Question

Which river is known as the Jamuna in Bangladesh?
A.Ganga
B.Brahmaputra
C.Meghna
D.Teesta

Answer 1

Hint: The rivers in India are divided into two broad categories— the Himalayan rivers and the Peninsular rivers. As the names suggest, these two categories have different points of origin from the Himalayas and from the Deccan Plateau respectively. Apart from that, the Himalayan rivers are perennial as their sources are glaciers in the Himalayas and the Peninsular rivers depend on rainwater.

Complete answer: Option A: is incorrect. The Ganga is the longest Himalayan river in India and it covers a distance of 2510 km completely in India. It originates from the Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand as two rivers— Alaknanda and Bhagirathi and later emerges as the Ganga from Haridwar. It is joined by various tributaries along the way including Yamuna, Ghagra, Gandak, Kosi, Chambal, Betwa, Son, etc and it flows eastwards till Farakka in West Bengal. Here it bifurcates into the Hooghly distributary and flows southwards through the Deltaic plains into the Bay of Bengal.
Option B: is correct. The Brahmaputra originates in Tibet near the Mansarovar Lake and covers a distance of over 2900 km. It flows through Tibet as Tsang Po and enters India in Arunachal Pradesh where it is called the Dihang. It is joined by tributaries like Dibang and Lohit before it enters Assam where it is called the Brahmaputra. It flows southwards into Bangladesh where it is called the Jamuna and meets the Padma river, a distributary of the Ganga.
Option C: is incorrect. The Meghna river originates at the confluence of the rivers Surma and Kushiyara at Kishoreganj in Bangladesh. It flows southwards to join the Padma, a distributary of the Ganga at Chandpur before emptying into the Bay of Bengal through the Sundarbans.
Option D: is incorrect. The Teesta river originates from the Pahunri glacier in Tibet and flows southwards down the Sikkim Himalayas. Along its course, it is joined by the tributaries Rangpo and Rangeet before merging with the Brahmaputra at Fulchhari in Bangladesh.

Hence, The correct answer is Option B.

Note: All the four rivers given in the options merge into each other and drain into the Bay of Bengal forming the largest delta in the world. This is called the Sundarbans and it is located in West Bengal, India and southern Bangladesh. It is also the largest mangrove forest in the world and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.