Question

Where do the river Indus and Ganga have their origin?

Answer 1

The Ganga river originates from Gangotri glacier in Uttaranchal whereas Indus River rises in Tibet, near Lake Mansarovar.

Major Rivers – Originating from Himalayas

The major rivers originating in the Himalayas are listed below

1. Ganges
2. Indus River
3. Brahmaputra
4. Yamuna
5. Jhelum
6. Chenab
7. Ravi
8. Beas
9. Sutlej

Indus River

• The Indus river passes through the territories of China, India and Pakistan.
• The Indus river begins at the confluence of the Gar Tsangpo and Sengge Zangbo rivers.
• The Indus river passes through the Union Territory of Ladakh, Tibet province in China and provinces of Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan.
• The length of the Indus river is 3,180 Km.
• The Indus river flows into Arabian sea near the port city of Karachi.
• Beas, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab rivers are the major tributaries of the Indus river.

Ganges River

• The Ganges river flows through India and Bangladesh.
• The length of Ganges river is 2,525 Km.
• By discharge, Ganges is the third largest river in the world.
• Ganges is considered to be the most sacred river in Hinduism. The Ganges river is worshipped as Goddess Ganga.
• At Devprayag in the state of Uttarakhand, river Bhagirathi and river Alaknanda combine to form river Ganges. Bhagirathi rises at Gangotri glacier at Gomukh.
• The Ganges river flows into the Bay of Bengal.
• River Ganges joins another major river Yamuna at Allahabad.
• River Ganges flows through many historically important places like Kashi, Kannauj, Pataliputra, Patna, Kolkata etc.
• Due to wastes from industries, sewage etc, river Ganges is highly polluted. The Government of India is attempting to Clean Ganga river through various measures.
• Major tributaries of Ganges river are Yamuna river, Kosi river, Ghaghara River, Gandaki river, Son river, Damodar river, Gomti River, and Punpun.
• The basin of Ganges river covers 11 Indian states – Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan,Haryana, Jharkhand, and the Union Territory of Delhi.
• The basin of Ganges river covers four different countries – India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China.
• Kanpur is the largest city on the banks of river Ganges. Ganges river basin boosts the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. Crops cultivated are wheat, potatoes, sugarcane, oil seeds, lentils. Ganges river provides fishing opportunities.
• Ganges river also provides scope for improving logistics in India thereby improving economy through inland waterways. The National Waterway 1 Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system is the longest waterway system in India. It runs from Haldia (Sagar) to Prayagraj across the Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river systems.
• Major holy towns along River Ganges like Varanasi, Prayagraj, Haridwar attract millions of tourists.