Ganga River Basin

The Ganges is an important river for entire Indian subcontinent. A number of references in scientific and other types of literature of India as well as other countries prove the high socio-economic and cultural importance of Ganges for a large number of people. It is a perennial river originating as a stream called “Bhagirathi” from place called ‘Gaumukh’ in the Gangotri glacier at 30°55'N ,79°7'E located at 4100 m above mean sea level. The environmental planning worldwide and also in India is fast shifting towards following a ‘Basin’ approach. A basin according to popular definition means ‘the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet’. This river has been declared as National river of India in 2008 and later Ganga River Basin Authority was set up as an empowered planning, implementing and monitoring authority for the Ganga River.

The Ganges river basin is the largest among river basins in India and the fourth largest in the world. The basin covers approximately 8,61,404 km².The total length of river is about 2,525 km and it passes through five states of India. This river basin is bounded by the snow peaks of the Himalaya on the north, and the Peninsular uplands and the Vindhya mountain ranges on the south. The main stream of this river, rising in the northern most part of Uttrakhand and flows through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar ,Jharkhand and West Bengal states of India and finally merges into the Bay of  Bengal. The Ganges river also have a large number of tributaries.The important tributaries within India are namely Kali, Ramganga,Yamuna, Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak and Kosi. The Yamuna although is considered as a tributary of the Ganges, is practically an independent river by itself and it have its own tributaries also namely Chambal, Sind, Betwa and Ken. The main tributaries of the Ganges in plateau are namely Tons, Sone, Damodar and Kasai-Haldi. Following chart shows the Ganges and its tributaries. 

The Ganges river basin is one of the most densely populated regions of the world and its population density 520 persons per square km is higher than average density 312 for the entire country (2001 census) of India. The basin has remained a political and culturally one of the most significant land portions of Indian subcontinent throughout the history. Indian civilisation is also sometimes referred as Ganga-Yamuna Sanskriti (Culture). Here it is appropriate to mention that Yamuna, which is another important river of India, is a tributary of the Ganges and meets it at a place called ‘Sangam’ close to Allahabad city in Uttar Pradesh.     

According to a report by Moef (2009) in a decade between 1991 and 2001, urban population in the basin has increased by 32% and this trend is likely to continue and consequently the pollution load is also likely to increase proportionately.

Table 4: Length of part of the Ganges in each state

The Ganga basin supports about 43% of Indian population (448.3 million as per 2001 census). Approximately 79% area of Ganga basin is in India and it covers 11 states of India,Uttarakhand,UttarPradesh(U.P),MadhyaPradesh(M.P),Rajasthan,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Delhi.

Total drainage area is approximately 1080000 km² shared between China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh and is the thirteenth largest rivers in the world (Rahaman,2009). The catchment area of the river Ganges within India alone is 861,404, which is about 26.2% of India’s total geographical area. Already half a billion people live within this river basin, at an average density of over 500 per km² , and this population is projected to increase to over one billion people by the year 2030.These facts indicate the importance of Ganges in spatial and temporal terms.

Demographic features of area covered in Ganges basin also have a direct and decisive impact on water quality of the river. This basin is relatively more densely populated in comparison to other parts of India. The average population density of India according to 2001 census is 312 persons per km²; but In contrast to this the average population density in the Ganga basin is 520 persons per km², that is almost double then the national average.

Few of the major cities of India are also located in this basin, which form the major industrial base of India. Some of the cities for example Kanpur and also to some extent Allahabad are industrialised town of India and stretch of Ganges between these cities is relatively having higher pollution level. (Kumra,1995)

Apart from the states in India which are located along the Ganges, there are other states also which are not located along with Ganges, but still are well within its catchment area. In the table below the names of states in green colour indicate those states, which are not located on the banks of Ganges.

Table 5: State wise drainage area of Ganges River Basin in India

(Source: CWC publication no. 50/89 “Major River Basins of India - An Overview” - April 1989) cited by Moef, GoI, Report Status Paper on Ganges, 2009)

If we accept the basin a legitimate unit of environmental planning; the states not lying along the Ganges but are part of the Ganga basin thus also become important stakeholders in conservation of the basin as a whole. These States also need to participate in the conservation efforts being done at national level. At present these states don’t seem to have a direct stake in conservation efforts being done at national level. The states located along the river however have started developing corresponding institutions to execute conservation plans along with National Ganga river basin Authority.  

The Ganges due to cultural and economic reasons is equally important for the states located even far from its course. We find enormous examples of importance given to the Ganges also in the Sculpture in Southern Indian States, located much far the stream of the Ganges and these are testimony to the fact, that importance of the Ganges unlike many other rivers is not confined to areas only close to its course. The Ganges in this way is also one of the unifying cultural elements of entire Indian subcontinent. Millions of people from all over India visiting banks of the Ganges for different reasons further strengthen the fact of unequivocal cultural significance of this sacred river for the whole country. Many of the people even from other continents can also be seen offering their regards to the Ganges on its banks in several sacred towns located along its course and make the Ganges a river of global reverence.  

The basin is also sometimes considered as 'data poor' ,  as its complexity  demands a greater and more diversified  scientific approach to study it as an ecosystem .