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Phase I of the Ken-Betwa Link Project involves the displacement of 1,913 Project Affected Families with a population of 8,339, of whom 648 families belong to Scheduled Tribes.
The figures come from the proposal submitted by the National Water Development Agency in 2016, for which the Ministry of Tribal Affairs cleared the rehabilitation and resettlement plan for ST-affected families.
Land acquisition and rehabilitation activities are carried out by the State Governments; the Ministry of Tribal Affairs sits on the project's Steering and Monitoring committees.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted Stage-II forest clearances to two proposals on 6 May 2021 and 3 October 2023, subject to implementation of the R&R plan and compliance with the Forest Rights Act.
Implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 rests with State Governments, so the related data is not centrally maintained.
River interlinking rests on a simple premise: India's rainfall and river flows are distributed very unevenly, so some basins run surplus while others run deficit, and canals plus tunnels could move water from the first to the second. The National Perspective Plan, administered by the National Water Development Agency, identifies 30 such links - 16 under a Peninsular component and 14 under a Himalayan component. Ken-Betwa is the first to move from plan to construction, which is why it carries significance far beyond Bundelkhand: it is effectively the test case for the whole approach. The objections are equally structural. The Daudhan Dam sits inside the Panna Tiger Reserve, so the project trades water security against submergence of protected habitat in a landscape where tiger populations were painstakingly rebuilt after local extinction. And 'surplus' is a contested engineering judgment rather than a fixed fact, since it depends on which years and which assumptions about future demand and rainfall are used. Those two objections - ecological cost and the definition of surplus - are the standard analytical frame for any interlinking question.
Simple Analogy: It is plumbing at the scale of a subcontinent - and like any plumbing, the argument is over whether the tank you are drawing from really has spare water.
Stage-II forest clearance requires the State Government to ensure compliance with the FRA before project work. Implementation rests with States and UT Administrations, so the Centre does not maintain the data.
The Stage-II conditions require the user agency to implement an R&R Plan consistent with the State R&R Policy and in consonance with the National R&R Policy, monitored with indicators and observable milestones.
Diversion of forest land proceeds in two stages: in-principle Stage-I approval with conditions, and final Stage-II approval once those conditions are met. KBLP received Stage-II approvals on 6 May 2021 and 3 October 2023.
Land acquisition and rehabilitation activities are undertaken by State Governments; the Ministry of Tribal Affairs participates only through Steering and Monitoring committees.
GS Paper 1 > Geography: Water Resources. GS Paper 3 > Environment: Conservation, Environmental Impact Assessment. GS Paper 2 > Welfare of Vulnerable Sections
General Awareness > Geography and Government Projects
General Awareness > Geography and Current Affairs
River interlinking, the Ken-Betwa project and Panna Tiger Reserve are recurring UPSC Prelims and Mains topics in geography and environment.
The framework identifying 30 river links - 16 Peninsular and 14 Himalayan - administered by the National Water Development Agency.
National Water Development Agency, which identifies and studies river link proposals under the National Perspective Plan.
A household displaced or otherwise affected by a project, entitled to rehabilitation and resettlement; 1,913 in KBLP Phase I.
Final approval for diversion of forest land, granted once the conditions of in-principle Stage-I approval are met.
The key Phase I structure on the Ken river, about 77 m high and 2.13 km long, inside the Panna Tiger Reserve.