{"id":83283,"date":"2025-01-15T10:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T10:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?post_type=podcast&p=83283"},"modified":"2025-02-19T17:37:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T17:37:58","slug":"after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/","title":{"rendered":"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ganga has nurtured civilisations in its basin for centuries, and continues to provide water for drinking and agriculture today. About 40%<\/a> of India\u2019s population live in the basin. Although the river\u2019s purity is at the core of its huge religious importance in Hinduism, it is also one of India\u2019s most polluted rivers. A concoction of untreated sewage and industrial waste continues to be pumped into its waters.

The river\u2019s significance is such that tackling this pollution has been a government focus since 1985, when the Ganga Action Plan was launched. Successive governments have since expanded and attempted to improve the approach, but with little success<\/a>. The latest attempt to clean the river is the Namami Gange Programme, launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, soon after he came to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

A decade on, the government claims the project and its technology-first approach have succeeded where previous efforts had not. To investigate this claim, journalist Monika Mondal visited the sacred city of Varanasi (Benares), to assess the waters of the Ganga and two of its tributaries, the Varuna and Assi. She talked to local people and experts and visited the sewage treatment plants bearing most of the burden of the clean-up, publishing her findings<\/a> in the Third Pole (now Dialogue Earth) in September 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this podcast, Mondal revisits her story, joining The Third Pole team to take a behind-the-scenes look at the work she did. With her is researcher Debarshee Dasgupta, who shares his insights on this most recent effort to clean the Ganga, and the complex structural challenges it faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you go to this 5km stretch of Varanasi where there are a lot of tourists and people are coming to actually see the Ganga, you will see a cleaner Ganga. But [if] you just go a few metres away from this spot, you\u2019ll see all the filth and all the cows<\/blockquote>Monika Mondal, independent journalist<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Hosts<\/div>
Behind the scenes at the recording of this first episode of The Third Pole Podcast. From left to right: Hosts Omair Ahmad and Shalinee Kumari, and guests Monika Mondal and Debarshee Dasgupta (Image: Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Guests<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Monika Mondal<\/a>, independent journalist
Debarshee Dasgupta<\/a>, senior research associate, Centre for Policy Research<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hosts: Shalinee Kumari, Omair Ahmad
Producer: Shalinee Kumari
Audio edit and sound design: Sync Sound Sabha<\/a>
Recording studio: Pindrop Media<\/a>
Artwork: Sana Nasir<\/a>
Thanks to: Lizi Hesling, Nanaui Amoros Silva, Chaia Dechen, Georgie Campbell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music credits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlarm Cycle\u201d by Blue Dot Sessions<\/a>, licence:\u00a0CC BY NC<\/a>
\u201cBorough\u201d by Blue Dot Sessions<\/a>, licence:\u00a0CC BY NC<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the series<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Third Pole Podcast is a new Dialogue Earth series focusing on climate change and the environment in the Himalayan watershed. It aims to create a space for beyond-the-article conversations with our journalists and field experts. At the same time, we also ask questions about the state of environmental journalism in South Asia: why it\u2019s needed, what issues it should be looking at and what challenges it faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":60068114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[760,50039903],"tags":[20000005,50040707,20000341],"country":[20000111],"class_list":["post-83283","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pollution","category-water","tag-ganga","tag-the-third-pole","tag-water-pollution","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAfter four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T17:37:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/\",\"name\":\"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-15T10:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T17:37:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"A man and woman sit next to each other, with the view of a mountain range in the background\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Dialogue Earth\",\"description\":\"Global climate and environment news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"width\":256,\"height\":256,\"caption\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_\",\"\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?","description":"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?","og_description":"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers","og_url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/","og_site_name":"Dialogue Earth","article_modified_time":"2025-02-19T17:37:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/","name":"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-15T10:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-19T17:37:58+00:00","description":"Episode one of The Third Pole Podcast visits one of India\u2019s most sacred rivers","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250114_TTPP_thumbnail-episode-1-1200px.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"A man and woman sit next to each other, with the view of a mountain range in the background"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/after-four-decades-of-efforts-is-the-ganga-any-cleaner\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"After four decades of efforts, is the Ganga any cleaner?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","name":"Dialogue Earth","description":"Global climate and environment news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization","name":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_","","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/83283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83283"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/83283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60069149,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/83283\/revisions\/60069149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60068114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83283"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=83283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}