On which among the following is National Waterway No. 2 situated?
- (a)The Ganga, Haldia–Prayagraj
- (b)West Coast Canal, Kottapuram–Kollam
- (c)The Brahmaputra, Sadiya–Dhubri
- (d)Godavari and Krishna, Kakinada–Puducherry
Correct — C, the Brahmaputra, Sadiya–Dhubri. National Waterway 2 is the 891-kilometre stretch of the Brahmaputra between Sadiya in eastern Assam and Dhubri near the Bangladesh border, declared a national waterway on 1 September 1988. The other three options are all real national waterways, but with different numbers: the Ganga from Haldia to Prayagraj is NW-1, the West Coast Canal from Kottapuram to Kollam is NW-3, and the Godavari and Krishna stretch from Kakinada to Puducherry is NW-4. So the pairing that fits number 2 is the Brahmaputra.
- (a)The Ganga, Haldia–Prayagraj — That is National Waterway 1, the first to be declared and the longest of the original set, running along the Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly system.
- (b)West Coast Canal, Kottapuram–Kollam — That is National Waterway 3, in Kerala, and the first national waterway to be made fully navigable with fairway, navigational aids and terminals.
- (d)Godavari and Krishna, Kakinada–Puducherry — That is National Waterway 4, covering the Kakinada–Puducherry canal system together with stretches of the Godavari and the Krishna.
A national waterway is an inland navigation route declared by Parliament and developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India for cargo and passenger movement. The first four were declared one at a time between 1986 and 2008 — the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the West Coast Canal, and the Godavari–Krishna system — and the National Waterways Act, 2016 then swept in a much larger set, taking the total to about 111.
The examiner is testing whether you can attach the right number to the right river, so the efficient revision is the numbered list rather than the individual rivers. Take them in order — 1 Ganga, 2 Brahmaputra, 3 West Coast Canal, 4 Godavari and Krishna, 5 Brahmani and the Mahanadi delta rivers in Odisha — and the item collapses. As of the 2024 exam and still today, NW-1 is the one being developed hardest, under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, while NW-2 matters strategically because the Brahmaputra is Assam's natural highway and connects onward to Bangladesh under the inland water transit and trade protocol.
- National Waterway 2 is the 891-kilometre stretch of the Brahmaputra between the Bangladesh border near Dhubri and Sadiya in Assam.
- It was declared National Waterway No. 2 on 1 September 1988.
- About 111 inland waterways were declared national waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016.
- The Inland Waterways Authority of India, set up in 1986, is the body responsible for developing and regulating them.
- Matching the Ganga to number 2 because it is the more famous river; the Ganga is number 1.
- Confusing NW-3, the West Coast Canal in Kerala, with NW-4, the Godavari and Krishna system on the east coast.
- Assuming there are only a handful of national waterways — the 2016 Act took the count to about 111.
Asked as a numbered-pairing item — the candidate must map a waterway number onto the correct river and stretch.
Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. India has one of the longest navigable inland water networks in the world. 2. Inland waterways presently help in transporting about 25 percent of the total cargo movement. 3. About 111 inland waterways have been declared as National Waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1 and 3 only
Answer(d) 1 and 3 only
The same subject at the level of the system rather than a single waterway. It confirms the figure of about 111 national waterways under the 2016 Act, and it kills a common overestimate — inland waterways carry only a small share of India's cargo, nowhere near a quarter of it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
National Waterway 1 runs along which river system?
- (a)The Brahmaputra
- (b)The Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly
- (c)The Godavari and Krishna
- (d)The West Coast Canal
Answer(b) The Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly — from Haldia up to Prayagraj, the first national waterway to be declared.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The body responsible for developing and regulating India's national waterways is
- (a)The Central Water Commission
- (b)The Inland Waterways Authority of India
- (c)The Directorate General of Shipping
- (d)The National Highways Authority of India
Answer(b) The Inland Waterways Authority of India — set up in 1986 for the development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.