India, Tibet (China), Nepal, and Bangladesh are all connected by the Ganga river system. It is India’s biggest river basin and takes up about a quarter of the country’s overall land area. It includes the Union Territory of Delhi and the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
• The Ganga is made up of the six rivers that flow into it and the five places where they meet.
• The main stream of the Ganga is made when the Alaknanda River meets the Dhauliganga River at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini River at Nandprayag, and the Pindar River.
• The Bhagirathi, which is thought to be the source stream, starts at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3892m. It flows into the Ganga delta, which is 350km wide, and then empties into the Bay of Bengal.
• Ganga is the name of the river after Devapryag.
• Ganga flows out of the hills and into the plains at It meets the Yamuna at Allahabad.
• It goes south-east near Rajmahal Hills.
• At Farraka, the Ganga splits into the Bhagirathi-Hugli in West Bengal and the Padma-Meghna in Bangladesh. After Farraka, it’s no longer called the Ganga.
• The Brahmaputra, or Jamuna as it’s called here, meets the Padma-Meghna at.
• The Ganga river is 2,525 km long from its source to its mouth, as measured along the Hugli.
• Haridwar, Kanpur, Soron, Kannauj, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Mirzapur, Ballia, Buxar, Saidpur, and Chunar are the important places.
• Hindus have honoured it as the goddess Ganga for a long time because they think it is holy.
The Five Prayags
1. The place where the Bhagirathi River and the Alaknanda River meet is called Devaprayag.
2. Rudraprayag is where the Mandakini River and the Alaknanda River come together.
3. Nandaprayag is where the Nandakini River and the Alaknanda River come together.
4. The place where the Pindar River and the Alaknanda River meet is called Karnaprayag.
5. The place where the Dhauliganga River and the Alaknanda River meet is called Vishnuprayag.
Ganga–Brahmaputra Delta
• Before flowing into the Bay of Bengal, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra form the world’s biggest delta between the Bhagirathi/Hugli and the Padma/Meghna. This delta is 58,752 square kilometres in size.
• The delta’s coast has a lot of nooks and crannies.
• The delta is made up of a web of rivers and islands, and it is covered by dense woods called the
• A big part of the delta is a low-lying swamp that gets flooded when the tide is high.
ALAKNANDA
• It is one of the places where the Ganga starts.
• It starts at the bottom of the Satopanth and Bhagirath glaciers in Uttarkhand, where they meet.
• It joins with the Bhagirathi River at Devprayag, which is how it got the name Ganga.
• The Mandakini, Nandakini, and Pindar rivers are the main ones that flow into it.
• Parts of the districts of Chamoli, Tehri, and Pauri are drained by the Alaknanda river.
• On the banks of the Alaknanda River are the Hindu holy site of Badrinath and the natural spring Tapt Kund.
• At its source, Lake Satopanth is a triangle lake that is 4402m high and is named after the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
BHAGIRATHI
• It is one of the two most important rivers that flow into the Ganga. The Ganga is formed when the Alaknanda and the Ganga meet at Devprayag.
• It starts at Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3892m at the base of Chaukhamba peak in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, at the foot of Gangotri Glacier.
• Glaciers are in the high part of the river’s catchment area.
• In the middle of its path, where it cuts through granites and crystalline rocks of the central Himalayan axis, it makes beautiful valleys.
Along the river, Gangotri, Uttarkashi, and Tehri are all important places to live.
Dhauliganga
• It comes from Vasudhara Tal, which may be Uttarakhand’s biggest glacial lake.
• Dhauliganga is an important river that flows into the Alaknanda. Other important rivers that flow into the Alaknanda are the Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini, and Bhagirathi.
At Raini, the Dhauliganga river meets the Rishiganga river.
• At Vishnuprayag, it joins with the Alaknanda.
There, it stops being the same river, and the Alaknanda runs southwest through Chamoli, Maithana, Nandaprayag, Karnaprayag, and Rudraprayag, where it meets the Mandakini river, which comes from the north.
After Mandakini is merged into it, the Alaknanda flows past Srinagar and meets the Ganga at Devprayag.
• After that, Alaknanda goes away, and the great Ganga keeps going. It flows first south, then west, through important pilgrimage sites like Rishikesh, and then down into the Indo-Gangetic plains at Haridwar.
• The Dhauliganga River is being used to build the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project.
Rishiganga River
• It is a river in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district.
• It comes from the Nanda Devi Mountain’s Uttari Nanda Devi Glacier.
• The Dakshini Nanda Devi Glacier also feeds it.
• It runs through the Nanda Devi National Park and joins the Dhauliganga River near the village of Raini.
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Major rivers that flow into the Ganga
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In this article, we will mostly read about the rivers that flow into the Ganga River from the left bank. In the next piece, we’ll learn about Right Bank Tributaries, which is another way of saying the Yamuna River System.
RAMGANGA
• This river flows into the Ganga, and it drains the south-western part of Kumaun.
• The Ramganga River starts on the south side of Dudhatoli Hill in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district.
• It is fed by springs that come from underground water sources.
• It runs through the lower Himalayan hills of the Almora district, where you can see incised meanders, paired and unpaired terraces, interlocking spurs, waterfalls, rock benches, cliffs, and towering peaks.
• It also runs through Corbett National Park’s Dun Valley.
• At Kalagarh, a dam has been built across the Ramganga.
• It meets the Ganga for the last time near Kannauj.
• The city of Bareilly is on its banks.
GOMTI
• It comes from Gomat Taal, which used to be called Fulhaar jheel and is now near Madho Tanda in Pilibhit, UP.
• It flows through UP for 900 kilometres and joins the Ganges River in Ghazipur.
• The famous Markandey Mahadeo temple is at the Sangam, which is where the Gomti and Ganga rivers meet.
• The Sai River, which meets the Ganges near Jaunpur, is the most important source of water.
• On the banks of the Gomti River are the towns of Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, and Jaunpur.
• The river splits the city of Jaunpur in half, and it gets wider in Jaunpur.
GHAGHARA
• The Ghaghara starts in the Mapchachungo mountains.
• It is a river that flows across borders and is sometimes called Karnali or Kauriala. It starts on the Tibetan plains near Lake Mansarovar.
• It flows through Nepal’s Himalayas and meets the Sharda River at Brahmaghat, India.
• It is a major river that flows into the Ganga from the left side. It joins the Ganga at Chhapra in Bihar.
• The whole thing is 1080 km long.
• The Bara-Banki District of UP gets most of its water from this river.
• The main rivers that feed into this river are the Rapti, the Chhoti Gandak, the Sharda, and the Sarju.
SHARDA
• The Goriganga is what the river is called where it comes from the Milam glacier in the Nepal Himalayas.
• The Sharda starts in the Greater Himalayas at Kalapaani, which is 3600m above sea level in the Uttarakhand district of Pithoragarh.
The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra tour goes through Kalapaani.
• It is called the River Mahakali in Nepal, after the Goddess Kali, whose temple is in Kalapaani, close to the Lipu-Lekh pass, which is on the border between India and Tibet.
• The river is on the border between Nepal’s Mahakali Zone and India’s Uttarkhand.
• In the upper area, the river runs through a gorge.
• When the Mahakali falls into the plains of India, where it meets the Ghaghara, it is called the Sarda.
SARAYU
• It is also known as Sarju. It is a river that runs through the state of UP.
• The Sarayu river starts at a hill south of Nanda Kot mountain in Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district.
• This river has been important for a long time. It is mentioned in the Vedas and the Ramayana.
• It flows into the River Ghaghara from the left bank.
• At Ayodhya, thousands of people take a dip in the holy river Sarayu on Ram Navami, the day that celebrates Lord Ram’s birthday.
• The Rapti rises south of a famous east-west ridgeline halfway between the western Dhaulagiri Himalaya and the Mahabharat Range in Nepal.
• This river’s main flow comes from a spring on the southern slopes of the Lower Himalayas.
• Most of the water in the river comes from the ground.
• It tends to flood often, which is how it got the name “Gorakpur’s Sorrow.”
• The main left-bank rivers are Lungri Khola, Jhimruk Khola, Ami River, and Rohini River. The main right-bank river is Arun Khola.
GANDAK
• The Kali and Trisuli rivers, which start in Nepal’s Great Himalayan Range, join to make it.
• The river is called the Narayani from this point to the Indian border.
• After a twisting 765 km course, it flows into the Ganga River in Sonepur, which is near Patna.
• The Burhi Gandak runs east of the Gandak River, next to it.
• The area where the river starts is dry and barren because it is in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.
• The middle and lower parts of the river run through V-shaped valleys with incised meanders and have terraces on both sides, some of which are paired and some of which are not.
BURHI GANDAK
• This 320-kilometer-long river starts at Chautarva Chaur, which is near Bisambharpur in Bihar’s West Champaran district.
• It first runs through the district of East Champaran.
• After running for about 56 km, the river makes a turn to the south where it meets the Dubhara and the Tour.
• After that, the river runs south-east for about 32 km through the district of Muzaffarpur.
• It runs east of the Gandak River and in the same direction.
• The main branches of the Burhi Gandak are – Masan, Balor, Pandai, Sikta, Tilawe, Tiur, Dhanauti, Kohra, and Danda
• It is where Samastipur is.
• Over the Burhi Gandak river system, there are no big or middle projects.
KOSI
• It is called Aka Saptakoshi for its seven Himalayan branches, and it flows through Nepal and India.
• Some of the Kosi system’s rivers, like the Arun, Sun Kosi, and Bhote Koshi, start in Tibet.
• This river is 729 kilometres long and is one of the Ganga’s biggest tributaries. It meets the Ganga at Kursela in Kathiar district.
• Mt. Everest and Kanchenjunga, the two highest mountains in the world, are in the Kosi basin.
• Bagmati is a large river that flows into the Kosi.
• In the last 250 years, the Kosi river has moved from east to west over 120 km.
• The heavy silt it holds during the monsoon season is thought to make it unstable. Because of this, it is also called “The Sorrow of Bihar.”
SON RIVER
• The 784-kilometer-long Son starts near Amarkantak in MP, just east of the source of the Narmada River. It moves north-northwest through MP before making a sharp turn east where it meets the Kaimur Range, which runs southwest-northeast.
• The Son flows east-northeast through the states of UP, Jharkhand, and Bihar until it meets the Ganga just above Patna. It flows next to the Kaimur Hills.
• Geologically. The Narmada Valley flows into the lower Son Valley, and the Kaimur Range flows into the Vindhya Range.
• Dehri is the most important town on the Son River.
• Rivers that flow into the Son
Right: Gopad River, Rihand River, Kanhar River, and North Koel River
Left: Rivers Ghaggar, Johila, and Chhoti Mahanadi.
• The Rihand and the North Koel are the main rivers that flow into it. It has a lot of trees and not many people.
Son rivers’ side streams
RIHAND
• The Rihand comes from the Matiranga Hills southwest of the Mainpat plateau in Chhatisgarh. This area is about 1,000m high.
• The Rihand and the rivers that flow into it make a rich plain in the middle of the district, from around Ambikapur to Lakhanpur and Pratappur.
• It then runs north into the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, where it meets the Son.
• The Mahan, the Morana (Morni), the Geur, the Gagar, the Gobri, the Piparkachar, the Ramdia, and the Galphulla are its main rivers that flow into it.
• In 1962, the Rihand Dam was built across the Rihand River near Pipri in the Sonbadra district of the Mirzapur division. The dam’s pond, called Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, is used to make hydroelectric power.
• This 260-kilometer-long river starts on the Ranchi plains and flows into the Palamau division near Rud, below Netarhat.
• After running almost west for about 30 km, it turns north through a gorge at Kutku and flows through the middle of the district until it meets the Son a few miles northwest of Haidamagar.
• The North Koel and its branches flow through Betla National Park’s northern part.
• The Auranga, the Amanat, and the Burha are the main rivers that flow into it.
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Namami Gange Yojana
• The Namami Gange Project, also called Namami Gange Yojana, is a big plan by the Union Government to clean and protect the Ganga river in a thorough way.
• In its first budget, the government said that it would spend Rs. 2037 Crore on this project.
• The project is called “Namami Ganga Yojana” or “Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission Project” by the government. This project’s goal is to clean up the Ganga River by putting all of the ongoing work and planning under it into one clear plan for the future.
• The Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation, which is part of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is in charge of running it.
• It is supported by the central government and has a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crores that does not expire. It is made up of about 288 projects.
• The project will cover 8 states, 47 towns, and 12 rivers.
• By 2022, people won’t be able to go to the toilet in the open in more than 1,632 gramme panchayats along the Ganga.
• Several agencies, such as the Environment, Urban Development, Shipping, Tourism, and Rural Development agencies, are working with the nodal Water Resources Ministry on this project.
• The main goal of this project will be to get people who live along the river to take part.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and its state counterparts, called State Programme ManagementGroups (SPMGs), are in charge of running the programme.
The National Ganga Council replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NRGBA) in 2016. The NMCG is the part of the Council that is in charge of getting things done.
• Creating a process for urban planning that is centred on rivers to help people connect better with each other through actions at Ghats and riverfronts.
• Improvements to sewer systems in 118 cities along the Ganga.
• Enforcement of River Regulatory Zones for the Ganga.
• Creating sensible farming methods and efficient ways to water crops.
• Making plans for Ganga Knowledge Centre.
• Pollution will be controlled by
• Using the bioremediation method to clean up waste water in drains.
• Wastewater is cleaned up by treating it where it is.
• Getting rid of waste water by using new technologies.
• Wastewater is cleaned up at sewage and runoff treatment plants in cities.
• Taking steps right away to stop the sewage from coming in.
• Using the PPP method to stop pollution.
• Talk about the Territorial Army Ganga Eco-Task Force, which has four battalions.
Other Steps That Were Taken
• The Ganga Action Plan was the first River Action Plan started by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change in 1985. Its goal was to improve the water quality by stopping, diverting, and treating sewage from homes.
The Ganga Action Plan is continued by the National River Conservation Plan. Under Ganga Action Plan phase-2, the goal is to clean up the Ganga river.
• The National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA) was set up by the Indian government in 2009, according to Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act of 1986.
It said that the Ganga was India’s “National River.”
• The Clean Ganga Fund was set up in 2014 to clean up the Ganga, build garbage treatment plants, and protect the river’s wide range of living things.
• Bhuvan-Ganga Web App: This app makes sure that the public is involved in keeping an eye on how much waste is going into the river Ganga.
• It is against the law to throw trash in the Ganga. In 2017, the National Green Tribunal made this rule.
