Ganga River

Ganga River

Subject – Geography

Context – Days after it advised all District Ganga Committees to address the issue of bodies being dumped in the river, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) asked Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to submit a “detailed report” in two days

Concept –

• Source of origin: The Ganga rises from the Gangotri glacier near Gomukh in Uttarkashi district of the state of Uttarakhand.
  • Alaknanda River joins Bhagirathi at Devaprayag.
  • From Devapryag the river is called as Ganga.
• Confluence or Mouth: The Ganga River drains into the Bay of Bengal before forming a very huge delta.
• The Ganga River system outspreads in India, Tibet (China), Nepal and Bangladesh.
• It is the largest river basin in India and accounts for about one-fourth of the total area of the country.
• It covers states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Delhi.

Ganga River System

• The Ganga is formed from the 6 headstreams and their five confluences.
• The Alaknanda River meets the Dhauliganga River at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini River at Nandprayag, the Pindar River to form the Ganga main stream.
• The Bhagirathi, considered to be the source stream: rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3892m and fanning out into the 350km wide Ganga delta, it finally empties into the Bay of Bengal.
• From Devapryag the river is called as Ganga.
• Ganga debouches [emerge from a confined space into a wide, open area] from the hills into the plain area at It is joined by the Yamuna at Allahabad.
• Near Rajmahal Hills it turns to the south-east.
• At Farraka, it bifurcates into Bhagirathi-Hugli in West Bengal and Padma-Meghna in Bangladesh (it ceases to be known as the Ganga after Farraka).
• Brahmaputra (or the Jamuna as it is known here) joins Padma-Meghna.
• The total length of the Ganga river from its source to its mouth (measured along the Hugli) is 2,525 km.
• Haridwar, Kanpur, Soron, Kannauj, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Mirzapur, Ballia, Buxar, Saidpur, and Chunar are the important towns.
• It has long been considered holy by Hindus and worshipped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism.

Major Tributaries of the Ganga River

• Right Bank Tributaries of the Ganga River
  • Yamuna River
    • Chambal River
    • Banas River
    • Sind River
    • Betwa River
  • Ken River
  • Son River
  • Damodar River
• Left Bank Tributaries of the Ganga River
  • Ramganga River
  • Gomti River
  • Ghaghra River
  • Kali River
  • Gandak River
  • BurhiGandak
  • Kosi River

The Five Prayags

1. Devaprayag, the place of confluence of Bhagirathi river and Alaknanda river.
2. Rudraprayag, the place of confluence of Mandakini river and Alaknanda river.
3. Nandaprayag, the place of confluence of Nandakini river and Alaknanda river.
4. Karnaprayag, the place of confluence of Pindar river and Alaknanda river.
5. Vishnuprayag, the place of confluence of Dhauliganga river and Alaknanda river.

To know about National Mission for Clean Ganga, please refer August 2021 DPN.