RAS question
National Waterway-2 (NW-2) is on which river and covers which stretch?
Correct answer: (C) Brahmaputra — Sadiya to Dhubri.
National Waterway-2 is on the Brahmaputra River in Assam and covers the Sadiya-to-Dhubri stretch of 891 km.
Explanation
National Waterway-2 is the Brahmaputra waterway in Assam. Its stretch is Sadiya to Dhubri and its length is 891 km; the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Government of India records that the river Brahmaputra, over 891 km between the Bangladesh border and Sadiya, was declared National Waterway No. 2. This is why the Brahmaputra--Sadiya to Dhubri option fits both the river and the named terminal stretch. The point is not merely the river name: RAS questions often test whether candidates can pair each National Waterway with its exact river corridor, especially where Northeast connectivity is involved.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Barak--Silchar to Bhanga refers to NW-6, so it gives a different river-waterway pairing rather than NW-2.
- (B) Mahanadi--Cuttack to Paradip is not the IWAI-listed National Waterway-2 corridor, which is on the Brahmaputra.
- (D) Ganga--Patna to Kolkata belongs to the Ganga waterway context of NW-1, not the Brahmaputra corridor of NW-2.
Concept
This tests transport geography, specifically the mapping of National Waterways to rivers and terminal stretches. It recurs in RAS because waterways link physical geography with infrastructure and regional connectivity.