Uttar Pradesh: Physical and Human Geography
2. Drainage: the Ganga system and its tributaries
Almost all of the state drains into the Ganga, which enters from Uttarakhand near Bijnor and leaves for Bihar near Ballia. Most rivers fed from the Himalaya (Ghaghara, Gomti, Ramganga, Rapti) join from the left (north) bank. The Yamuna is the big exception: it joins on the right bank at Prayagraj. The Vindhyan rivers (Betwa, Ken, and the Sone further east) come from the south and join on the right bank.
| River | Joins | Route in the state | Meeting place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamuna | Ganga, right bank | Kairana, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Noida, Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Auraiya, Kalpi, Hamirpur | Triveni Sangam, Prayagraj |
| Hindon | Yamuna, left bank | Saharanpur (rises in the Siwaliks), Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar | Noida (Sector 150) |
| Ramganga | Ganga, left bank | Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi | Katri Chandapur, Hardoi |
| Gomti | Ganga, left bank | Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Jaunpur | Ganga near Varanasi |
| Ghaghara (Sarayu at Ayodhya) | Ganga, left bank | Bahraich (Girijapuri barrage), Ayodhya | Ganga at Revelganj, Bihar (outside the state) |
| Sharda (Mahakali) | Ghaghara, right bank | Lakhimpur Kheri (Lower Sharda barrage), then east to Bahraich | Ghaghara near Bahraich |
| West Rapti | Ghaghara, left bank | Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur | Ghaghara at Rajpur, beyond Gorakhpur |
| Betwa | Yamuna, right bank | Lalitpur (forms its northern and western boundary), Hamirpur | Yamuna at Hamirpur |
| Ken | Yamuna, right bank | Chitrakoot and Banda (inside the state) | Yamuna at Chilla, Banda |
| Sone | Ganga, right bank | Sonbhadra (the district takes its name from it) | Ganga in Bihar (outside the state) |
The physical logic is simple. Himalayan rivers from the north meet the Ganga on its left, and Vindhyan rivers from the south meet the Yamuna on its right. Learn each river with its districts in flow order, because questions often ask where a river enters or leaves the state.
3. Climate, rainfall and seasons
The climate is sub-tropical monsoon: cool, dry winters, hot summers and rain from the south-west monsoon between June and September. The climate plan (UP SAPCC 2.0) uses India Meteorological Department gridded data for 1980 to 2019. The mean January temperature lies between about 12.5 and 17.5 °C and the May–June mean between about 27.5 and 32.5 °C. Some summer maxima exceed 45 °C, and the northern plains see cold waves, fog and frost in winter.
| Parameter | Value | Trend per year |
|---|---|---|
| Annual average rainfall | 896.51 mm | about −6.7 mm |
| Monsoon (June–September) rainfall | 792.33 mm | about −5.8 mm |
| Average maximum temperature | 31.41 °C | about +0.01 °C |
| Average minimum temperature | 19.27 °C | about +0.01 to +0.02 °C |
About 88 to 90 per cent of the annual rain falls in the June–September monsoon. Rain is heaviest in the east and falls off towards the west and north-west. In the 1980–2019 analysis, Maharajganj recorded the highest annual rainfall among the districts, and winter rain (January–February) averages only about 30 mm.
4. Soils, vegetation and minerals
Alluvium laid down by the Ganga, the Yamuna and their tributaries covers most of the plain and gives the state its fertility. The Vindhyan and Bundelkhand uplands have thinner, poorer soils. The climate plan lists the soil profile as alluvial, Arawali, rakar, parwa, kabar and maar. Only the mar soil has a firm location: the dark soil of the Jhansi plain, which is commonly described as suited to cotton. Learn the other local names as terms to recognise, not as definitions.
The forests fall into five forest-type groups, divided into 28 types in the Champion and Seth classification. The Shivalik and Terai–Bhabar belt carries sal and haldu, with shisham along rivers. The Vindhyan belt has dhak, teak, mahua, salai, chironji and tendu, and its dry forests are largely scrub.
| Mineral or product | Where | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | Sonbhadra | Largest coal reserves in the state, per its mineral profile |
| Limestone and magnesite | Vindhyan belt (Mirzapur, Sonbhadra) | Cement plants operate in the Mirzapur region |
| Copper | Sonrai, Lalitpur | Named in the state's mineral profile |
| Granite, pyrophyllite, sandstone, rock phosphate | Lalitpur | Named in the district profile |
| Stone crushing | Kabrai, Mahoba | Called the stone city of UP, with many crushers |
| Aluminium plant | Renukoot, Sonbhadra | Named in the district profile as an aluminium plant |
5. Irrigation and water
The plain is productive because it is flat, its rivers run all year and its groundwater is shallow. The climate plan records about 80 per cent of the cropped area as irrigated (2015–16), and says about 92 per cent of the water supplied goes to irrigation.
- Upper Ganga Canal: opened on 8 April 1854 from the Bhimgoda barrage at Haridwar. In the state it runs through Bulandshahr and Khurja, and near Nanau in Aligarh district it divides into the Kanpur and Etawah branches.
- Lower Ganga Canal: taken off the Ganga at the Narora barrage in Bulandshahr district. Its Bhognipur branch, opened in 1880, runs about 166 km from Jera in Mainpuri district to Kanpur.
- Sharda Sahayak project: uses the Lower Sharda barrage near Lakhimpur Kheri and a feeder channel to irrigate the eastern Terai and plains.
- Groundwater: the state has the largest share of the country's replenishable groundwater, about 16 per cent (CWC 2019, quoted in the climate plan). Of its 830 assessment units, 91 are over-exploited, 48 critical, 151 semi-critical and 540 safe.
6. Population and settlement (Census 2011)
Uttar Pradesh was the most populous state in Census 2011, with 1,99,812,341 people (about 19.98 crore). Use the Census table figure in an exam. The density was about 829 per sq km, the sex ratio 912 females per 1,000 males, the child sex ratio (0–6 years) 902, and the literacy rate 67.68 per cent (men 77.28, women 57.18). About 22 per cent of the population was urban, against about 31 per cent for India. Scheduled Castes are about a fifth of the population.
| Indicator | District | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Largest population | Prayagraj | 5,954,391 |
| Smallest population | Mahoba | 875,958 |
| Highest sex ratio | Jaunpur | 1,024 |
| Lowest sex ratio | Gautam Buddh Nagar | 851 |
| Highest literacy | Gautam Buddh Nagar | 80.12 per cent |
| Lowest literacy | Shravasti | 46.74 per cent |
7. Transport network
The main network runs east to west along the Ganga plain, where the rail main lines and national highways sit. Newer expressways cut across the plain from the Yamuna corridor to eastern UP and Bundelkhand.
| Expressway | Length | Route and districts | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamuna Expressway | 165.5 km | Greater Noida (Pari Chowk) to Agra (Kuberpur) | 9 Aug 2012 |
| Agra–Lucknow Expressway | 302 km | Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Unnao, Lucknow | 21 Nov 2016 |
| Purvanchal Expressway | 340.9 km | Lucknow (Chand Saray) to Ghazipur (Haidaria) | 16 Nov 2021 |
| Bundelkhand Expressway | 296 km | Etawah to Chitrakoot (Etawah, Auraiya, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot) | 16 Jul 2022 |
| Gorakhpur Link Expressway | 91 km | Gorakhpur to Azamgarh, through Sant Kabir Nagar and Ambedkar Nagar | traffic from 20 Jun 2025 |
| Ganga Expressway (phase 1) | 594 km | Meerut to Prayagraj, through 12 districts | inaugurated 29 April 2026 |
The airports that matter are Lucknow (Chaudhary Charan Singh International), Varanasi (Lal Bahadur Shastri International), Ayodhya (Maharishi Valmiki International) and Noida International Airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar (IATA code DXN). Two railway zones serve the state. North Eastern Railway is headquartered at Gorakhpur (formed 1952; divisions Lucknow, Varanasi and Izzatnagar). North Central Railway is headquartered at Prayagraj (formed 2003; divisions Prayagraj, Jhansi and Agra). National Waterway 1 (the Ganga) runs about 1,620 km from Prayagraj to Haldia and was declared in 1986.
Key takeaways
- Uttar Pradesh is landlocked and about 2.41 lakh sq km, the fourth largest state. Its physical belts are the Himalayan foothills (Bhabar and Terai), the central Ganga plain, and the Bundelkhand and Vindhyan plateau.
- The Ganga is the master river. The Yamuna meets it on the right bank at Prayagraj; Ghaghara, Gomti and Ramganga join from the left; Betwa and Ken come from the Vindhyas to the Yamuna's right bank.
- About 88 to 90 per cent of the rain falls in June–September. The 1980–2019 IMD average in the climate plan is about 897 mm. Other averages differ in period or method. Always name the period and the source.
- Minerals are concentrated in the Vindhyan belt: Sonbhadra coal, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra limestone, Lalitpur's granite and pyrophyllite, and Mahoba's stone crushing. The Ganga plain has almost none.
- Census 2011: population 19.98 crore, density about 829 per sq km, sex ratio 912, child sex ratio 902, literacy 67.68 per cent, about 22 per cent urban. District extremes depend on the 2011 boundaries.
- The Upper Ganga Canal (1854) and the Lower Ganga Canal's Narora system irrigate the plain by gravity. The expressway corridors (Yamuna, Agra–Lucknow, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Ganga) follow the same flat ground and river axes.
Practice questions (18)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Jhansi, Lalitpur and Chitrakoot lie in which physical region of Uttar Pradesh?
Show answer
Answer: A — Bundelkhand and Vindhyan plateau
These three districts sit on the hard-rock Bundelkhand and Vindhyan plateau south of the Yamuna and the Ganga. The Bhabar and the Terai lie along the northern foothills, and the Central Ganga plain is flat alluvium, so the tempting plain answer fails on the rock and the water.Which belt of porous boulders and gravel lies just south of the Shivalik foothills, where most streams sink underground?
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Answer: B — Bhabar
The Bhabar is the porous boulder belt below the Shivalik foothills. Streams lose their water into it and reappear further south as the marshy Terai. Khadar and bhangar are floodplain and upland alluvium of the plain, so neither is a foothill belt.Consider the following statements about the physical geography of Uttar Pradesh.
P. Dudhwa National Park lies in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
Q. The Terai is a thin strip running parallel to the Bhabar.
R. Bundelkhand lies in the Terai belt.
S. Sonbhadra lies in the Terai belt.
Which of the statements given above are correct?Show answer
Answer: C — P and Q only
P and Q are correct: Dudhwa is in Lakhimpur Kheri, and the Terai is the thin marshy strip parallel to the Bhabar. R and S are wrong because Bundelkhand and Sonbhadra lie on the Vindhyan and Bundelkhand plateau, far south of the Terai. The tempting 'P, Q and R' option fails on Bundelkhand.Match each district with the division it belongs to in the state's list of 18 divisions as of 29 October 2026: Lalitpur; Sonbhadra; Lakhimpur Kheri; Hamirpur.
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Answer: D — Lalitpur–Jhansi, Sonbhadra–Vindhyachal, Lakhimpur Kheri–Lucknow, Hamirpur–Chitrakoot
Lalitpur is in the Jhansi division, Sonbhadra in Vindhyachal (headquartered at Mirzapur), Lakhimpur Kheri in Lucknow and Hamirpur in Chitrakoot. The distractors move a district to a neighbouring division, and that is the usual slip: Sonbhadra is in Vindhyachal, not Varanasi, and Lakhimpur Kheri is in Lucknow, not Bareilly.According to the state's climate action plan (UP SAPCC 2.0, 2021–2030), how many agro-climatic zones does Uttar Pradesh have?
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Answer: A — 9
The plan lists nine agro-climatic zones: Bhawar and Tarai, Western Plain, Mid-Western Plain, South-Western Semi-Arid Plains, Central Plain, Bundelkhand, North-Eastern Plain, Eastern Plains and Vindhyan. The question is scoped to the plan's own list, so five, seven and twelve are simply not its count.In the Jhansi plain, the dark soil locally called 'mar' is best suited to which crop?
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Answer: B — Cotton
Mar is the dark soil of the Jhansi plain, commonly described as well suited to cotton, the classic crop of black soils. Tea needs hill slopes and high rainfall, rubber a humid south, and jute wet lowlands; none is the crop of Bundelkhand's dark soil.Match each river with the place where it meets its main river, as given in the state's river data: Ken, Betwa, Hindon, Sharda.
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Answer: C — Ken at Chilla, Betwa at Hamirpur, Hindon at Noida, Sharda at Bahraich
Ken joins the Yamuna at Chilla in Banda, Betwa joins the Yamuna at Hamirpur, Hindon joins the Yamuna at Noida's Sector 150 and Sharda joins the Ghaghara near Bahraich. The distractors swap the Ken and Betwa places, put the Hindon at Ghaziabad, or send the Sharda to Gorakhpur.Which of these districts is NOT drained by the West Rapti?
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Answer: D — Mirzapur
The West Rapti runs from Shravasti through Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj and Gorakhpur before meeting the Ghaghara. Mirzapur lies in the Vindhyan belt far to the south of that north-eastern course.Consider the following statements about rivers of Uttar Pradesh.
P. The Ghaghara, known as the Sarayu at Ayodhya, flows past Bahraich and Ayodhya.
Q. The Ken joins the Yamuna at Chilla in Banda district.
R. The Hindon joins the Yamuna in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.
S. The Sone rises in Sonbhadra district.
Which of the statements given above are correct?Show answer
Answer: A — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are correct. The Sone rises in Madhya Pradesh and enters the state only at Sonbhadra, which takes its name from it, so S is wrong. The tempting 'P and Q only' option drops the Hindon, which joins the Yamuna at Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar.Arrange these in the order of their opening:
1. Yamuna Expressway;
2. Upper Ganga Canal;
3. Agra–Lucknow Expressway;
4. Bhognipur branch of the Lower Ganga Canal.Show answer
Answer: B — 2, 4, 1, 3
The Upper Ganga Canal opened in 1854, the Bhognipur branch in 1880, the Yamuna Expressway in 2012 and the Agra–Lucknow Expressway in 2016, giving the order 2, 4, 1, 3. The tempting '1, 2, 3, 4' sequence simply repeats the numbering in the stem, which mixes the list with the sequence of years.What was the population of Uttar Pradesh in Census 2011?
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Answer: C — About 19.98 crore
Census 2011 counted 199,812,341 people, about 19.98 crore, which made Uttar Pradesh the most populous state. The 16.5 crore option is close to the 2001 count of about 16.6 crore, so a student who remembers the earlier census has the right order of magnitude but the wrong year.The table gives Census 2011 figures for four districts, on the boundaries used in that census.
District | Population | Literacy (%)
Prayagraj | 5,954,391 | 72.32
Kanpur Nagar | 4,581,268 | 79.54
Gautam Buddh Nagar | 1,648,115 | 80.12
Auraiya | 1,379,545 | 78.95
Which district has a population above 45 lakh and literacy above 79 per cent?Show answer
Answer: D — Kanpur Nagar
Only Kanpur Nagar clears both tests: 4,581,268 people is above 45 lakh and 79.54 per cent literacy is above 79. Prayagraj is larger but its literacy is only 72.32 per cent, while Gautam Buddh Nagar and Auraiya have higher literacy but populations below 45 lakh.In Census 2011, which of these districts recorded the lowest literacy rate, on the district boundaries of that census?
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Answer: A — Shravasti
Shravasti recorded 46.74 per cent, the lowest figure among the state's districts. Bahraich and Balrampur also fall below 50 per cent, and Budaun is higher. The alternatives are close enough that the question must be answered from the census table, not from the post-2011 district list.Which expressway is about 296 km long, runs from Etawah to Chitrakoot, and was opened to traffic in 2022?
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Answer: B — Bundelkhand Expressway
The Bundelkhand Expressway runs about 296 km from Etawah to Chitrakoot and opened on 16 July 2022. The Agra–Lucknow route is close in length at about 302 km but runs from Agra to Lucknow, and the Purvanchal and Gorakhpur Link routes lie in eastern UP.Consider the following statements about transport in Uttar Pradesh.
P. The Yamuna Expressway begins at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida.
Q. Noida International Airport uses the IATA code DXN.
R. The Agra–Lucknow Expressway ends at Lucknow.
S. The Ganga Expressway ends at Varanasi.
Which of the statements given above are correct?Show answer
Answer: C — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are correct. The Ganga Expressway runs from Meerut to Prayagraj, so its eastern end lies in Prayagraj district, not Varanasi, and S is false. The tempting 'P and Q only' option leaves out the Agra–Lucknow Expressway, which does end at Lucknow.Which national waterway runs about 1,620 km from Prayagraj to Haldia and passes Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh?
Show answer
Answer: D — National Waterway 1 (Ganga)
National Waterway 1 is the Ganga route from Prayagraj to Haldia, declared in 1986. The other three are the Brahmaputra (NW-2), the West Coast Canal (NW-3) and the Godavari–Krishna route (NW-4), none of which runs through Uttar Pradesh.The IMD-based analysis in the state's climate plan gives the average annual rainfall of Uttar Pradesh for 1980 to 2019 as about:
Show answer
Answer: A — 897 mm
The plan reports 896.51 mm as the 1980–2019 average, roughly 897 mm. The other options are not that analysis's average, and the question asks only for the plan's 1980–2019 figure.Consider the following statements about the rainfall of Uttar Pradesh, based on the 1980–2019 analysis in the state's climate plan.
P. About 88 per cent of the annual rainfall falls in the June–September monsoon.
Q. Maharajganj received the highest annual rainfall among the districts.
R. Annual rainfall has increased by about 6.7 mm each year since 1980.
S. Winter rain from January and February contributes the largest share of the annual total.
Which of the statements given above are correct?Show answer
Answer: B — P and Q only
P and Q are correct: the monsoon share is about 88 per cent, and Maharajganj had the highest annual rainfall in the analysis. R reverses the sign, since rainfall fell by about 6.7 mm a year, and S is wrong because winter months give only about 30 mm of the roughly 897 mm. The tempting 'P and R' option keeps the size of the trend and loses its direction.