‘Namami Gange’
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The allocation of a fund of Rs 2,037 crore by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first budget is a welcome move, especially when it constitutes the part of an integrated Ganga development project called the ‘Namami Gange’. It is equally interesting to know that Rs 100 crore and Rs 4200 crore have been allocated for Ghat development & beautification of the river front and for National water ways respectively. Undoubtedly these are laudable measures; nevertheless it calls for an integrated approach because multiple agencies would be working at different points sans coordination and cooperation in the absence of convergence enhancing the probability of ‘too many cooks spoiling the broth’. Emphasis should be on convergence and capacity building.
It is noteworthy that no action plan of this magnitude can succeed without the involvement of the people as major stakeholders. Besides, it is equally essential to initiate capacity-building programmes of the people to sensitize them about the objectives of the action plans being initiated to elicit their participation. Along with fiscal and technical inputs, capacity building inputs by the civil society are equally significant. Apart from capacity building, the role of civil society is also indispensable in monitoring the progress of work being done by local authorities through social audit.
