Necessity of Regional Co-operation - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 258

Chapter 14
Necessity of Regional Co-operation
India's three major rivers- the Ganga, the Brahmaputra (called Yamuna in
Bangladesh) and the Meghna- are common to India and Bangladesh, an undivided
terrain before 1947(except from 1905 to 1911 when it was first divided by Lord
Curzon).
A large delta, spread over India and Bangladesh, known as the Bengal basin,
was formed by these three major rivers. Throughout the geological quaternary
ages, these three rivers flowed on numerous existing and abandoned courses, leav-
ing behind a large, low-lying, flat alluvial plain. The delta, formed by the Ganga
and the Brahmaputra is the largest in the world, spread over 59,600 sq. km
(23,000 sq. miles). The Ganga, primarily a meandering stream, has a maximum
normal discharge of the order of 70,780 cumecs, or 2.5 million cusecs and the
Brahmaputra, primarily a braided river, has that of the same volume too. The
Meghna, the smallest of the three, has an approximate flood discharge of 14,170
cumecs, or 0.5 million cusecs. Thus, during floods, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra
accumulate about 141,600 cumecs, or five million cusecs of water at Goalanda in
Faridpur district of Bangladesh and about 155,000 cumecs or 5.5 million cusecs
near Chandpur, also in Bangladesh; this combined discharge flows into the Bay of
Bengal. The average annual discharge of the three rivers, which is about 42,470
cumecs or 1.5 million cusecs, is nearly the same as of the Mississippi in the USA.
This huge discharge flows through Bangladesh after merging at a single point,
making it the largest in the world.
The hydrological features of the three rivers are summarised below.
The Ganga
The main stream comprises the combined flow of two rivers-Alakananda and the
Bhagirathi - which meet at Deva Prayag in Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, a new
Indian province, carved out of Uttar Pradesh in the Himalayan range in 2002. The
original course flowed southward, then easterly and finally in its lap, flowed south-
ward again and debouched into the sea. During its eastward middle course, a number
of big and small tributaries join it from the north i.e. the left bank which also orig-
inate from the Himalayan range in Nepal. Therefore, these tributaries flow from