New Delhi, 19 February 2021: After showing initial excitement in cleaning Ganga, corporates’ interest seems to have evaporated as their contribution to the cause has plunged by 8,205 % in the past four years.
When the Union government had asked the corporates to contribute for the purpose of cleaning Ganga under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in 2014, contribution to the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) saw a spike for the first couple of years but then it plunged. It reached the maximum of Rs 32.82 crores every next year, as per the data available with the ministry of Corporate affairs. However, in 2019-20, CSR contribution to CGF declined to meagre Rs 0.40 crores.
When the government announced CGF in 2014-15, total CSR contribution to the fund was Rs 5.47 crores. Next year, it increased manifold and reached to Rs 32.82 crores.
Strangely, the CSR contribution to CGF declined subsequently. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, the CSR contribution to CGF were Rs 24.37 crores and Rs 4.54 crores respectively. In 2018-19, there was a slight increase in CSR contribution to Rs 5.41 crores but in 2019-20, corporates’ contribution to CGR declined sharply to Rs 0.40 crore.
See the year-wise CSR contribution in CGF
On September 14, 2014, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to establishment of the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF).
As an argument to create CGF, the Union Cabinet said that the measures of cleaning Ganges taken till date, were inadequate and a national effort is required to mobilise resources for improving the condition of the river Ganga.
With this, the Government announced the setting up of an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called "NamamiGange" and an initial sum of Rs. 2,037 crore was allocated towards the project in the Union Budget 2014-15.
Along with announcing mission ‘NamamiGange’, the Cabinet decided to set up "Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)" with voluntary contributions from residents of the country and Non-Resident Indian (NRIs) / Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and others to harness their ‘enthusiasm’ to contribute towards the conservation of the river Ganga.
It said, "The Fund will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of cleaning the river Ganga. Domestic donors to the Fund shall be eligible for tax benefits as applicable in the case of the Swachh Bharat Kosh. The Fund would be managed by a Trust to be headed by the Finance Minister. The secretariat of the Trust will be set up in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Mission Director, Clean Ganga."
The government also appealed to corporates to contribute to CGF. Rather, a separate category as ‘CSR’ is created on CGF website. However, corporates lost interest in contributing to CGF gradually.
