Prof. K.S. Valdiya heads Paleochannels of River Saraswati Committee

Q.  Expert Committee headed by Prof. K.S. Valdiya was for
- Published on 20 Oct 16

a. Electoral reforms and voter education
b. Paleochannels of River Saraswati
c. Changes in NCERT Syllabus
d. Measures for protection of biodiversity in Eastern Himalayas

ANSWER: Paleochannels of River Saraswati
 
  • An expert committee of geologists, archaeologists and hydrologists say they have found evidence of the course of the river Saraswati, a river mentioned in the Rigveda and Hindu mythology.
  • The seven-member committee, headed by Professor K.S. Valdiya of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), in a report commissioned by the Water Resources Ministry, concluded that evidence from palaeochannels — remnants of defunct rivers — suggested that the Sarsuti-Markanda rivulets in Haryana where the water courses of the “eastern branch of a Himalayan river” and the Ghaggar-Patiali channels were the western branches.
  • These branches met in Shatrana, 25 kilometres south of Patiala and “flowed as a large river” emptying out into the sea that is now the Rann of Kutch.
  • Apart from mythological investigation, the greater purpose of the six-month investigation was to check if these ancient channels, buried under several layers of sediment, can be replenished and used to improve groundwater levels.

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