Govt declares Chacha Chaudhary mascot for Namami Gange Programme. Here's why

The National Mission for Clean Ganga has tied up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos featuring the cartoon character.

Famous Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary was declared as the mascot of the Union government’s 'Namami Gange Programme' at an executive committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) on Friday. NMCG has tied up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos featuring the cartoon character.

Chacha Chaudhary, created by Pran, was an unlikely superhero - an old man who fought crime using his wit and at times a bamboo stick.

The government said that the total estimated budget for the project is ₹2.26 crore. The comics will initially be launched in Hindi, English and Bengali languages.

The decision to make Chacha Chaudhary the mascot is part of NMCG’s effort to bringing behavioural changes amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers, according to the ministry of Jal Shakti.

The ministry said that youth are the “impellers of change”, prompting the NMCG to focus on them in its outreach and public communications efforts. Namami Gange was launched as a flagship programme of the Union government for effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of the National River Ganga.

“NMCG has always been into community engagement with special focus on youth and children. This association will be one more step towards it,” Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, director-general of NMCG, said in a statement.

During the meeting, a proposal for conserving and sustainably managing Gangetic floodplain wetlands in Bihar was also presented. Wetland inventory and assessment, wetland management planning, wetland’s monitoring, and capacity development and outreach will be the major components of the project with an estimated cost of about ₹2.50 crore.

“ The proposal aims at creating a knowledge base and capacities for effective management of floodplain wetlands in the 12 Ganga districts in Bihar to ensure sustained provision of wetlands ecosystem services and securing biodiversity habitats,” the ministry said.