{"id":14530,"date":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/24-03-2021\/ken-betwa-interlinking-project\/"},"modified":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","slug":"ken-betwa-interlinking-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-03-2021\/ken-betwa-interlinking-project","title":{"rendered":"Ken\u00ad-Betwa interlinking Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh signed a memorandum of agreement with the <strong>Union Jal Shakti Ministry<\/strong> to implement the <strong>Ken-Betwa river interlinking project.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ken Betwa Link Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first project under the <strong>National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the interlinking of rivers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The project involves the<strong> transfer of surplus water<\/strong> from the <strong>Ken river in Panna<\/strong> district in <strong>Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa river in Uttar Pradesh.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Both these rivers are tributaries of river <strong>Yamuna.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This will be done through the construction of the <strong>Dhaudan Dam <\/strong>and a <strong>221 km-long canal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/213733961753735580_image.png\" style=\"height:285px; margin-left:150px; margin-right:150px; width:296px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The project needs approval on the share of <strong>Centre and State<\/strong> in funding, forming a new organisation the <strong>Ken Betwa Link Project Authority<\/strong> to execute the project and obtaining a stage 2 forest clearance for constructing the Daudhan dam.<\/li>\n<li>The project is expected to be ready in 8 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:468.0pt\">\n<p><strong>Ken River<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Ken River originates<\/strong> near village<strong> Ahirgawan<\/strong> on the <strong>north-west<\/strong> slopes of <strong>Kaimur Range<\/strong> in J<strong>abalpur district<\/strong> and travels a distance of 427 km, before merging with the Yamuna.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Betwa River<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is\u00a0 rising in the Vindhya Range just north of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0 Betwa\u00a0 River traverses a long distance of 654 Km.\u00a0 from its source near\u00a0\u00a0 Bhopal in M.P. up to its confluence with river Yamuna.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/42576962066168680_image.png\" style=\"height:226px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; width:420px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Factors favoring interlinking of rivers<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The most part of the country is monsoon dependent and the quantum of rain varies widely across different regions. Therefore, interlinking will help in balancing the uneven water availability.<\/li>\n<li>India needs to enhance the food production for his food security needs so to meet this requirement, the country needs to expand its irrigation potential.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This interlinking of river projects can help India in increasing the connectivity by creating more inland waterways, therefore, cater the logistic deficiency.<\/li>\n<li>The interlinking of river projects will increase India\u2019s utilizable surface water by 25%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance of the Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It will provide a drinking water supply to 41 lakh people in Madhya Pradesh and 21 lakh in Uttar Pradesh.<\/li>\n<li>There is a hydropower<strong> <\/strong>component to this project as well which will generate just over <strong>100 MW of electricity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The project will be of <strong>immense benefit<\/strong> to the <strong>water-starved region of Bundelkhand.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Bundelkhand region will get water for irrigation as well as power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It will pave the way for more interlinking of river projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor to development in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Submergence: <\/strong>The project will partly submerge the <strong>Panna Tiger Reserve<\/strong> in Madhya Pradesh and affect the <strong>habitat of vultures and jackals<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>After years of protests, however, it was finally cleared by the apex wildlife-regulator, the <strong>National Board for Wildlife<\/strong>, in 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disagreement between the states: <\/strong>The two states couldn&#8217;t agree on how water would be shared, particularly in the non-monsoonal months.\n<ul>\n<li>The<strong> cordial conditions<\/strong> may not last forever and disputes might arise in future when there are governments of different parties in <strong>Lucknow and Bhopal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Damage to ecology: <\/strong>National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) &#8211; have raised serious concerns about the potential <strong>damage the project will do to the area\u2019s ecology<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>High Costly: <\/strong>There is a huge cost attached to project implementation and maintenance.\n<ul>\n<li>According to the Comprehensive Detailed Project Report, the cost of the Ken-Betwa Link Project is estimated at Rs 35,111.24 crore at 2017-18 prices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:468.0pt\">\n<p><strong>Origin and previous examples of river-linking in India<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the 1970s, the idea of transferring <strong>surplus water from a river to a water-deficit<\/strong> area was proposed by the then <strong>Union Irrigation Minister (earlier the Jal Shakti Ministry was known as the Ministry of Irrigation) <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Construction of a <strong>National Water Grid<\/strong> was suggested for <strong>transferring water from water-rich areas to water-deficit areas.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In the past, several river linking projects have been taken up.\n<ul>\n<li>For instance, under the <strong>Periyar Project, the transfer of water from the Periyar basin<\/strong> to the <strong>Vaigai basin was envisaged.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It was commissioned in 1895. Similarly, other projects such as <strong>Parambikulam Aliyar, Kurnool Cudappah Canal, Telugu Ganga Project, and Ravi-Beas-Sutlej were undertaken.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>National Perspective Plan (NNP) <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In August 1980 the Ministry of Irrigation prepared a <strong>National Perspective Plan (NNP)<\/strong> for <strong>water resources development<\/strong> envisaging inter-basin water transfer in the country.<\/li>\n<li>The NPP comprised two components:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Himalayan Rivers Development<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Peninsular Rivers Development.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Based on the NPP, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) identified 30 river links\u2014<strong>16 under Peninsular Component and 14 under Himalayan Component<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ken Betwa Link Project<\/strong> is one of the <strong>16 river linking projects<\/strong> under the <strong>Peninsular component.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Way Forward <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The necessity and feasibility of river-interlinking should be seen on a case to case basis, with adequate emphasis on easing out federal issues.<\/li>\n<li>Introduce public-private partnerships in the water sector and revise water tariffs to recover at least <strong>operation and maintenance costs.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A participatory approach to encourage behavioural changes and community engagement in groundwater management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/centre-mp-up-sign-mou-to-implement-ken-betwa-river-interlinking-project\/article34132036.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News The governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh signed a memorandum of agreement with the Union Jal Shakti Ministry to implement the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project. Ken Betwa Link Project The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first project under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the interlinking of rivers. The project involves the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[25,44],"class_list":["post-14530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs1","tag-physical-geography"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/30283036268277current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}