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RAS question

River interlinking in India under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) has two components. Which of the following correctly describes the Peninsular Rivers Development component?

Correct answer: (B) Linking surplus east-flowing peninsular rivers to west-flowing and deficit rivers within the peninsula, including the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery link.

Under the National Perspective Plan, the Peninsular Rivers Development component links surplus east-flowing peninsular rivers with west-flowing and water-deficit peninsular basins, including the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery chain.

  1. (A)

    Linking Himalayan rivers (Ganga-Brahmaputra system) to transfer surplus water to deficit peninsular basins

  2. (B)

    Linking surplus east-flowing peninsular rivers to west-flowing and deficit rivers within the peninsula, including the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery link

  3. (C)

    Building dams on all west-flowing rivers in Western Ghats to divert water to the Deccan plateau

  4. (D)

    Creating an intra-Ganga basin network between the Yamuna, Son and Chambal rivers

Explanation

The National Perspective Plan has two distinct river-linking components: Peninsular Rivers Development and Himalayan Rivers Development. NWDA's annual report states that the NPP was framed to transfer water from surplus basins to deficit basins, and that NWDA first undertook detailed studies for the Peninsular component before the Himalayan component was later included. In the MCQ context, the Peninsular component covers 16 links, led by the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery-Vaigai chain, to move surplus water from eastern peninsular river systems towards deficit basins within the peninsula. That is why option B is right: it keeps the geography within peninsular river systems and identifies the major east-flowing chain, rather than shifting to the Ganga-Brahmaputra system.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) This describes the Himalayan Rivers Development component, because the Ganga-Brahmaputra system belongs to the Himalayan side of the NPP rather than the Peninsular component.
  • (C) The Peninsular component is not a blanket plan to dam every west-flowing Western Ghats river; it is centred on selected inter-basin links, including the east-flowing Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery-Vaigai chain.
  • (D) An intra-Ganga network involving the Yamuna, Son and Chambal would fall outside the Peninsular Rivers Development component, which concerns peninsular river systems and their deficit basins.

Concept

This tests Indian physical geography through water-resource planning: how river basins are grouped in the National Perspective Plan. It recurs in RAS because inter-basin transfer links geography, irrigation, regional imbalance and government planning.

Source

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