India's first comprehensive river dolphin survey under Project Dolphin estimated 6,327 Ganges river dolphins across 8,500 km of rivers in 8 states. The survey was conducted from 2021 to 2023 by the Wildlife Institute of India and state forest departments. The results were released in March 2025. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number at 2,397, followed by Bihar with 2,220, West Bengal with 815, and Assam with 635. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh together recorded 95 dolphins. The earlier estimate was about 1,800 dolphins, so the new figure is an important baseline for understanding conservation status and future comparisons. It also gives a clear base for state-wise comparison and river-based conservation priorities.

For exam preparation, this topic links environment, biodiversity, river systems, and government conservation programmes. The Ganges river dolphin is India's national aquatic animal and is treated as a bioindicator of river ecosystem health. Its presence helps aspirants connect river flow, food chains, habitat condition, and conservation policy in one current-affairs note. The assessment of river dolphins across the Ganga, Brahmaputra, and other surveyed river stretches is useful for prelims questions on species, locations, institutions, and numerical data. In mains answers, the same issue can be linked with conservation governance, community participation, river pollution, illegal fishing, entanglement in nets, sand mining, and dam-related habitat pressures. For both RAS and UPSC, it should be revised with the static-GK topics of biodiversity and conservation and major river systems of India.