01 Read
What happened
The Ken-Betwa River Link Project, India's first National River Interlinking project, received Cabinet approval and has entered active implementation. It transfers surplus water from the Ken River in Madhya Pradesh to the water-scarce Betwa basin, benefiting Bundelkhand's drought-prone districts across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The project includes the Daudhan Dam, a 221-km link canal, hydropower generation capacity of 103 MW, and aims to irrigate 10.62 lakh hectares while providing drinking water to 62 lakh people.
02 Understand
Why it matters
The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) is the first project under India's ambitious National Perspective Plan (NPP) for river interlinking, originally conceived by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA). The NPP envisages 30 river link projects — 14 in the Himalayan component and 16 in the Peninsular component. Ken-Betwa falls under the Peninsular component.
Both rivers are tributaries of the Yamuna. The Ken River originates in the Vindhya Range (Madhya Pradesh), flows through Panna Tiger Reserve, and joins the Yamuna near Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The Betwa River also rises in the Vindhyas near Bhopal and meets the Yamuna near Hamirpur, UP.
The core engineering involves building the Daudhan Dam on the Ken River, creating a reservoir whose surplus water is transferred via a 221-km canal to the Betwa basin. This directly addresses the chronic water deficit of Bundelkhand — a plateau region straddling MP and UP notorious for droughts and agrarian distress.
The project has a controversial environmental dimension: the Daudhan Dam submerges part of the Panna Tiger Reserve, raising biodiversity concerns. The Supreme Court granted wildlife clearance conditionally, requiring compensatory afforestation and tiger relocation. This tension between development infrastructure and ecological conservation is a recurring UPSC theme.
Financing is shared between the Centre and both states, with the National Ken-Betwa River Link Authority (NKBRLA) overseeing execution. Total project cost is approximately ₹44,605 crore at 2021 prices.
Both rivers are tributaries of the Yamuna. The Ken River originates in the Vindhya Range (Madhya Pradesh), flows through Panna Tiger Reserve, and joins the Yamuna near Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The Betwa River also rises in the Vindhyas near Bhopal and meets the Yamuna near Hamirpur, UP.
The core engineering involves building the Daudhan Dam on the Ken River, creating a reservoir whose surplus water is transferred via a 221-km canal to the Betwa basin. This directly addresses the chronic water deficit of Bundelkhand — a plateau region straddling MP and UP notorious for droughts and agrarian distress.
The project has a controversial environmental dimension: the Daudhan Dam submerges part of the Panna Tiger Reserve, raising biodiversity concerns. The Supreme Court granted wildlife clearance conditionally, requiring compensatory afforestation and tiger relocation. This tension between development infrastructure and ecological conservation is a recurring UPSC theme.
Financing is shared between the Centre and both states, with the National Ken-Betwa River Link Authority (NKBRLA) overseeing execution. Total project cost is approximately ₹44,605 crore at 2021 prices.
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