3 September 2020.
Introduction:
The Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on 3rd September announced that the centre is working on rejuvenation of 13 rivers. The minister announced this on the occasion of celebration of “Cauvery Calling” movement.
Highlights
- The 13 rivers that are under rejuvenation are Beas, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Yamuna, Luni, Narmada, Godavari, Cauvery, Krishna, Mahanadi, and Brahmaputra.
- In addition to these, a special programme is being implemented to rejuvenate River Ganga under National Mission for Clean Ganga.
- The Cauvery Calling and Rally for Rivers are movements that were launched to spread message of river revitalisation in the world.
- The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is currently working on technical study to assess the river landscape and prepare a Detailed Project Report.
About Cauvery Calling:
- It is a campaign that was launched by the founder Isha Foundation Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 2019. It was launched immediately after the Cauvery Revitalisation project.
- The project is jointly being implemented by the Government of Karnataka. Under the project, 25 crore saplings are to be planted.
- It promotes tree-based agriculture on private farm lands in the Cauvery basin.
- Also, it aims to enable 50 lakh farmers to plant 242 crore high value trees in their farms. This will put one-third of the river basin under shade and also improve ground water table and soil health.
- Also, it will increase farmer income from three to eight times within five to seven years. Also, it is expected to sequester up to 12 trillion litres of water in the Cauvery river basin.
- This will also recharge all water bodies in the region augmenting source flow of the river.
- It is estimated that river Cauvery has depleted to 40% from its historic flows.
Rally for Rivers:
This is also a movement launched by Isha foundation. It was launched in collaboration with 25 scientists and law makers including Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.