Ganga basin
Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 1 "The Story of Indian Farming"
Meaning
The Ganga basin is the whole area drained by the Ganga and all its tributaries. It covers about 8.6 lakh sq km in India, about 26% of the country's area. It spreads across 11 states and supports over 500 million people. Himalayan rivers feed it from the north, and Peninsular rivers such as the Chambal, Betwa, Ken and Son feed it from the south. The basin works as one unit, because what happens upstream affects everyone downstream. Pollution from sewage and factories, and the retreat of the Gangotri glacier, put pressure on it.
Example
The Namami Gange programme, approved in June 2014, treats the basin as one planning unit. It works on sewage treatment, river-front development, surface cleaning, protecting plants and animals, tree planting and public awareness along the river.
Don't confuse with
- Watershed: in Indian usage, a small catchment drained by rivulets and rills. The word also means the dividing line between two basins. A river basin is the catchment of a large river.
Related concepts
- Ganga river
- Bhagirathi river
- Gangotri Glacier
- Alaknanda river
- Panch Prayag
- Confluence
- Padma river
- Sagar Island