Geography Quiz: River Valley Projects and Inter-State Water Disputes

The correct answer is C, the Sutlej. The Bhakra dam stands on the Sutlej at Bhakra in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, with the Nangal barrage downstream in Punjab, and the reservoir behind it is Govind Sagar. The project supplies irrigation water and power to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh and is the project Nehru described as a temple of resurgent India. Option A is wrong because the Beas carries the Pong dam, whose reservoir is Maharana Pratap Sagar, and the Pandoh dam. Option B is wrong because the Ravi carries the Thein or Ranjit Sagar dam in Punjab. Option D is wrong because the Chenab carries the Salal, Baglihar and Dulhasti projects in Jammu and Kashmir. All four are rivers of the Indus system, which is why they appear together as options.

The correct answer is A, the Mahanadi. The Hirakud dam was built across the Mahanadi in Sambalpur district of Odisha, and with its earthen dykes on both flanks it is the longest dam in the country. It was taken up in the first plan period to control the floods for which the Mahanadi delta was notorious, and it also irrigates a large command area and generates power. Option B is wrong because the Godavari carries projects such as Sriram Sagar, Polavaram and Jayakwadi, not Hirakud. Option C is wrong because the Subarnarekha has its own multipurpose project shared by Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. Option D is wrong because the Brahmani carries the Rengali project in Odisha. All four rivers drain to the Bay of Bengal, which is why they are set together.

The correct answer is B, the Krishna. The Nagarjuna Sagar dam is built across the Krishna at Nandikonda, on the border of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and is one of the largest masonry dams in the country. The reservoir submerged the Buddhist site of Nagarjunakonda, whose remains were shifted to an island museum, a detail examiners like to pair with the dam. Option A is wrong because the Kaveri carries the Krishnaraja Sagar and Mettur dams. Option C is wrong because the Tungabhadra, itself a tributary of the Krishna, carries the Tungabhadra project at Hospet shared by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Option D is wrong because the Penna carries the Somasila and Gandikota projects. The Krishna basin also holds Srisailam, Almatti and Narayanpur. Examiners also ask for the state in which the dam stands, so remember Nandikonda on the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh border, and keep Srisailam, further upstream on the same river, separate from it.

The correct answer is A, the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States. The Damodar Valley Corporation was created by an Act of 1948 as an autonomous body for an entire river basin, with flood control, irrigation, power and navigation under one management, exactly on the pattern of the Tennessee Valley Authority set up in America in 1933. Its dams at Tilaiya, Konar, Maithon and Panchet lie in Jharkhand and West Bengal, and they tamed a river long called the sorrow of Bengal. Option B is wrong because the Rhine Commission deals with navigation on an international river, not basin development. Option C is wrong because no Volga authority served as the Indian model. Option D is wrong because the Chinese projects on the Yangtze came decades later than the Indian corporation.

The correct answer is B, Article 262. Article 262 allows Parliament to make a law for the adjudication of any dispute about the use, distribution or control of the waters of an inter-state river or river valley, and to bar the Supreme Court and all other courts from such disputes. Parliament used this power to enact the River Boards Act, 1956 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, under which tribunals are appointed. Option A is wrong because Article 252 lets Parliament legislate for two or more consenting states on a State List subject. Option C is wrong because Article 263 provides for an Inter-State Council, which discusses common subjects but does not adjudicate. Option D is wrong because Article 280 provides for the Finance Commission, which deals with the sharing of taxes, not of water.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. The Kaveri rises in Karnataka at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills, flows through Tamil Nadu to the delta, receives tributaries from Kerala and serves the Karaikal region of Puducherry, so all four are parties. The tribunal constituted in 1990 gave its final award in 2007, the Supreme Court revised the shares in 2018, and a management authority now supervises releases. Option A is wrong because those four are the parties to the Krishna dispute. Option C is wrong because Goa is a party to the Mahadayi or Mandovi dispute with Karnataka and Maharashtra, not to the Kaveri. Option D is wrong because those states belong to the Mahanadi and Subarnarekha disputes of eastern India.

The correct answer is A, the Harike barrage. The Indira Gandhi Canal, which was called the Rajasthan Canal when it was begun, starts at the Harike barrage in Punjab, just below the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, and runs south-west through Haryana into the desert districts of Rajasthan. It is the longest canal in the country and carries both irrigation and drinking water into the Thar. Option B is wrong because the Farakka barrage is on the Ganga in West Bengal and feeds the Hooghly to keep the Kolkata port navigable. Option C is wrong because the Nangal barrage belongs to the Bhakra Nangal system and feeds the Nangal canals. Option D is wrong because the Okhla barrage is on the Yamuna near Delhi, feeding the Agra canal.

The correct answer is B, the Bhagirathi. The Tehri dam stands on the Bhagirathi in Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, close to the confluence with the Bhilangna, and at about 260 metres it is the tallest dam in India. It supplies power, irrigation and drinking water to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, and the submergence of the old town of Tehri made it the subject of a long protest movement. Option A is wrong because the Alaknanda carries projects such as Vishnuprayag and Srinagar, and joins the Bhagirathi at Devprayag to form the Ganga. Option C is wrong because the Mandakini is a smaller tributary joining the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag. Option D is wrong because the Yamuna carries the Lakhwar and Dakpathar projects in the same state.

The correct answer is A, the Rihand dam. The Rihand dam, in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, is built on the Rihand, a tributary of the Son, and the reservoir it created, Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, is the largest artificial lake in India measured by volume of water stored. The reservoir and the coalfields around it support a cluster of thermal power stations. Option B is wrong because the Bhakra dam on the Sutlej impounds Govind Sagar, a name candidates confuse with Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, and that confusion is the point of the question. Option C is wrong because the Bansagar dam on the Son in Madhya Pradesh is a separate project shared with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Option D is wrong because the Matatila dam lies on the Betwa.

The correct answer is B, the Narmada, shared by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The Sardar Sarovar dam stands on the Narmada in Narmada district of Gujarat, and the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal, whose award came in 1979, divided the water among these four states and fixed the dam's height. The project is also the one against which the Narmada Bachao Andolan campaigned on displacement and rehabilitation. Option A is wrong because the Tapi carries the Ukai and Kakrapar projects of Gujarat. Option C is wrong because the Mahi carries the Mahi Bajaj Sagar project of Rajasthan and the Kadana dam of Gujarat. Option D is wrong because the Chambal valley project, with Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar and Jawahar Sagar, is shared by Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan alone.

The correct answer is A, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The Mahanadi rises in Chhattisgarh and flows into Odisha, where the Hirakud reservoir depends on its flow, so the barrages built upstream in Chhattisgarh brought a dispute that led the Union government to constitute a tribunal in 2018 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. Option B is wrong because the dispute between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh concerns the Vansadhara, for which a separate tribunal was set up in 2010. Option C is wrong because Madhya Pradesh is not a riparian state of the Mahanadi, though it shares the Son and the Narmada with its neighbours. Option D is wrong because Odisha and West Bengal, with Jharkhand, are concerned with the Subarnarekha, not the Mahanadi. Odisha argued that the upstream structures reduced the flow into Hirakud in the lean season, and the tribunal was set up only after the talks between the two state governments failed.

The correct answer is B, the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. Passed under Article 262, this Act requires the Union government to constitute a tribunal when a state asks for one and the dispute cannot be settled by negotiation, and the award of the tribunal, once notified, has the force of a decree of the Supreme Court. The amendment of 2002 fixed time limits of one year to constitute a tribunal and three years, extendable by two, to make the award. Option A is wrong because the River Boards Act, 1956 provides for advisory boards for the development of a river valley, which have hardly been used. Option C is wrong because the Environment Protection Act is the umbrella environmental law. Option D is wrong because the Water Act of 1974 deals with pollution control boards, not with sharing water.