INDIAN RIVERS
India - Rivers of Eternity Rivers are the lifelines of our country. From time immemorial, rivers have been a major source of livelihood to millions of people who are dependent on agriculture. ... Rising in southwestern Tibet, at an altitude of 16,000 feet, the Indus enters the Indian territory near Leh in Ladakh. ... After flowing eleven miles beyond Leh, in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the river is joined on the left by its first tributary, the Zanskar, which helps green the Zanskar Valley. ... The Indus then flows past Batalik, and when it enters the plains, its famous five tributaries-Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej-that give Punjab its name as the "land of five rivers" join it. ... The history of Ganga is as long as the history of Indian civilization. ... Surprisingly, Varanasi does not mark one of Gangas great confluences, but is named after two small rivers that join here-the Varuna and Asi. ... Like the Ganges, the vast networks of rivers flowing throughout India are sacred to its people. ... Today, this region covering the four South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh offers visible continuity with traditions in time. ... The two rivers of Narmada and Tapti in central and western India have a unique distinction of flowing in the east to west direction, unlike other major rivers in India. ... INDIAN RIVERS Indias river system comprises The Himalayan Rivers, The Deccan Rivers, The coastal rivers and The rivers of the inland drainage basin. The snow-fed rivers of the Himalayas are perennial and they flood during the winter. The rain-fed rivers of the Deccan Plateau are non-perennial and have an uncertain flow. Also most of the western coastal rivers are non-perennial because they have limited catchments area. ... The fourth type consists of rivers of western Rajasthan and is very few, like the Sambhar, which is lost in the desert sands, and the Loni, that drains into the Rann of Kutch. ... In India, rivers are considered holy with lot of reverence. People take bath in these holy rivers during special occasions with a belief that their sins would be wiped off! ... INDIAN RIVERS “DYING A SLOW DEATH” Environmentalists have said that most of India’s rivers, the main source of water and sacred for the majority of the population, are already dead, because millions of tons of industrial effluents and domestic wastes flow into them daily. ... “Stretches of all well-known rivers have died. ... According to the green activist Iqbal Malik, “the ancient and pious rivers that were the essence of the country have become wastelands of floating carcasses, industrial and domestic wastes”, with the Yamuna, the main tributary of the subcontinent’s most important river, now “a drain”. ... Our policy makers must realise that the lifeline of any nation is its rivers and forests. ... “Once you could see river dolphins in Ganga near Varanasi city, now even fish are few in number,” a spokesman for the Centre for Science and Environment said, adding that “all rivers in India are grossly over-exploited and heavily polluted. ... WHY ARE INDIAN RIVERS POLLUTED? Almost two decades after river cleanups were hoisted onto the national agenda, almost all rivers in India remain severely polluted. ... com that most of these luminaries are mainly interested in replicating a failed river-cleaning plan - the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) - in the rivers in their state. ... NRCP then slowly spread its tentacles towards 26 more rivers down the years and now covers 25 towns in 16 riverine states of India. The NRCA - the new name for CGA after it moved its purview beyond just the River Ganga - was primarily concerned with diverting sewage flowing into rivers, to other locations for treatment and conversion into valuable energy sources.