Rivers & Dams of India: questions and answers
Study every question with its correct answer and explanation.
1. The Bhakra Dam, with its reservoir Gobind Sagar, is built on which river?
- A. Beas
- B. Ravi
- C. Sutlej
- D. Chenab
Answer: Sutlej
The Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh, near the Punjab border, and its reservoir is called Gobind Sagar. Jawaharlal Nehru famously described such river valley projects as the 'temples of modern India'.
2. The Hirakud Dam near Sambalpur in Odisha is built on which river?
- A. Mahanadi
- B. Godavari
- C. Brahmani
- D. Subarnarekha
Answer: Mahanadi
Hirakud, inaugurated in 1957, is one of the longest earthen dams in the world and helps control floods on the Mahanadi. The Mahanadi rises in the hills of Chhattisgarh and forms a large delta in Odisha before entering the Bay of Bengal.
3. The Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand, the tallest dam in India, is built on which river?
- A. Alaknanda
- B. Yamuna
- C. Mandakini
- D. Bhagirathi
Answer: Bhagirathi
The Tehri Dam is a rock-and-earth-fill dam on the Bhagirathi, one of the two headstreams of the Ganga. The other headstream, the Alaknanda, is joined by its tributaries at the famous 'Panch Prayag' confluences, including Vishnuprayag, Nandprayag, Karnaprayag and Rudraprayag.
4. The Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is built on which river?
- A. Tapi
- B. Narmada
- C. Mahi
- D. Sabarmati
Answer: Narmada
The Narmada rises at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and flows west through a rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges to the Arabian Sea. The Sardar Sarovar Dam is its largest dam, and the 182-metre Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stands near it.
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5. Which is the longest river of peninsular India, often called the 'Dakshin Ganga'?
- A. Krishna
- B. Godavari
- C. Kaveri
- D. Mahanadi
Answer: Godavari
The Godavari rises at Trimbakeshwar near Nashik in Maharashtra and flows about 1,465 km east to the Bay of Bengal. Its major tributaries include the Pranhita, Indravati and Manjira.
6. At the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, the Ganga meets which river?
- A. Gomti
- B. Ghaghara
- C. Son
- D. Yamuna
Answer: Yamuna
The Yamuna, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand, joins the Ganga at Prayagraj; tradition holds that the mythical Saraswati also meets them here. The confluence is one of the four sites of the Kumbh Mela, along with Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.
7. The Chambal river, known for its ravines and the Gandhi Sagar Dam, is a tributary of which river?
- A. Yamuna
- B. Ganga
- C. Narmada
- D. Son
Answer: Yamuna
The Chambal rises in the Vindhya range of Madhya Pradesh, flows north through Rajasthan and joins the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. The National Chambal Sanctuary along the river protects the critically endangered gharial.
8. The Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Dam near Mysuru is built on which river?
- A. Tungabhadra
- B. Krishna
- C. Kaveri
- D. Sharavathi
Answer: Kaveri
The KRS Dam on the Kaveri was built under the supervision of the engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya, with the Brindavan Gardens laid out below it. Visvesvaraya's birthday, 15 September, is observed as Engineers' Day in India.
9. The Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, on the border of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, is built on which river?
- A. Krishna
- B. Godavari
- C. Tungabhadra
- D. Penna
Answer: Krishna
Nagarjuna Sagar, one of the largest masonry dams in the world, stands on the Krishna and takes its name from the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, linked to nearby Nagarjunakonda. The Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
10. The Farakka Barrage on the Ganga diverts water into which channel to help keep Kolkata port navigable?
- A. Damodar
- B. Rupnarayan
- C. Teesta
- D. Bhagirathi-Hooghly
Answer: Bhagirathi-Hooghly
The Farakka Barrage in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, commissioned in 1975, sends Ganga water through a feeder canal into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly to reduce silting at Kolkata port. India and Bangladesh signed the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty in 1996 to share the river's dry-season flow at Farakka.