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SAI International School
                                             Grade-IX, Sub- Geography

                                                     Ch3- Drainage
               Sub Topic 2- The Himalayan River Systems (The Indus and the Ganga)



       Sub-topics      Lesson Notes

       The             The major Himalayan Rivers are the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
       Himalayan
       Rivers (till    The Indus River System
       Ganga
       River              •  Indus is one of the longest rivers in the world with a total length of 2900 km.
       System)-           •  The river Indus rises in Tibet, near Lake Mansarowar.
       page no 18,        •  It enters India in the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir where it forms a
       19, 20)                picturesque gorge.
                          •  The Zaskar, the Nubra, the Shyok and the Hunza are the major
                              tributaries join it in the Kashmir region.
                          •  The Satluj, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum join together to
                              enter the Indus near Mithankot in Pakistan.
                          •  The Indus flows through Baltistan and Gilgit and emerges from the mountains
                              at Attock.
                          •  A little over a third of the Indus basin is located in India in Ladakh, Jammu and
                              Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and the rest is in Pakistan.
                          •  According to the regulations of the Indus Water Treaty (1960), India can use
                              only 20 per cent of the total water carried by the Indus river system. This water
                              is used for irrigation in Punjab, Haryana and the southern and the Western
                              parts of Rajasthan.

                       The Ganga River System


                          •  The source or the head waters of the Ganga called the ‘Bhagirathi’ is fed by
                              the Gangotri Glacier and joined by Alaknanda at Devaprayag in Uttarakhand.
                          •  At Haridwar, the Ganga emerges from the mountains on to the plains.
                          •  The length of the Ganga is over 2500 km.
                          •  Tributaries of Ganga: River Ganga has large number of tributaries; some of
                              them are big rivers.

                                  ➢  It has two sets of tributaries joining from Himalayas and from peninsular
                                     plateau.
                                  ➢  Apart from two headstream tributaries (Bhagirathi and Alaknanda)
                                     the Yamuna rises from the Yamunotri Glacier in the Himalayas joins at
                                     Allahabad. The Ghaghara, the Gandak and the Kosi rise in the Nepal
                                     Himalaya. These Himalayan tributaries of the river Ganga are perennial
                                     in nature.
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