While the country has been struggling to battle COVID-19, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has been busy for more than a month in raising another awakening among people especially among children about Ganga, Rivers and Environment-- Gangaquest-2020 -- an innovative online quiz that has been live now for more than a month.
The quiz has received unprecedented response and crossed a million mark, with more than 11 lakh participants registering well before its scheduled end on May 30, 2020.
The quiz has been innovatively conceptualized and designed in partnership with TREE Craze Foundation, a not for profit orgsation of young professionals, which has recently been in news for their efforts on the Yamuna Cleng regularly at Kalindi Kunj ghat.
The quiz consists of three rounds. While the first round is in the form of a survey to assess the attitude of participants on many aspects of Ganga Cleng, the second round is a knowledge building exercise.
Participants can clear the second round only once they answer all ten questions correctly, with information shown to them in case of incorrect ones. In third and last round participants face ten questions on two selected areas of knowledge out of Historical and Cultural Significance of Ganga, Flora and Fauna, Current Affairs, Physical geography, Famous places and personalities etc with fastest and correct answers making them compete for attractive awards like tablets etc. and complimentary subscriptions from Toppr.com.
The quiz was also designed to have questions for different levels (Grade I for class VIII & below, Grade II for class IX & X, Grade III for class XI &XII and Grade IV for anyone) with the appropriate level of questions and was open to anyone above 10 years of age.
RR Mishra, Director General, NMCG agrees that conducting the quiz during the Corona epidemic has been a major step but the Mission decided to go ahead to engage and to some extent entertain the children confined to their homes due to a series of lockdowns.
In feedback shared with NMCG, many participants acknowledged the positive effect the contest had on children. Many participants admitted that the quiz encouraged them to seek more information about Ganga and Environment.
Gangaquest 2020 also drew tremendous support from many luminaries, with the Minister of Jalshakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat actively leading the campaign with his message and interaction with community-level structures within Namami Gange such as Ganga Vichar Manch, NYK Ganga Doots and Ganga Praharis and promotions along with Kailash Kher, Rajiv Khandelwal, Trichur Brothers, Temsutula Imsong amongst others.
A young working gentleman said "I used to participate in quite a few quizzes in my student years, but never got the chance to do so once I started working. With this additional time in hand, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to a loved hobby."
Whereas, a lady reminisced on her childhood and said "My native place is in Bihar and Ganga flows through Bihar. I have so many memories associated with Ganga. Last year my Hero, Rajeev Khandelwal, hosted this beautiful show 'Rag RagMe Ganga', which further increased my awareness. I would love to dive into the Quest!"
( With inputs from ANI )