10 things about The River Ganga which you must know
The Ganges (also known as Ganga or Gonga), is the biggest river in the Indian subcontinent in terms of water flow. The length of the Ganga is 2,510 km or 1,560 miles.
It is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through the nations of India and Bangladesh.
The river originates in the glacier called Gangotri Glacier, which is in the Garhwal region in Western Himalayan Ranges in the state of Uttarakhand. The Ganges flows through north India, and ends at the Bay of Bengal in eastern India. Overall it flows 3,877 km making it one of the longest rivers in the world.
It is regarded as the most sacred of all the rivers in India. The river is considered as the deity Ganga in Hindu religion. It is named after a Hindu goddess called Ganga.
The average depth of the Ganges River is 16 m or 52 feet and the highest depth is 30 m or 100 feet.It passes through the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
The major rivers that flow into the Ganges are Brahmaputra River, Gomti, Kosi river, Gandak, Ghaghra river, Yamuna river and Son river.
The river is proclaimed as the National river of India.The government declared, Ganges river between Allahabad and Haldia as National-Waterway No.1.
The water of the Ganges is used for agriculture in the fertile Gangetic plains. Chief crops that are cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat.
The main tributaries of the Ganga are – Karnali, Mahakhali, Gandak, Koshi (Kosi), Ghaghra, and Damodar
Yamuna, Son, Mahananda and Chambal.
The Ganga suffers from extreme pollution levels, which affect the 400 million people who live close to the river and is a subject of concern .And this led to birth of Namami Gange Project or Namami Ganga Yojana, an ambitious Union Government Project which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river in a comprehensive manner.
