rejuvenate the river, reduced the “pollution load” in the river.
• The polluted river stretches were being rejuvenated through approved action plans to achieve the target of outdoor bathing criteria as notified by the environment ministry.

Namami Gange Programme

• It is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
• It is being operated under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The program is being implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and its state counterpart organizations i.e State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
• In phase 2 of Namami Gange Programme (2021-26), the states will focus on expeditious completion of projects and preparation of bankable Detailed Project Report (DPR) for projects in Ganga tributary towns, cutting down delays.
  
  • Focus is also being given to the revival of small rivers and wetlands. For the future, each Ganga district is to develop scientific plans and health cards for at least 10 wetlands and adopt policies for reuse of treated water and other by-products.

Uttarakhand Records 55% Voter Turnout

Why in News?

Uttarakhand recorded a voter turnout of around 55.01 % across the five Lok Sabha seats with a major dip of 6.3% votes (estimated) as compared to 61.4% in 2019 polls.

Key Points

• All five constituencies experienced a drop in voter participation in 2024 elections.
• The voter turnout was lowest in Almora at 45.4%, with the highest turnout seen in Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar constituency at 59.9%, followed by Haridwar at 59.7%, Tehri at 51.7%, Pauri Garhwal at 49.9%, and the SC reserve seat of Almora at 45.4%, as reported by the official Election Commission of India app.
• Uttarakhand has a collective of 83.2 lakh general electors and additionally 93,357 service voters.

Voter Turnout App

• This application was launched on 18th April 2019 by the Election Commission of India to increase citizen participation in elections and to provide instant information about voter turnout on the voting day.
• It is used to display real time voter turnout details including Male, Female and Third Gender in each Assembly Constituency/Parliamentary Constituency. This app can be used by citizens to capture live voter turnout data.
• The Voter Turnout app allows citizens to get information about the estimated voter turnout for each state separately. The app also allows users to share voting percentage with their contacts via Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and WhatsApp. That means any person can share the percentage of real-time voting in his social media account.
• No data can be pre-fed in the Voter Turnout App. The Voter Turnout App is designed to show estimated voter turnout for each state and can be used up to the district and assembly constituency level. On the day of voting, state wise, district wise and assembly constituency wise voter turnout updates can be seen.