A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.“
The Ganga is India’s most important and iconic river. It flows down from its glacial source in the high Himalayas to course through five states in the northern plains before draining into the swirling waters of the Bay of Bengal through the Sunderbans delta, the largest mangrove system in the world. Along its 2,500 km journey, the river enriches huge swathes of agricultural land and sustains a long procession of towns and cities.
The sprawling Ganga basin, an area of 860,000 sq km spread across 11 states, is the world’s most populous river basin. It is home to more than 600 million Indians, close to half the country’s population; and over 40 percent of the country’s GDP is generated in this region. The basin provides more than one-third of India’s surface water, 90 percent of which is used for irrigation. Paradoxically, this fertile region is also home to some of the poorest sections of India’s population, with more than 200 million people living below the national poverty line.