Which of the following statements regarding the given rivers is/are correct? 1. Tsangpo crosses over into India under the name of Dihang. 2. Godavari has the second largest river basin covering about 10 percent of the area of India. 3. Rivers Chambal and Betwa are the important tributaries of river Ganga which join river Ganga directly in Uttar Pradesh. 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 — B, statements 1 and 2 only. The Yarlung Tsangpo of Tibet enters India through Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, also called the Dihang, and only becomes the Brahmaputra after being joined by the Dibang and Lohit in Assam — so statement 1 is right. The Godavari drains India's second largest river basin after the Ganga, about 3.12 lakh square kilometres or roughly a tenth of the country's area, which is why it is nicknamed the Dakshina Ganga (Ganga of the South) — statement 2 is right. Statement 3 is wrong because the Chambal and the Betwa flow into the Yamuna, not into the Ganga directly; they reach the Ganga only indirectly, through the Yamuna. With statement 3 removed, the answer is 1 and 2 only.
- (a)1 only — Correctly keeps the Tsangpo-Dihang link but wrongly drops statement 2 — the Godavari genuinely has the second largest river basin in India, covering about a tenth of its area.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Includes the false statement 3 (the Chambal and Betwa join the Yamuna, not the Ganga directly) and discards the true statement 1 about the Tsangpo entering India as the Dihang.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 — Wrongly adds statement 3; the Chambal and Betwa are tributaries of the Yamuna, so they meet the Ganga only via the Yamuna, not directly.
India's rivers fall into the Himalayan (perennial) and Peninsular systems. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo and enters India as the Siang/Dihang. Among river basins by area, the Ganga is the largest and the Godavari the second largest. The Yamuna, the Ganga's biggest tributary, itself collects the Chambal and the Betwa before joining the Ganga at Prayagraj.
Statement 3 sets a common trap by calling the Chambal and Betwa tributaries that join the Ganga 'directly'. They are tributaries of the Yamuna; only the Yamuna joins the Ganga directly. Recognising this nested drainage (Chambal to Yamuna to Ganga) is the key to rejecting statement 3.
- The Yarlung Tsangpo enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang/Dihang and becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam.
- The Godavari has India's second largest river basin (about 3.12 lakh sq km, roughly a tenth of the country), after the Ganga, and is called the Dakshina Ganga.
- The Chambal and the Betwa are right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna, not direct tributaries of the Ganga.
- The Yamuna is the largest tributary of the Ganga and joins it at Prayagraj (Allahabad).
- Treating the Chambal and Betwa as direct Ganga tributaries — they join the Yamuna first.
- Forgetting that the Yamuna is the Ganga's largest tributary, so the Yamuna's own tributaries reach the Ganga only indirectly.
A statement-code question mixing river names and basins — check the Tsangpo-Dihang link, the Godavari basin size, and which trunk river the Chambal and Betwa actually join.
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 — the Chambal joins the Yamuna (not the Narmada) and the Sone joins the Ganga (not the Yamuna); only Manas-Brahmaputra is correct.
Tests the very same tributary trap — the Chambal joins the Yamuna, not the trunk river it is paired with — that makes statement 3 false in this NDA question.
The Brahmaputra, Irrawady and Mekong rivers originate in Tibet and flow through narrow and parallel mountain ranges in their upper reaches. Of these rivers, Brahmaputra makes a 'U' turn in its course to flow into India. This 'U' turn is due to
- (a) uplift of folded Himalayan series
- (b) syntaxis bending of geologically young Himalayas
- (c) geo-tectonic disturbance in the tertiary folded mountain chains
- (d) Both (a) and (b) above
Answer(b) syntaxis bending of geologically young Himalayas — near Namcha Barwa the eastern Himalaya bends sharply, looping the Tsangpo south into India as the Brahmaputra.
Concerns the same Tsangpo-to-Brahmaputra course that underlies statement 1 — the Tibetan Tsangpo turning into India before becoming the Brahmaputra.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Chambal and the Betwa are tributaries of which river?
- (a)Ganga
- (b)Yamuna
- (c)Son
- (d)Ghaghara
Answer(b) Yamuna — both are right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna, which then joins the Ganga at Prayagraj.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which river has the second largest drainage basin in India?
- (a)Krishna
- (b)Godavari
- (c)Narmada
- (d)Mahanadi
Answer(b) Godavari — its basin, after the Ganga's, is the largest in the country and is called the Dakshina Ganga.