Summary
In 2016, Ganga Action Parivar, CELDF, and the Global Interfaith WASH alliance created a proposal for a National Ganga River Rights Act to give the river legal rights. The act is based on a rights-based legal framework for nature, incorporates protections mechanisms and anti-pollution measures, and is designed to ensure laws are strongly enforced rather than neglected. The act is for “the purposes of establishing, securing, and defending the inalienable and inherent rights of the Ganga River, its tributaries, and watershed, and the rights of the people of India to a healthy, thriving river Basin.” The act gives the people and the government the right to defend and enforce the rights laid out in the act.