Consider the following pairs:
Wetlands: Confluence of rivers
- 1.Harike Wetlands: Confluence of Beas and Satluj/Sutlej
- 2.Keoladeo Ghana National Park: Confluence of Banas and Chambal
- 3.Kolleru Lake: Confluence of Musi and Krishna
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 only
Of the three, only Harike sits at a river confluence, where the Beas meets the Sutlej. Keoladeo's marshes were artificially created and are fed by floods from the Gambhir and Banganga. Kolleru is a natural lake between the Godavari and Krishna basins, fed by the Budameru and Tammileru.
- ✓ 1. Harike wetland in Punjab is a vast shallow lake created by the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers.
- ✗ 2. Keoladeo (Bharatpur) is not at the Banas–Chambal confluence. Its marshes were artificially created in 1850. Water normally reaches them twice a year from floods of the Gambhir and Banganga.
- ✗ 3. Kolleru is a natural lake lying between the Godavari and Krishna river basins. It is fed directly by two seasonal rivers, the Budameru and Tammileru, not by a Musi–Krishna confluence.
Remember · Harike = Beas + Sutlej confluence. Keoladeo = man-made marsh fed by the Gambhir and Banganga. Kolleru = between the Godavari and Krishna basins, fed by the Budameru and Tammileru.
Sources
- Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism) – Harike Wetland and Bird Sanctuary ↗ “Harike is home to one of North India’s foremost wetlands, a vast shallow lake created by the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers.”
- PIB – Keoladeo National Park ↗ “It has flat patchwork marshes in the Gangetic plain , artificially created in 1850. Normally, water is fed into the marshes twice a year from inundations of the Gambhir and Banganga”
- Ramsar Information Sheet 1209 – Kolleru Lake (indianwetlands.in) ↗ · reference work “Lake Kolleru, a natural eutrophic lake, situated between the two major river basins of the Godavari and the Krishna. It is fed directly by two seasonal rivers, the Budameru and the Tammileru”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2014, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
