On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22^nd May, 2018 a workshop “Ganga and its Biodiversity: Developing a Road Map for Habitat and Species Conservation” was jointly organized by NMCG-WWF, in New Delhi. During this workshop, the Chief Guest Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari released two publications prepared by the Ganga Aqaulife Conservation Monitoring Centre, Wildlife Institute of India i.e. “Macro Fauna of the Ganga River: Status and Conservation of Select Species”, and “Ganga River – State of Biodiversity at a Glance”.

The Hon’ble Minister also launched the database of Ganga Prahari - the cadre of self-motivated and trained volunteers from five Ganga States. This database has been hosted at the NMCG’s website (nmcg.nic.in) and will be managed from the Wildlife Institute of India. This cadre has been created under the community participation model by community based conservation component of ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation’ project.  This database includes personal information of all Ganga Praharis such as age, gender, educational qualification, occupation, skills and interests besides expedient details of their contact. Details on the number of activities such as awareness meetings, training workshops conducted for Ganga Praharis and onsite activities conducted by these Ganga Praharis have also been listed. All the organizations associated with National Mission for Clean Ganga can access this information through NMCG and WII website.

Shri U.P Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Shri Rajeev Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, Shri Rajiv Kishore, Executive Director (Administration), National Mission for Clean Ganga; Shri Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF-India, and other eminent policy planners, scientists and conservationists representing NMCG, WWF, TSA, CEE graced the occasion. About 40 Ganga Mitras and Ganga Praharis from five Ganga River states, were also present on the occasion. The project personnel of the ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation’ also participated in the workshop.