National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organized Ganga Utsav – The River Festival 2022 on 4th November at New Delhi in two sessions. G. Kishan Reddy, the Union Minister for Culture, Tourism & DoNER was the Chief Guest in the morning session in the gracious presence of Bishweswar Tudu, the Minister for State, Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs, H.E. Freddy Svan, Royal Danish Ambassador to India, Sriram Vedire, Advisor, Ministry of Jal Shakti and G. Asok Kumar, Director General, NMCG.
The evening session was presided over by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Minister for Jal Shakti in the presence of Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti and G. Asok Kumar, DG, NMCG. Taking inspiration from the speech of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on 26th September 2021, the central aim of the Ganga Utsav- The River Festival 2022 is to celebrate all the rivers of India (Nadi Utsav). NMCG has been celebrating Ganga Utsav since 2017 every year on 4th November, the day on which river Ganga was declared the National River of India in the year 2008. Ganga Utsav 2022 is dedicated to the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav that is being observed to commemorate the 75 years of Indian Independence. As Ganga Utsav 2022 is held in the 75th year of independence, it is planned to have 75 separate events in Ganga and its tributary basin cities and towns, by August 2023, 3-day events in 15 major cities like Haridwar, Mathura, Delhi, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Kolkata etc., 1-day events in 60 smaller towns/cities, in which local and pan-India culture based events will be promoted.