Question

Suppose you are traveling from Haridwar to Siliguri along the foothills of the Himalayas. Name the important rivers you will come across. Describe the characteristics of any one of them.

Answer 1

1. While traveling from Haridwar to Siliguri along the foothills of the Himalayas, we shall come across Tons, Gomti, Saryu, Ramganga, Sharda, Gandak, Old Gandak, Kamla, Bagmati, Kosi, and Ganga.
2. The Ganga is the most important river of India both from the point of view of its basin and cultural significance. It rises in the Gangotri glacier near Gaumukh which is 3,900 m high from sea level in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. It is known as the Bhagirathi in this region. At Devaprayag, the Bhagirathi meets the Alaknanda; hereafter, it is known as the Ganga. The Ganga enters the plains at Haridwar. From here, it flows first to the south, then to the south-east and east before splitting into two distributaries, namely the Bhagirathi and the Hugli.
3. The river has a length of 2,525 km. It is shared by Uttarakhand (110 km) and Uttar Pradesh (1,450 km), Bihar (445 km), and West Bengal (520 km). The Ganga basin covers about 8.6 lakh sq. km area in India alone. The Ganga river system is the largest in India has a number of perennial and non-perennial rivers originating in the Himalayas in the north and the Peninsula in the south, respectively.
4. Yamuna joins the Ganga at Prayag (Allahabad). It is joined by the Chambal, the Sind, the Betwa, and the Ken on its right bank which originates from the Peninsular plateau while the Hindan, the Rind, the Sengar, the Varuna, etc. join it on its left bank. Much of its water feeds the western and eastern Yamuna and the Agra canals for irrigation purposes.