Demarcating a river basin is very important for planning and development of water resources. There are twenty two huge river basins in India according to the Central Water Commission.
Fig.1-River basin of India as classified by CWC (Source India WRIS)
The 10 largest river basins (area wise) in order of highest to lowest, classified by CWC are as follows:
Ganga Basin
It is the largest basin in India with area about 861452 sq. km. It originates from the Gangotri glacier in Himalaya and traverses about 2,525 km across the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal before falling into the Bay of Bengal. Its principal tributaries are Yamuna, Chambal, Banas, Kali Sindh, Parbati, Sind, Betwa, Dhasan, Keri, Gomti, Sarda, Ghaghara, Gandak, Son, Damodar, and Hooghly, Ramganga, and Mahananda.
Basin of West Flowing Rivers of Kutch and Saurashtra including Luni
This basin with an area of 321851 sq. km, has many independent rivers – Luni, Shetrunji, Bhadar, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati and Banas of which Luni constitutes the major river system of the basin. Luni originates from western slopes of the Aravalli ranges, in the Ajmer district of Rajasthan and travels 511 km before falling into the Arabian Sea. Luni’s principal tributaries are Lilri, Guhiya, Bandi, Sukri, Jawai, Khari Bandi, Sukri Bandi, Sagi and Jojri.
Indus Basin Up to the Indo-Pak border
This basin has an area of 321289 sq. km. Indus originates around Mansarovar Lake in the Himalaya and travels a total length of 2880 km before entering into the Arabian Sea. In India it flows through the state of Jammu and Kashmir and covers a length of 1114 km. Its principal tributaries are Shyok, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj and Ghagghar.
Godavari Basin
Godavari a 1465 km long river that originates from Trimbakeshwar in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. It receives all its water through a basin of area about 312812 sq. km. Godavari flows through Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and finally falls into Bay of Bengal. Principal tributaries are Pravara, Manjra, Purna, Penganga, Wardha, Wainganga, Indravati and Kolab.
Krishna Basin
It has an area of about 258948 sq. km. Main River Krishna originates from Jor village of Satara district of Maharashtra. It has length of 1400 km and flows through states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and falls into Bay of Bengal. Its principal tributaries are Ghatprabha, Malprabha, Tungabhadra, Bhima, Musi and Munneru.
Brahmaputra Basin
This basin has area of about 194413 sq. km. Brahmaputra has total length of about 2900 km out of which it travels only 916 km in India through the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It originates from north of Kailash ranges just south of the lake called Konggyu Tsho and has many principal tributarie Lohit, Dibang, Subansiri, Jiabharali, Dhansiri, Manas, Torsa, Sankosh, Teesta, Burhidihing, Desang, Dikhow, Dhansiri, and Kopili.
Mahanadi Basin
The total area of the basin is 141589 sq. km which spreads over five States Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra of which most of the area lies in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Manandi originates near Farsiya village of Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarhand traverse 851 km in the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and falls in Bay of Bengal. Its principal tributaries are Seonath, Hasdeo, Mand, Ib, Ong, Tel and Jonk.
Basin of East Flowing Rivers between Pennar and Kanyakumari
This has two river systems: River system between Pennar and Cauvery and between Cauvery and Kanyakumari rivers having total area of about 100139 sq. km and constitutes many independent rivers such as Kandleru, Swarnamukhi, Arani, Korttalaiyar, Cooum, Adyar, Palar, Gingee, Ponnaiyar, Vellar, Varshalei, Vaigai, Gundar, Vaippar and Tambraparni. All rivers fall into Bay of Bengal.
Narmada Basin
This basin covers area of about 98796 sq. km in states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Narmada River (length1312 km) originates from Maikala range near Amarkantak in Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh and flows through states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Its principal tributaries are Burhner, Banjar, Sher, Shakkar, Dudhi, Tawa, Ganjal, Kundi, Goi, Karjan, Tendoni, Barna, Kolar, Man, Uri, Hatni and Orsang.
Basin of East Flowing Rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar
This has three river systems: the river systems between Mahanadi and Godavari; river systems between Krishna and Pennar; and, a small area between Godavari and Krishna drained mainly by the small stream of Palleru. Total area of basin is 86643 sq. km and has many independent rivers such as Rushikulya, Bahuda, Vamsadhara, Nagavali, Sarada, Varaha, Tandava, Eluru, Gundlakamma, Musi, Paleru and Manneru. All rivers fall into Bay of Bengal.
Endnote:
Many other smaller but significant basins, with large number of people depending on it for their livelihood, have not been mentioned here. The remaining CWC classified basins are Cauvery, Tapi, West Flowing Rivers from Tadri to Kanyakumari, West Flowing Rivers from Tapi to Tadri, Pennar, Brahmani-Baitarni, Barak and other minor rivers basins.
Receive Daily Updates
Recent Posts
Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.