The Ganga

From time immemorial the Bengal Delta had been an important maritime des- nation for traders from all parts of the world. The actual location of the port of call varied from time to time in line with the natural hydrographic changes. From the early decades of the second millennium AD, traders from the European con- nent also joined the traders from the Arab countries, who had been the Forerunners in maritime trading with India. Daring traders and fortune seekers from Denmark, Holland, Belgium and England arrived at different ports of call along the Hooghly river. The river had been, in the meantime, losing its pre-eminence as the main outlet channel of the sacred Ganga into the Bay of Bengal, owing to a shift of ?ow towards east near Rajmahal into the Padma, which had been so long, carried very small part of the large volume of ?ow. On a cloudy afternoon on August 24, 1690 the British seafarer Job Charnock rested his oars at Kolkata and started a new chapter in the life of a sleepy village, bordering the Sunderbans which was 'a tangled region of estuaries, rivers and water courses, enclosing a vast number of islands of various shapes and sizes. ' and infested with a large variety of wild animals. In the language of the British Nobel Laureate (1907) Rudyard Kipling (18651936). ???? ???? Thus the midday halt of Charnock grew a city.

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The geo-hydro-morphometry of the river Ganges has a history of long and wide variations as the river is continuously fed by the high Himalayas hill ranges, the highest in the world. The river is categorized as an international one, passing through several independent countries.
The major flow of the river used to flow through the branch river, Bhagirathi-Hooghly on the banks of which both the city and port of Calcutta (now renamed as Kolkata) are situated. However, due to massive tectonic and morphological changes, the flow through the branch river has gradually decreased resulting in enormous damages to the port and the city. After more than a century long of investigations on the probable causes of deterioration and its remedies, a barrage across the river had been constructed near a place, called Farakka in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, India for diversion of a part of lean season flow (40,000 cu secs) from the parent river to the branch river for the resuscitation of the branch river and revitalization of the port of Calcutta.
The turmoil started since the construction of barrage between 1965-1975 and the major neighbouring countries, India and Bangladesh, were locked with the dispute over the sharing of water of the parent river. After several rounds of discussions at different levels between the two countries, short-term agreements were signed two times, one in 1977 and the other in 1985, and finally one long term Treaty was signed in 1996 between the two countries in an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence.

Audience: The book will be of interest to researchers and scientists, professionals and policymakers in water resources management and environmental science, conservation policy and development research.

Contenu
The Ganga in Mythologies.- The Real Ganga In India and Bangladesh.- The Ganga Geology.- The Ganga's Hydrology.- The Ganga Morphology.- Decline of Bhagirathi-Hooghly Channel.- Only a Barrage Can Save!.- Inconsistency, or A Conspiracy?.- Turmoil Over Water Diversion.- Agreements & MOUs.- What Went Wrong?.- Chronology of Events.- The Ganga Basin Management.- Necessity of Regional Co-operation.- My Views.