Consider the following statements: 1. Jhelum River passes through Wular Lake. 2. Krishna River directly feeds Kolleru Lake. 3. Meandering of Gandak River formed Kanwar Lake. How many of the statements given above are correct? [UPSC CSP 2023]

Only two. Statements 1 and 3 are correct. The Jhelum River flows through and feeds Wular Lake in Kashmir. Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland) in Bihar was formed by the meandering of the Gandak River, per its official Ramsar Information Sheet. Statement 2 is wrong: Kolleru Lake is fed directly by the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru streams, not directly by the Krishna River, though it lies between the Krishna and Godavari deltas.

Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland), Asia's largest freshwater oxbow lake, was formed by the meandering of which river, and lies in which state?

Gandak River, Bihar. Kanwar Lake, in Begusarai district, Bihar, was formed by the meandering of the Gandak River, a tributary of the Ganga, per its official Ramsar Information Sheet. It became Bihar's first Ramsar site in 2020.

Kanwar Lake, Asia's largest freshwater oxbow lake, is located in which Bihar district?

Begusarai. Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland) lies in Begusarai district, Bihar, about 22 km northwest of Begusarai town. Read more: IndGeo0126 — Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland).

Kabartal Wetland became Bihar's first Ramsar site in which year?

2020. Kabartal Wetland was designated a Ramsar site in 2020, becoming Bihar's first. Read more: IndGeo0126 — Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland).

How many bird species have been recorded at Kanwar Lake, an important stopover on the Central Asian Flyway?

221. 221 bird species have been recorded at Kanwar Lake, out of 394 total animal species documented there. Read more: IndGeo0126 — Kanwar Lake (Kabartal Wetland).

Which type of lake is Kanwar Lake, in Bihar, formed when a meandering river's loop gets cut off from the main channel?

Oxbow lake. Kanwar Lake is a classic oxbow lake, formed by the Gandak River's meandering cutting off a loop from the main channel. Read more: IndGeo0127 — Lakes of India.

Kanwar Lake: Asia’s Largest Freshwater Oxbow Lake

A river bend gave up on its own river. That old bend is now Bihar’s first Ramsar site — and Asia’s largest freshwater oxbow lake, sitting beside the Burhi Gandak.

At a glance

A cut-off river bend that became Bihar’s biggest wetland

2,620 hectares

The mapped Ramsar site boundary, in Begusarai district.

21 July 2020

Date Kabartal became Bihar’s first Ramsar site.

221 bird species

Recorded at this stop on the Central Asian Flyway.

Under 600 hectares

How far the open water can shrink in the dry season.

Kanwar Lake in Begusarai, Bihar. Photo by Mausam Nandan, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Oxbow lakeA lake formed when a river cuts off a looping bend, leaving the old channel behind as still water.

Kanwar Lake (Kabartal)A floodplain wetland in Begusarai district, Bihar, beside the Burhi Gandak river.

Ramsar siteA wetland formally recognised as internationally important under the Ramsar Convention.

Central Asian FlywayA migratory bird route linking Arctic Russia to South Asia, passing over wetlands like Kabartal.

On this page

Location and formation
Conservation status
Related Indian lakes
What the PYQ tested
MCQ on Kanwar Lake

Location and formation

Must Know

Where is Kanwar Lake?

Kanwar Lake sits in Begusarai district, Bihar, near the town of Manjhaul. Its Ramsar name is Kabartal Wetland. The mapped Ramsar site covers 2,620 hectares, about 26.2 square kilometres. Bihar Tourism calls it “Asia’s largest freshwater oxbow lake.” Ramsar itself describes Kabartal as the largest of 18 connected wetlands in its local complex.

How did it form?

Kanwar Lake is an oxbow, cut off from the Burhi Gandak river. A winding river erodes the outer bank of a bend until the bend’s neck narrows. In a flood, the river can cut a shorter path straight across. The old loop is left behind as a lake. The Burhi Gandak is a separate river from the main Gandak, though both belong to the Ganga river system.

Q1. True or False: The Burhi Gandak and the main Gandak are the same river.

Conservation status

Good to Know

What is its Ramsar status?

Kabartal Wetland was designated a Ramsar site on 21 July 2020. It was Bihar’s first Ramsar site, carrying Ramsar site number 2436. The site record lists 165 plant species and 394 animal species, including 221 bird species and more than 50 fish species. It is an important stopover for migratory waterbirds on the Central Asian Flyway.

Why does its water area change so much?

Monsoon floods spread water across the wider wetland complex, connecting the open lake with nearby marshes. After the monsoon, the flooded area can shrink below 600 hectares. The 2,620-hectare Ramsar boundary itself does not shrink. Only the actual water surface inside it does. About 15,000 households across 17 surrounding villages depend on the wetland for fishing, farming, and grazing. Drainage, water withdrawal, and silt from embankment breaches are its main pressures.

Q2. True or False: Kabartal’s 2,620-hectare Ramsar area means 2,620 hectares of open water every month of the year.

Related Indian lakes

Great to Know

How does Kanwar compare to other exam-favourite lakes?

Kanwar Lake is an oxbow, formed by a river’s meandering rather than by tectonic movement or delta drainage. That sets it apart from two lakes it is often tested alongside.

Lake	Setting	Water link
Kanwar, Bihar	Oxbow, floodplain marsh complex	Burhi Gandak flood pulses
Wular, Kashmir	Tectonic basin	Jhelum flows through it
Kolleru, Andhra Pradesh	Deltaic lowland lake	Seasonal streams feed it, not the nearby rivers

Exam angle: UPSC likes pairing these three lakes because each formed a different way — tectonic, oxbow, and deltaic. Learn the formation, not just the name.

Think it through. Why can a naturalist count “60 migratory and 106 resident” bird species at one wetland, when the Ramsar record lists 221 bird species overall?

Show the explanation

Different counts can come from different surveys, seasons, or scopes. A single naturalist’s field count of two bird groups need not match the full official species list built up over several surveys.

Q3. True or False: Monsoon floods can connect Kabartal with nearby marshes and fish habitats.

Exam Edge

What the PYQ tested

UPSC CSP 2023, GS Paper I, asked candidates to check three statements about how three different lakes form or are fed, together in one question.

Statement 1: True“Jhelum River passes through Wular Lake” — correct, Wular is a tectonic lake on the Jhelum.
Statement 2: False“Krishna River directly feeds Kolleru Lake” — wrong. Kolleru is fed by the Budameru and Tammileru streams, not the Krishna.
Statement 3: True“Meandering of the Gandak River formed Kanwar Lake” — accepted as correct. The Ramsar record names the Burhi Gandak specifically, a separate river from the main Gandak, but the published answer key uses the broader “Gandak” reading.
Answer: only two statements were correct.See the full UPSC CSP 2023 paper.

Q4. True or False: Ramsar recognition removes the need to manage drainage and local livelihoods around Kabartal.

Quick Q&A

Which river’s meandering formed Kanwar Lake?

The Burhi Gandak, a river separate from the main Gandak, though both are part of the Ganga system.

When did Kabartal become a Ramsar site, and what number was it?

21 July 2020, as Ramsar site number 2436 — Bihar’s first Ramsar site.

How many bird species has Kabartal recorded?

221 bird species, out of 394 animal species overall, on the Central Asian Flyway.

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