Bloomberg Originals

Modi Promised to Clean the Ganges. This Is What Happened

Modi

A decade-long Bloomberg News investigation into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $4.5 billion Namami Gange initiative reveals that water quality has deteriorated across most of the 1,900-kilometer river system despite extensive infrastructure spending. Satellite data and independent chemical testing in key locations like Haridwar, Kanpur, and Varanasi indicate worsening turbidity, persistent sewage discharge, and dangerous levels of heavy metals that threaten public health and local ecosystems. Experts conclude that with only half of the allocated funds utilized by 2025 and ongoing industrial flouting of norms, the project's current trajectory is failing to achieve the stated goal of restoring the river to a safe state for bathing or agriculture.