Which of the following states is/are part of the Ganga Basin? 1. Chhattisgarh 2. Himachal Pradesh 3. Rajasthan Select the answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — D, 1, 2 and 3. All three states send water to the Ganga, and the surprise in each case is how. Chhattisgarh belongs to the basin through the Son, which rises at Amarkantak and drains the northern edge of the state before running east across Madhya Pradesh and Bihar to join the Ganga above Patna. Himachal Pradesh belongs to it through the Yamuna headwaters — the Yamuna rises at the Yamunotri glacier and the Tons, its largest tributary, drains a large part of the Himachal hills, so the state contributes to the Ganga even though most of its rivers go to the Indus. Rajasthan belongs to it through the Chambal and the Banas, which flow north-east into the Yamuna and so into the Ganga; the Ganga basin takes in more than a lakh of square kilometres of eastern Rajasthan. The official basin description used by India's water resources information system lists eleven units in all — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi — covering about 8,61,452 sq km, roughly a quarter of India's area.
- (a)1 only — Concedes Chhattisgarh through the Son but drops the other two, when Rajasthan's Chambal country is one of the largest state shares in the whole basin.
- (b)1 and 2 only — Leaves out Rajasthan, whose Chambal and Banas run into the Yamuna and carry more than a lakh of square kilometres into the Ganga basin.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Leaves out Chhattisgarh, which enters the basin through the Son, the largest right-bank tributary of the Ganga.
A river basin is the whole area from which water drains to one river, so a state belongs to a basin if any part of it sheds water that way, however small the share. The Ganga basin is India's largest, at about 8.6 lakh sq km within the country, and it is fed from three directions: the Himalayan tributaries from the north — Yamuna, Ramganga, Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi — the peninsular tributaries from the south — Chambal, Betwa, Ken, Son — and the plains rivers between them. That southern set is what brings Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand into a basin that people otherwise picture as purely northern.
The instinct that trips candidates here is to picture the Ganga as a river of the northern plains and to admit only the states it flows through. The right test is drainage, not the main channel. Ask where each state's rivers end up. Chhattisgarh's northern edge feeds the Son; Himachal's south-eastern hills feed the Tons and so the Yamuna; eastern Rajasthan feeds the Chambal and so the Yamuna as well. One caution: some general references list the Ganga basin states without Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, which are the two that were carved out of older states in 2000. Use the official basin description, which names all eleven.
- The Ganga basin within India covers about 8,61,452 sq km, roughly 26 per cent of the country's geographical area.
- Its official state list runs Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Delhi.
- Chhattisgarh enters the basin through the Son, which rises at Amarkantak and joins the Ganga above Patna.
- Himachal Pradesh enters it through the Yamuna headwaters, chiefly the Tons.
- Rajasthan enters it through the Chambal and the Banas, which flow into the Yamuna.
- Counting only the states the main channel of the Ganga runs through.
- Forgetting the peninsular tributaries, which bring the southern states into the basin.
- Relying on a state list drawn up before Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were created in 2000.
As a which-states-belong item on a named basin, or as a tributary-to-main-river pairs question.
Consider the following pairs: Tributary River – Main River 1. Chambal : Narmada 2. Sone : Yamuna 3. Manas : Brahmaputra Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 3 only
Answer(d) 3 only
Both of the rivers that carry states into the Ganga basin appear in that item as wrong pairs. The Chambal joins the Yamuna and the Son joins the Ganga itself — which is precisely how Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh get in.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Son river, which brings part of Chhattisgarh into the Ganga basin, rises near which of the following?
- (a)Amarkantak
- (b)Mahabaleshwar
- (c)Brahmagiri
- (d)Yamunotri
Answer(a) Amarkantak — where the Narmada also rises, though the two flow in opposite directions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Chambal river is a tributary of which of the following?
- (a)Narmada
- (b)Yamuna
- (c)Mahanadi
- (d)Tapi
Answer(b) Yamuna — which is why eastern Rajasthan drains into the Ganga basin.