MUMBAI: Discovery Communications India will air a special short capsule feature series highlighting the work done under Namami Gange programme starting this Independence Day. The special series will air across 7 Discovery portfolio channels including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery HD World, Animal Planet HD World, TLC HD World and Discovery Tamil.

National Mission for Clean Ganga director-general UP Singh, said, “‘Namami Gange Programme’, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government led by the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The program aims to accomplish the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga. We are delighted to partner with Discovery Communications India and leverage their platforms to create awareness about the work being done by Namami Gange across the length of the river Ganges.”

Discovery Communications India VP - head of advertising sales & business head of regional clusters - South Asia Vikram Tanna said, “We have used world’s first attempt to cover river Ganges on a stand-up paddle board as the core story telling arc and closely integrated the work done on ground by Namami Gange to create a very informative series. The short-capsule, episodic story telling format is also being tried for the very first time."

Late last year, Shilpika Gautam, led a team of four individuals, in a unique attempt to cover entire length of river Ganges on a stand-up paddle board. The team covered the length of river Ganges over 101 days of continuous paddling.

Starting from Gaumukh in Uttarakhand, the team paddled the entire length of river Ganga through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The journey culminated at Sagar Island (Ganga Sagar) in the Ganges delta in West Bengal. During the process, Shilpika Gautam broke the world record for the longest continuous stand-up paddle boarded distance by a female in a single journey.

Discovery covered this inspiring expedition, and integrated the work done by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the implementing arm of Namami Gange programme at key junctures to create this unique and special series.