CDS (I) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 91 of 120

Correct — D, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan. India's national water-resources information system describes the Indian part of the Indus basin as lying in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh; the former State of Jammu and Kashmir became two Union Territories in 2019, so its share is now split between Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Option (d) is the only one that names all six of those units. The share of basin area is heavily weighted towards the north — about 60 per cent in the old Jammu and Kashmir, about 16 per cent in Himachal Pradesh and about 16 per cent in Punjab, with Rajasthan on roughly 5 per cent and Haryana on about 3 per cent — but the basin does reach both of the last two, which is what the shorter options deny.

• (a)Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab — Stops at Punjab and so leaves out Haryana and Rajasthan. Both carry real Indus-basin area, Haryana through the Ghaggar tract and the Bhakra canal country and Rajasthan through the Indira Gandhi canal command in its north-west.
• (b)Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana — Drops Himachal Pradesh, which is where the Satluj, the Beas and the Ravi all run before entering the plains, and which holds roughly a sixth of the Indian basin area. It also omits Rajasthan.
• (c)Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan — Includes Rajasthan but leaves out Himachal Pradesh, so the list breaks in the middle of the basin. Any Indus list without Himachal Pradesh is missing the catchments of three of the five Punjab rivers.

The Indus rises near Bokhar Chu in the Kailash range of Tibet at about 4,164 metres, flows north-west between the Ladakh and Zaskar ranges, cuts a gorge near Gilgit and enters Pakistan near Chilas. It is one of the largest river basins in the world, about 11,65,000 square kilometres in all, of which about 3,21,289 square kilometres lie in India; its total length is about 2,880 kilometres, of which about 1,114 kilometres are in India. Its five great left-bank tributaries — the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj — join as the Panjnad a little above Mithankot before the combined river reaches the Arabian Sea east of Karachi.

The item is really a test of how far south and east you are willing to follow the basin. Everyone places Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab; the discrimination is Himachal Pradesh at the top and Haryana and Rajasthan at the bottom, and a candidate who thinks of the Indus as a purely Himalayan river will pick one of the shorter lists. Two anchors help. Himachal Pradesh belongs because the Satluj, the Beas and the Ravi all descend through it. Haryana and Rajasthan belong because the basin's plains extend into the Ghaggar country and the north-western desert margin, which is also why the Bhakra Nangal and Indira Gandhi canal systems carry Indus water into them. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 India has unrestricted use of the three eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Satluj — and that is the water those canals distribute across Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

• In India the Indus basin lies in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh; since 2019 the first of these is split into the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Indian share of basin area is about 3,21,289 square kilometres out of a total of about 11,65,000 square kilometres.
• About 60 per cent of the Indian basin area lay in the former State of Jammu and Kashmir, about 16 per cent each in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, about 5 per cent in Rajasthan and about 3 per cent in Haryana.
• The Panjnad is the combined stream of the Satluj, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum, joining the Indus above Mithankot.
• Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 India has unrestricted use of the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj, the three eastern rivers.

• Treating the Indus as a purely mountain river and leaving Haryana and Rajasthan out of its basin.
• Omitting Himachal Pradesh, through which the Satluj, the Beas and the Ravi all pass.
• Confusing the Indus basin with the Indus Waters Treaty allocation; the treaty divides rivers, not basin area.

As a basin-extent list, as a tributary-matching item, or as a statements question on the Indus Waters Treaty.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following rivers are the 'eastern rivers' allotted to India under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960?

  • (a)Indus, Jhelum and Chenab
  • (b)Ravi, Beas and Satluj
  • (c)Chenab, Ravi and Beas
  • (d)Jhelum, Satluj and Beas

  Answer(b) Ravi, Beas and Satluj — the three eastern rivers, whose waters India may use without restriction.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Panjnad, which joins the Indus above Mithankot, is formed by the combined waters of

  • (a)the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Satluj
  • (b)the Shyok, Nubra, Zaskar, Gilgit and Hunza
  • (c)the Kabul, Kurram, Tochi, Gomal and Viboa
  • (d)the Ganga, Yamuna, Ramganga, Gomti and Ghaghara

  Answer(a) the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Satluj — the five rivers that give Punjab its name.