The Ganga Project is the first and strategic partner of Green Earth Blockchain. Ganga a new e-commerce platform based in India, with deep linkages into the rural communities in India, to offer full transparency of the entire supply chain, for each food product or natural product, right from the source or farm level, to the end consumer, which will promote genuine and authentic producers of foods and natural products, across India.
The transparency of all products on Ganga will be backed up by blockchain based transactions (from the Farmer/Producer to the Consumer) that are visible online to Users worldwide – with the dual objectives of proving the authenticity of products on Ganga, and blocking the entry of adulterated products into Ganga.
The purpose of the Ganga Project is the economic and commercial revival of the entire cultural heritage. India’s natural food, medicinal plants, traditional products and traditional health knowledge have to be given a platform accordingly.
Many people have shared decades of experience to help this project. From the remote villages of the Himalayas, to the bottom of the Aravallis; the deserts in Rajasthan; Satpura and Vindhya in Central India, to the forests of Chhattisgarh; areas of Ganga ji, Doab, Narmada ji, and Western Ghats, Vidarbha, etc; tireless efforts have been made to save nature and culture. Many institutions like Aranyani, Avani, IITK-UBA, Sahjeevan, Malsen Himalaya Integral, many organic companies/suppliers, etc. are associated with us.
There are five main dimensions of the Ganga Project:
1. Total Transparency: Complete transparency of every product and chain of transactions.
2. Mutual understanding and cooperation
3. Use of traditional services and knowledge
4. Converting the transaction into a long-term interest using different technologies like Blockchain
5. To make the e-commerece transactions a medium of social upliftment
Following are details on the five main dimensions mentioned above.
1. Total Transparency: Complete transparency of every product and chain of transactions. Only then the opaque illusion created by the market between the consumer and the final producer and the farmer or a tribal producer collapse.
2. Mutual understanding and cooperation: Platform facilitates direct exchange and sharing of understanding of all the parties involved in the chain of transactions
3. Use of traditional services and knowledge: Bringing forward Indian health practices with data and direct evidence, promoting tourism that saves nature and culture, etc.
4. Converting the transaction into a long-term interest: Considering the contribution of all the parties as the custodian of the vanishing property, bringing its economic value to the world. For this we will use different mediums. The use of a medium block chain and its token has been decided but more will be added.
5. To make transactions a medium of social upliftment: Giving role to the most disadvantaged sections. Each customer / transaction will have a nodal agent from the most disadvantaged sections , who will also be a beneficiary in the chain.
Ganga Project – Organization Structure and Beneficiaries
Organization Structure: The Ganga App etc. is registered under Aranyaani (ANFPL). Commercially, all institutions (including Aranyaani) and individuals are independently associated with the Ganga Project. The decision making of Ganga Project and Aranyaani (ANFPL) and the entire policy formulation will be under the “Ganga Project Trust” (being setup currently).
Objective: The income of the Ganga Project must flow back to the community. Therefore, Ganga Project will be owned fully by “Ganga Project Trust”, whose beneficiaries will be a wide range of community members. The Ganga Project Trust will oversee the administration and distribution of the income generated by the Ganga Project, which is a new e-commerce platform that offers fully transparency of the entire supply chain, for each food product or natural product, right from the source or farm level, to the end consumer, which will promote genuine and authentic producers of foods and natural products, across India. The transparency of the products will be backed up by blockchain based transactions, visible to Users worldwide.
Trustees: The Ganga Project Trust will be managed by 25 Trustees, who will be individuals with diverse backgrounds, associated with the Ganga Project in many parts of India, with a fixed tenure of 2 years. The Trustees will ensure that the income of the Trust is distributed correctly to the Beneficiaries of the Trust.
Beneficiaries: There will be five (5) Beneficiaries of the Ganga Project Trust, and each of them will get 20% share of the income earned by the Trust. Following are the Beneficiaries.
1. Customers (20%) – All Customers who have bought products or services from the Ganga Project (above a certain minimum threshold in annual sales value; exact value to be decided afresh each year) will be eligible as beneficiaries, and they will be contacted for this purpose. This process will have its own system.
2. Farmers & SHGs (20%) – These Farmers and Self Help Groups (SHGs) would be our producers and suppliers based across India, mostly in rural areas, who will be supplying authentic products to the Ganga Project.
3. Community Members (20%) – They will be a wide range of people who would be contributing to the growth of the Ganga Project with their efforts in different ways. They will include disabled people, and other marginalized sections of the society. Many of them may be working part time, or on contract basis for short durations. And many of them may not have any regular income source, and will benefit from whatever financial support they receive.
4. Social Causes (20%) – The Ganga Project will aim to support a wide range of social causes related to its vision, like rural development, education, vocational training, nutrition, conservation of precious natural resources, etc. The exact social causes to be supported will be decided by the Trustees every year.
5. Team Members (20%) – They will be the Team Members of Ganga Project, who are actively working to grow the Ganga Project in different roles. The Trustees will receive a list of Team Members from the Ganga Project every year, along with the percentage of benefits to be given to each Team Member in the list.
Summary: 80% of Ganga Project income will flow back to the society, to a wide range of stakeholders, including Customers, Farmers, SHGs, Community Members, and support for Social Causes. The remaining 20% income will flow to Ganga Project Team Members, which will enable them to perform better and establish Ganga Project for the long term. Thus, the Ganga Project is unique because all sections of the society are the ultimate beneficiaries.
Ganga Project Plan:
The following features are coming on Ganga App and website:
- Consumers can see each product’s supply chain, from farm/forest/artisan to consumer, including what amount each person in the chain got. The consumer can contact them directly for longer association too (we will enable that functionality).
- Any other Businesses/ Platforms, who are ready to give such transparent information to the block chain, they can also get the facility from the Green Earth block chain, and other platforms.
- There is a separate incentive by the Green Earth Blockchain to promote local transactions, natural packaging, etc.
- One can also take time from experts in Indian traditional health practices. One can also put one’s experience on the block chain. Experts of Ganga project, natural farming and forest, mountain, traditional knowledge, etc., can also do their live sessions from here.
- One can visit all the units, integration centers, eco-tourism centers associated with the Ganga project. It will also be connected to the block chain. In this way one can see the work of very dedicated people of India.
- Farmers or forest dwellers will be able to give their property details and can also link themselves or their FPOs to the blockchain. On this basis, their carbon credits will also be transparent.
- According to our resolution to give place to the most disadvantaged sections in the economic system, including handicapped, transgenders, etc., the role of account manager of every product and every consumer, will be from this class only. This person will also be in the blockchain and 2-3 percent of the transaction will go directly to them.
- Apart from this, there are other features and will continue to grow. We will work with Green Earth Blockchain project to showcase the transparency of our project.
Hence, the Ganga Project, as its name stands for, will work for connecting everyone, growing the natural and traditional wealth, and making all the people involved, the final beneficiaries and partners based across India. Learn more here: www.GangaProject.com
Above image: Ganga in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India (photo credit: Lucas Hemingway)
What is Ganga (the river)? What does it signify?
For me, understanding Ganga is evolving into an internal journey, though it started as an outward quest with a definitive viewpoint.
To those who view her from a specific lens, the meaning is narrowed down by the viewpoint.
- For the development organizations and the government departments and academicians, Ganga is a water body, a term that limits her to a physical narrow space.
- For economists, its a water resource. Its utility is measured in output in current timeframes and its uniqueness is of no interest.
- For historians and sociologists, its the cradle of a continuous human civilization, around which races and kingdoms have come and gone, and philosophy, science and art forms have evolved.
- For environmentalists, its a large fresh water ecosystem that needs urgent attention, else a large population of the subcontinent will fall into unrecoverable poverty.
- For a religious person, Ganga is a heavenly gift to cleanse humans of our sins.
For many I come across, particularly the young or rich, she is a beautiful sight and a good place for entertainment. Many and more such segregated view points put together, influenced by business and profits, have been shaping how we see Ganga in these times.
On the other hand, the collective consciousness has known Ganga as pure, eternal or ever flowing, holistic, and benevolent. It takes some surrender to start observing differently than the invested or sponsored viewpoints, and just believing the expressions of the collective consciousness.
The natural instinct that has since ages, sent the destitutes to mother Ganga then starts making sense; the raw natural empire of even a diminished Ganga is felt far away beyond its physical plains, from the Himalayas to the seas, having a strong relationship with all her fellow rivers and terrains; and the kings and their kingdoms appear ephemeral, and largely inconsequential.
When we envisage Ganga Project, the guiding principles remain pure, eternal or ever flowing, holistic, and benevolent. Hence correspondingly, it translated to Full transparency, Sustainable and Natural, All facets of an economy including a representative value token, and inclusive of weakest sections first.