Revision summary
The Upper Ganga Canal (1854, Haridwar) and Lower Ganga Canal (Narora) are the Doab spine. Sharda, Sharda Sahayak, and Saryu Nahar command central and eastern tracts. Yamuna, Agra, and Gandak canals complete the surface map. Matatila, Rihand, and Ramganga are the named storage examples. Tubewells are the mass layer and a depletion risk.
Model answer
Introduction
Uttar Pradesh irrigates from Himalayan snow-fed canals, peninsular storage on southern rivers, and a dense tubewell layer in the Ganga plain. An account with examples must name the Ganga–Yamuna–Sharda systems, a few dams, and groundwater, because canals alone do not water the state.
Body
Canal systems
- The Upper Ganga Canal, opened in 1854 from Haridwar under Proby Cautley, and the Lower Ganga Canal from Narora, are the classic Doab arteries.
- The Eastern Yamuna Canal and the Agra Canal serve the Yamuna–Hindon belt; the Madhya Ganga and Eastern Ganga canals extend command in the east of the upper Ganga.
- The Sharda Canal from Banbasa and the Sharda Sahayak system command large tracts of central and eastern UP; the Saryu Nahar is a later eastern surface project.
- Gandak canals water the trans-Ghaghra east; together these show that UP irrigation is a Ganga family of snow-fed canals.
Storage, lift, and wells
- Ramganga at Kalagarh, Matatila on the Betwa, and Rihand in Sonbhadra add storage and hydropower to the southern and eastern margins.
- The proposed Ken–Betwa link is the interlinking example now attached to Bundelkhand drought, still distinct from the colonial Ganga canals.
- State and private tubewells, with canals, make UP India’s largest groundwater irrigator; the account is incomplete without this layer and its depletion risk.
- Command-area lining, night irrigation, and conjunctive use are the live issues once the named projects are listed.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD H[Himalayan rivers] --> C[Ganga Yamuna Sharda canals] P[Peninsular storage] --> D[Matatila Rihand Ramganga] G[Ganga plain] --> T[Tubewells] C --> I[UP irrigation] D --> I T --> I
Conclusion
UP irrigation is the Upper and Lower Ganga canals, Yamuna and Sharda–Saryu systems, southern dams such as Matatila and Rihand, and mass tubewells. Examples must sit in that mix; the state’s agriculture depends on canal plus groundwater, not on one dam.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Mention various festivals which are celebrated in Uttar Pradesh.
Next question in the 2022 paper (Q10). View answer →
-
Is UP irrigation only canals?
No. Tubewells water a large share of the plain; canals and groundwater must be read together.
-
Is Tehri an UP irrigation project?
Tehri is in Uttarakhand; some of its water serves the Ganga canal system that UP uses, but the dam is not an UP state project.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2022 · Q8 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
What is ‘Smart City Mission’? Discuss the main characteristics of cities of Eastern Uttar Pradesh selected under this scheme. -
2021 · Q7 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
Describe the main industries and major industrial centers of Uttar Pradesh. -
2021 · Q20 · UPGS1 · 12 marks
What are the means of irrigation in Uttar Pradesh? Discuss the role of irrigation in agricultural development. -
2020 · Q8 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
What is 'Smart City Mission'? Discuss the main characteristics of cities of Eastern Uttar Pradesh selected under this scheme. -
2020 · Q16 · UPGS1 · 12 marks
Underline the changes happening gradually in the sources of irrigation in U.P. -
2019 · Q10 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
Give an account of Minor Irrigation Projects of Uttar Pradesh with suitable examples.
More from this paper
Q1 · UPSC Mains 2022 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
Describe the salient features of Mauryan Art and Architecture.
Indian culture
Mauryan art is court sandstone: Ashokan pillars, the Sarnath lion capital, and polished yaksha figures. Architecture adds Barabar Ajivika caves, early stupas at Sanchi and Sarnath, and timber palaces at Pataliputra. High polish and animal capitals are the signature, not later temple shikhara. The style is imperial and mixed religious, not only Buddhist monastery building.
Q2 · UPSC Mains 2022 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
Throw light on the nature of Renaissance in Uttar Pradesh in the 19th Century.
Uttar Pradesh — history, culture and society
The nineteenth-century UP Renaissance was regional: Hindi letters at Banaras, Urdu at Lucknow, and the Aligarh movement. Bharatendu’s print and the Hindi–Urdu controversy made language a public question. Sir Syed’s MAO College, 1875, is the main educational monument of the Muslim strand. Sabhas, Arya Samaj, and girls’ schooling made it social as well as literary. It is not a copy of the Italian Renaissance.
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2022 · UPGS1 · 8 marks
Illustrate the contributions of nationalist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak in the struggle for the freedom of press.
Modern Indian history
Tilak used Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English) from 1881 as nationalist organisation. The 1897 Rand-plague trial and the 1908 Mandalay sentence made him the leading press prisoner. Section 124A was shown as a gag on political comment, not only on violence. Home Rule later carried the same papers into mass swaraj teaching. Press freedom for him was a political right, not a commercial privilege.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.