River Narmada

Why in the news?

=> Recently, the Narmada, the life-giving river of Madhya Pradesh, has been included in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the rejuvenation of 13 major rivers through forestry initiatives is jointly released by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Key points:

=> The detailed project report covers 13 major rivers – Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Luni, Narmada, Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna and Kaveri. The length of 13 rivers including 202 tributaries under the project is 42,830 km.

=> These 13 rivers collectively cover 18,90,110 sq.km. area of ??the country, which is 57.45 percent of the geographical area of ??the country.

=> The detailed project report has been prepared on the lines of the work done as part of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in the year 2015-16, acknowledging that the increasing water crisis is the cause of the degradation of the river's ecosystem.

=> The Narmada River (also known as Rewa) serves as a traditional boundary between North and South India. It is 1,312 km west of its origin from the Amarkantak peak of Maikal mountain. It flows into the Gulf of Khambhat.

=> This project report is based on a multi-level, multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary and holistic approach to meet the broad objectives of 'Aviral Dhara', 'Nirmal Dhara' and ecological rejuvenation.

=> The DPR identifies forestry interventions in three types of scenarios and the potential for adopting a holistic riverscape approach to wetland management.

=> Under the protection of 13 rivers through forestry, intensive plantation will be done on both the banks of the rivers. This is expected to increase the forest area to 7,417.36 sq km.

=> The proposed intervention will help in reducing 50.21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from 10-year old plantations and 74.76 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from 20-year-old plantations.

=> The proposed intervention in the 13 riverine landscape will recharge 1889.89 million cubic meters of ground water per year and reduce sediment deposits by 64,83114 cubic meters per year.