This year’s themes will be ‘Reducing River pollution’, ‘Rejuvenating water bodies’, ‘Creating a vibrant river zone’, ‘Generating river-related economy’ and ‘Engaging citizens in river management activities.'
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) had organised ‘Re-Imagining Urban Rivers’, a national level thesis competition in September 2020, under a joint project that the two organizations are implementing to promulgate river-sensitive development in our cities. This is a first of its kind initiative to engage young minds to research and envisage solutions for urban river issues. The purpose of this sponsored thesis competition is to tap into the intellect and creativity of students to arrive at innovative solutions for re-imagining the outlook and management of rivers that flow through cities and their associated features. The competition had three themes - Re-imagining water bodies and/or wetlands, developing eco-friendly riverfront projects and Promoting River tourism. Students from leading institutes across the country presented their thesis in the grand finale of the competition on 19th Aug 2021 at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
This competition provided an opportunity for students with relevant academic backgrounds to align their academic thesis research with the themes of the competition. The first prize went to Manju Rajeev Kanchan, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada for “The somber case of an odd triad – Dolphin, Man and Zoonoses”. Deepanshi Singh, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, won second prize for her thesis on “Revitalizing Sultan Ganj Ghat” and the third prize went to Rajorshi Banerjee, Sushant University for “Reconnecting the city to its riverfront – A case of Kolkata”. Students from more than 17 architecture and planning institutes in India participated in the competition. Eight best entries of this first edition were shortlisted for the final round and presented before the eminent jury. Alvina Habib Khan, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Aman Sharma, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, Muddukrishna A. S., School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, Ritu Sharma, SVNIT, Surat and Saurav Kumar, CEPT University and the three winners were amongst the finalists. NMCG & NIUA will be publishing all eight entries and also taking up further steps for their dissemination at a specific project level as applicable. The participants were encouraged to be in touch and were informed about ‘Rag Rag Mein Ganga’ tele-series, being launched on Doordarshan National from 21st August 2021. This series will be telecasted every Saturday and Sunday at 8.30 pm.
1st prize. Manju Rajeev Kanchan | 2nd prize. Deepanshi Singh
3rd prize. Rajorshi Banerjee
“Namami Gange is an integrated program with many innovative features and which has been engaging with academic institutes to get new ideas and perspectives in river rejuvenation,” said Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga. He shared that the idea behind this thesis competition was to continuously engage with young researchers and scholars who can think in integrated ways and have new planning perspectives. They can also share fresh and innovative ideas. He also shared the idea of developing a river city alliance for institutionalising such thinking.
Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, in his special address emphasised the importance of river tourism in urban areas. Citing success stories of Sabarmati River Front, Ahmedabad and making Indore water plus city, he said, “The development which we had been planning for so many years is happening today.” Addressing the participants he added, “Now you don’t have be wait for government to work on your projects. Each one of you have a potential to make it a huge success.”
The second edition of the Sponsored Thesis Project Competition was launched at the event. This year’s themes will be ‘Reducing River pollution’, ‘Rejuvenating water bodies’, ‘Creating a vibrant river zone’, ‘Generating river-related economy’ and ‘Engaging citizens in river management activities.’ Entries can be mailed at urvers@niua.org. The last date of submission will be 26th September 2021.
