Key Concepts & Self-Assessment15 Key Facts
Review key National Waterways of India: Inland Waterways Authority & Corridors exam facts and rate your mastery to track revision.
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#1
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was constituted on October 27, 1986, under the IWAI Act of 1985, headquartered in Noida.
#2
The National Waterways Act 2016 unified previous river declarations, designating 111 inland river stretches and canals as National Waterways.
#3
Entry 24 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule empowers Parliament to legislate on shipping and navigation along declared National Waterways.
#4
National Waterway 1 (NW-1) covers 1,620 kilometres along the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system between Prayagraj and Haldia.
#5
The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) on NW-1 was approved in 2018 with financial backing of $375 million from the World Bank.
#6
JMVP ensures a Least Available Depth (LAD) of 3 metres along the primary shipping channel to accommodate 1,500 to 2,000-tonne cargo vessels.
#7
A multimodal freight terminal was inaugurated under JMVP at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) in November 2018, connecting river transport with national highways.
#8
Sahibganj multimodal terminal in Jharkhand was constructed under JMVP to transport coal and stone chips mined in the Rajmahal hills across river corridors.
#9
A modern navigational lock was engineered at Farakka Barrage in West Bengal to facilitate smooth vessel transit between the upper and lower Ganga reaches.
#10
National Waterway 2 (NW-2) covers 891 kilometres along the Brahmaputra River, running from Sadiya in Upper Assam to Dhubri on the Bangladesh border.
#11
The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT), operational since 1972, connects Kolkata and Haldia to Assam via Bangladeshi rivers.
#12
Pandu port in Guwahati serves as the principal inland river terminal on NW-2, providing container handling and customs clearance facilities.
#13
River Information Services (RIS), an automated vessel traffic tracking and navigation assistance system, was first deployed on NW-1 between Sagar and Farakka.
#14
National Waterway 16 covers 121 kilometres along the Barak River from Lakhipur to Bhanga in Assam, linking Northeast India to Chittagong Port.
#15
Section 14 of the National Waterways Act 2016 stipulates that states retain riparian ownership of water extraction and local irrigation rights.
Subject Specialist Commentary
Analytical perspective & practical exam advice from the Master10 academic board
Inland waterways provide fuel-efficient transit corridors for transporting bulk cargo across India's river basins. Governed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India since 1986, river navigation expanded after the National Waterways Act of 2016 designated 111 National Waterways. The flagship route is National Waterway 1, spanning 1,620 kilometers along the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly system from Prayagraj to Haldia, supported by modern multimodal freight terminals at Varanasi and Sahibganj and a navigational lock at Farakka.
In UPSC prelims and State PSC examinations, river stretches are standard matching questions. Memorize the primary routes: NW-1 runs from Prayagraj to Haldia on the Ganga, NW-2 spans Sadiya to Dhubri on the Brahmaputra, and NW-16 covers the Barak River. Watch out for a recurring conceptual trap: declaring a national waterway brings navigation under Parliament via Entry 24 of the Union List, but states retain their riparian rights for irrigation and local water use.
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