{"id":4657,"date":"2026-01-24T11:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=4657"},"modified":"2026-01-24T15:17:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T09:47:27","slug":"gandak-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gandak-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Gandak River"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Gandak River Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gandak River has emerged as the second major river after the Chambal with the highest number of gharials, also known as fish-eating crocodiles.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Gandak River<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gandak River, also known as the <\/span><b>Narayani and Gandaki<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is one of the <\/span><b>major rivers in Nepal and a left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>mentioned in<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the ancient Sanskrit epic <\/span><b>Mahabharata<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Course<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>originates <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at an altitude of <\/span><b>7620 m above msl<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the <\/span><b>north of Dhaulagiri Mountain in Tibet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> near the Nepal border.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After flowing through Tibet, it <\/span><b>crosses Nepal, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where it is also <\/span><b>known as Narayani,<\/b> <b>to enter the Indian Territory.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The river <\/span><b>enters India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Valmikinagar in the <\/span><b>West Champaran district of Bihar. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>entry point<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the river is <\/span><b>at the Indo\u2013Nepal border<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is <\/span><b>known as Triveni.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>In India, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it <\/span><b>flows southeas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t, across the upper Gangetic plain in <\/span><b>eastern Uttar Pradesh and northwestern Bihar.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gandak<\/span><b> joins Ganga near Patna<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Vaishali district of <\/span><b>Bihar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> total length<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the river is <\/span><b>700 km<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><b>In India,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it covers a course of<\/span><b> more than 300 km.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>bounded on the north by the<\/b> <b>Himalayas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, south by the <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/ganga-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">River Ganga<\/a>,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> east by the <\/span><b>Burhi Gandak Basin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and on the west by the<\/span><b> Ghagra Basin.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are about <\/span><b>1,710 glaciers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and over <\/span><b>300 lake<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s in the <\/span><b>upper catchment of Gandaki.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to the s<\/span><b>teep slope and loose soil in the upper catchment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Gandak <\/span><b>carries a lot of silt <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and other deposits <\/span><b>to the Indian sid<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e, resulting in a <\/span><b>continuous shifting course <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the river.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>While flowing through the Nepal Himalayas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it <\/span><b>forms the Kali Gandaki gorge<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, one of the <\/span><b>deepest river gorges<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two important protected areas, <\/span><b>Chitwan National Park in Nepal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the adjacent <\/span><b>Valmiki Tiger reserve in India,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have been established in the basin.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Major Tributaries: Daraudi, Seti, Madi, Marsyandi, and Budhi Gandaki.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Key Facts about Gharial<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>freshwater crocodile.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Gavialis gangeticus<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>name \u2018gharial\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> comes from the <\/span><b>Hindi word ghara<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, meaning <\/span><b>pot or vessel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, referring to the <\/span><b>bulbous snout tip of adult males<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which <\/span><b>resembles an inverted pot.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Distribution:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Historically<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the gharial&#8217;s range spanned rivers of<\/span><b> Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Today<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, only fragmented populations remain in <\/span><b>Nepal and northern India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Gharial reserves of India <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are located in three States: <\/span><b>Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In India, the <\/span><b>National Chambal Sanctuary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> holds about <\/span><b>90% of the surviving gharials.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Features<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>one of the largest crocodilian <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">species, with males reaching 16 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) in length.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Females typically grow to lengths of 11.5 to 15 feet (3.5 to 4.5 meters).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have <\/span><b>thick skin covered <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with smooth epidermal scales that do not overlap.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>snout of the gharial is uniquely the thinnest<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>most elongated<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among all the crocodilians.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, the <\/span><b>adult males sport a large bulb at the tip of their snout<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, called the \u2018<\/span><b>ghara<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also the<\/span><b> most aquatic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of all crocodilians, for it never moves far from the water.\u00a0 Individuals typically only leave the water to bask and nest on sandbanks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reproduction: They mate during November\u2013January and lay eggs March\u2013May.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Conservation Status:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IUCN Red List: <\/span><b>Critically Endangered<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/patna\/gandak-emerges-as-second-largest-gharial-habitat-after-chambal-river\/articleshow\/127277915.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TOI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gandak River is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Read more about Gandak River, Origin, Course, Tributaries, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":84096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4931,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-4657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-gandak-river","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}