India

India 

Background

India has a unique culture and is one of the oldest and greatest civilizations of the world. India has achieved all-round socio-economic progress since its Independence. India covers an area of 32,87,263 sq. km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.

Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8° 4' and 37° 6' north, longitudes 68° 7' and 97° 25' east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman & Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km.

Geological Structure

The geological regions broadly follow the physical features, and may be grouped into three regions: the Himalayas and their associated group of mountains, the Indo-Ganga Plain, and the Peninsular Shield.

The Himalayan mountain belt to the north and the Naga-Lushai mountain in the east, are the regions of mountain-building movement. Most of this area, now presenting some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the world, was under marine conditions about 600 million (60 crore) years ago. In a series of mountain-building movements commencing about 70 million (7 crore) years ago, the sediments and the basement rocks rose to great heights. The weathering and erosive elements worked on these to produce the relief seen today. The Indo-Ganga plains are a great alluvial tract that separates the Himalayas in the north from the Peninsula in the south.

The Peninsula is a region of relative stability and occasional seismic disturbances. Highly metamorphosed rocks of the earliest periods, dating back as far as 380 crore years, occur in the area; the rest being covered by the coastal-bearing Gondwana formations, lava flows belonging to the Deccan Trap formation and younger sediments.

Rivers

The rivers of India can be classified into four groups viz., Himalayan rivers, Deccan rivers, Coastal rivers, and Rivers of the inland drainage basin.

The Himalayan Rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and therefore, continuously flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months, Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and rivers swell, causing frequent floods. The Deccan Rivers on the other hand are rain fed and therefore fluctuate in volume. Many of these are non-perennial. The Coastal streams, especially on the west coast are short in length and have limited catchment areas. Most of them are non-perennial. The streams of inland drainage basin of western Rajasthan are few. Most of them are of an ephemeral character.

The main Himalayan river systems are those of the Indus and the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system. The Indus, which is one of the great rivers of the world, rises near Mansarovar in Tibet and flows through India, and thereafter through Pakistan, and finally falls in the Arabian Sea near Karachi. Its important tributaries flowing in Indian Territory are the Sutlej (originating in Tibet), the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab, and the Jhelum. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is another important system of which the principal sub-basins are those of Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda, which join at Dev Prayag to form the Ganga. It traverses through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. Below Rajmahal hills, the Bhagirathi, which used to be the main course in the past, takes off, while the Padma continues eastward and enters Bangladesh. The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the important tributaries of the Ganga. Rivers Chambal and Betwa are the important sub-tributaries, which join Yamuna before it meets the Ganga. The Padma and the Brahmaputra join inside Bangladesh, and continue to flow as the Padma or Ganga. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet, where it is known as Tsangpo and runs a long distance till it crosses over into India in Arunachal Pradesh under the name of Dihang. Near Passighat, the Debang and Lohit join the river Brahmaputra and the combined river runs all along the Assam valley. It crosses into Bangladesh downstream of Dhubri.

The principal tributaries of Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri, Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas. The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh receives the flow of Tista, etc., and finally falls into Ganga. The Barak River, the Head stream of Meghna, rises in the hills in Manipur. The important tributaries of the river are Makku, Trang, Tuivai, Jiri, Sonai, Rukni, Katakhal, Dhaleswari, Langachini, Maduva and Jatinga. Barak continues in Bangladesh till the combined Ganga-Brahmaputra join it near Bhairab Bazar.

In the Deccan region, most of the major river systems flowing generally in east direction fall into Bay of Bengal. The major east flowing rivers are Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi, etc. Narmada and Tapti are major West flowing rivers.

The Godavari in the southern Peninsula has the second largest river basin covering 10 per cent of the area of India. Next to it is the Krishna basin in the region, while the Mahanadi has the third largest basin. The basin of the Narmada in the uplands of the Deccan, flowing to the Arabian Sea, and of the Cauvery in the south, falling into the Bay of Bengal are about the same size, though with different character and shape.

There are numerous coastal rivers, which are comparatively small. While only handful of such rivers drain into the sea near the delta of east cost, there are as many as 600 such rivers on the west coast.

A few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes and get lost in sand with no outlet to sea. Besides these, there are the Desert Rivers which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni and others such as, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas, Ghaggar and others.

Length of some important Indian Rivers

River Length (km)

1. Indus 2,900

2. Brahmaputra 2,900

3. Ganga 2,510

4. Godavari 1,450

5. Narmada 1,290

6. Krishna 1,290

7. Mahanadi 890

8. Kaveri 760

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