Context: Recently, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organised three-day `Ganga Utsav 2020' to celebrates the glory of the National river Ganga.
About Ganga Utsav 2020

• It is a cultural and educational festival to celebrate the glory of holy river Ganga. 
• On 4th November 2008, Ganga was declared “National River”. 
• Since 2016, every year the National Mission for Clean Ganga has been celebrating Ganga Utsav on November 4.
• The aim is to connect masses to the cause of river rejuvenation and sensitive them about ecological issues through conversations and entertainment. 
• Ganga Utsav has received support from different countries.
• This year’s Utsav will be a fun-filled occasion with a variety of events which includes storytelling, folklores, dialogues with eminent personalities, quizzes, displaying traditional artforms, dance & music performance by renowned artists, photo galleries, exhibitions and much more.

About Namami Gange Programme

• It is a flagship programme of the government and is implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and State Programme Management Groups in the states. 
• NMCG is the implementation wing of National Ganga Council established in 2016 which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA).
• It works under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• It integrates previous and currently ongoing initiatives by enhancing efficiency, extracting synergies and supplementing them with more comprehensive & better-coordinated interventions.

The main pillars of the programme are

• Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure & Industrial Effluent Monitoring.
• River-Front Development & River-Surface Cleaning
• Bio-Diversity & Afforestation
• Public Awareness

Steps were taken by Government for Conservation of GANGA 

• Ganga Action Plan: It was the first river action plan which was taken up by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 1985, to improve the water quality by the interception, diversion and treatment of domestic sewage. 
• Clean Ganga Fund: In 2014, it was formed for cleaning up of the Ganga, setting up of waste treatment plants and conservation of biotic diversity of the river.
• Bhuvan-Ganga Web App: It ensures the involvement of the public in the monitoring of pollution entering into the river Ganga.
• Ban on Waste Disposal: In 2017, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned the disposal of any waste in the Ganga.

About Ganga River System

• It originates in the snowfields of the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas as the Bhagirathi River and is joined by other rivers such as the Alaknanda, Yamuna, Son, Gumti, Kosi and Ghagra.
• The total length of the Ganga is about 2,510 km. 
• The river basin is bounded by the Himalayas on the north, by the Aravalli on the west, by the Vindhyas and Chota Nagpur plateau on the south and by the Brahmaputra Ridge on the east.
• The basin covers states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. 

Significance

• River Ganga holds a significant economic, environmental and cultural value in India.
• The Ganga Basin supports numerous diverse ecosystems, from the alpine forests near Gaumukh to the plains of northern India to the mangrove forests and saline mudflats of West Bengal.
• The mouth of River Ganga forms the world’s largest delta, known as Sunderbans, and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.

Additional Information
National Identities

• The National River, National Flag, National Flower (lotus), National bird (peacock), National Tree (Banyan), National Animal (Tiger), National Anthem, National Song (Vande Mataram), National Calendar (Gregorian Calendar) are the National Identities of India.