Geography of UP: Drainage, Irrigation, Minerals and Vegetation

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies VI.

Geography of UP: Geographical Location, Relief and Structure, Climate, Irrigation, Minerals, Drainage System and Vegetation.

Topics in detail

This page covers the second half of the official line on geography: the drainage system, irrigation, minerals and vegetation. The previous page covers location, relief, structure and climate.

Drainage system

• The Ganga: entry into UP in Bijnor district, flow past Kannauj, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi and Ghazipur, exit into Bihar at Ballia
• The Yamuna: first touches UP in Saharanpur district, where it forms the boundary with Haryana; flow past Mathura, Agra, Etawah and Hamirpur, confluence with the Ganga at Prayagraj (the Sangam)
• Tributaries of the Yamuna: Hindon, Chambal, Sindh, Betwa and Ken
• Left-bank tributaries of the Ganga: Ramganga (joining near Kannauj), Gomti (a plains-fed river rising near Pilibhit and joining the Ganga between Varanasi and Ghazipur), Ghaghara (joining in Bihar) and Gandak (along the Bihar border)
• Tributaries of the Ghaghara: the Sharda (called the Kali in its upper course, where it forms the India-Nepal border), and the Rapti, which floods the area around Gorakhpur
• Rivers of the plateau: Son, Rihand, Belan, Tons, Karmanasa
• Drainage patterns and the shifting of river courses
• Lakes and wetlands: Bakhira Tal, Ramgarh Tal, Sur Sarovar and others
• Floods in the eastern districts and their causes
• River linking: the Ken-Betwa link project

Irrigation

• Sources of irrigation: tube wells (the largest source), other wells, canals, tanks and ponds
• Major canals: Upper Ganga Canal (from Haridwar, opened 1854), Lower Ganga Canal (from Narora), Eastern Yamuna Canal, Agra Canal, Sharda Canal, Sharda Sahayak, Ramganga Canal, Saryu Canal National Project
• Dams and reservoirs: Rihand (Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar), Matatila and Rajghat on the Betwa, and other reservoirs in Bundelkhand and the Vindhyan south
• Lift irrigation in the uplands
• State tube wells and private tube wells; dependence on electricity
• Problems: falling groundwater in the west, waterlogging and salinity near canals, uneven spread to Bundelkhand
• Micro-irrigation and the national irrigation programme (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana)

Minerals

• UP as a state of few minerals, concentrated in the southern plateau
• Coal: the Singrauli field area in Sonbhadra
• Limestone and dolomite: Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, the base of the cement industry
• Silica (glass) sand: Prayagraj (Shankargarh) and Chitrakoot area, used in the glass industry
• Pyrophyllite and diaspore: Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba
• Rock phosphate: Lalitpur
• Granite and building stone in Bundelkhand; sand and morrum from river beds
• Mining issues: illegal sand mining, environmental damage, the state's mining policy and royalties

Vegetation

• Tropical moist deciduous forests: the Terai, with sal as the main tree
• Tropical dry deciduous forests: the plains and the southern plateau, with teak, tendu, mahua, khair
• Tropical thorn forests: the drier south-western areas, with babool and scrub
• Grasslands of the Terai and their wildlife
• Riverine (bela) vegetation and wetland plants
• Small share of forest area and its uneven spread among districts

Overlaps

Irrigation is also part of Agricultural Diversity and Problems of Agriculture; forests on UP Forest Policy, Agro-forestry and Social Forestry; water and wetlands on Natural Resources of UP. Irrigation systems for India are in General Studies III.