Question

Which of the following is a distributary of the Ganga?
A. Yamuna
B. Son
C. Chambal
D. Hugli

Answer 1

Hint: The Rabindra Setu or the Howrah Bridge has been built on this river. The East India company sailed into Bengal and founded its trade settlement, Calcutta, the capital of British India, through this river. In total, the Ganga river has two distributaries.

Complete answer:
Hugli is a distributor of the Ganges River in West Bengal, India, approximately $ 260 $ kilometers long ($ 160 $ miles). Near Giria, Murshidabad, the Ganges splits into Padma and Hooghly. There is an additional man-made bifurcation of the river upstream at Farakka today. The Padma flows into Bangladesh eastwards, while the Hooghly flows into West Bengal southwards. The river flows through the Rarh area, West Bengal's lower delta districts, and ultimately into the Bay of Bengal. Hugli is also known as “Hooghly” or “Hoogli”.

Other than the Ganges, the Mayurakshi, Jalangi, Ajay, Damodar, Rupnarayan, and Haldi rivers include big rivers draining into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly. Kolkata and Hugli-Chinsurah, the headquarters of Hooghly (district), are on the banks of this river.

For the people of West Bengal, the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system is an important lifeline. People from other nations such as the French, the Netherlands, the Portuguese, etc. all had their trading settlements at this river's banks. The river provides the West Bengal plain with a perennial supply of water for irrigation and human & industrial use. The river is navigable and is a major transport system with a high flow of traffic in the area.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: Tributaries are smaller streams of glacier water that join together to form a river.
When the river breaks down into small streamlets or channels, distributaries are created. Therefore, tributaries flow towards the main river while distributaries move away from it.