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Responding to media reports of protests in Madhya Pradesh alleging uncompensated displacement of tribal families, the Ministry of Jal Shakti stated that most eligible families have received full compensation and rehabilitation benefits and that only procedural formalities remain in a few cases.
The Ken-Betwa Link Project is described as India's first major river-linking initiative under the National Perspective Plan, transferring surplus water from the Ken to the Betwa to serve the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Project benefits stated: irrigation for 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water for nearly 62 lakh people and 103 MW of hydropower; of an estimated cost of ₹44,604.99 crore, ₹12,445.85 crore had been spent up to July 2026.
On compensation, the government stated that as of July 2026 awards of ₹360.66 crore had been passed for 10,913 affected persons for agricultural land, with ₹320.45 crore (88.85%) disbursed; ₹149.63 crore awarded for habitation areas with 93.97% disbursed; and 5,039 families identified for rehabilitation with awards of ₹629.87 crore, of which ₹590.74 crore (93.78%) has been paid.
Land acquisition follows the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and a Special Rehabilitation Package approved by the Madhya Pradesh government on 13 September 2023, with land compensation at the statutory rate or ₹12.50 lakh per hectare, whichever is higher.
Transfer water from surplus basins to deficit basins through a national grid of river links
Key: Formulated in 1980 by the then Ministry of Irrigation, it has two components — the Himalayan Rivers Development component and the Peninsular Rivers Development component — together comprising around 30 identified links. Ken-Betwa is the first to move to implementation.
Transfer surplus Ken water to the water-short Betwa basin to serve Bundelkhand
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2021 at a cost of about ₹44,605 crore. Its centrepiece is the Daudhan Dam on the Ken in Madhya Pradesh, with a link canal to the Betwa, plus tunnels and power houses. Stated benefits: 10.62 lakh hectares of irrigation, drinking water for nearly 62 lakh people and 103 MW of hydropower.
Provide compensation and resettlement terms above the statutory floor for KBLP-affected families
Key: Approved by the Government of Madhya Pradesh on 13 September 2023. Land compensation is paid at the RFCTLARR rate or ₹12.50 lakh per hectare, whichever is higher; resettlement plots are valued at ₹7 lakh (rural) and ₹6.50 lakh (urban), with ₹12.50 lakh as one-time assistance for families opting out of a plot.
The statute under which land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement for the project are carried out. It replaced the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and introduced compensation linked to a multiple of market value, a Social Impact Assessment requirement, consent thresholds for certain categories of acquisition, and a statutory rehabilitation and resettlement entitlement in its Schedules rather than as an administrative concession.
The release notes additional financial support for eligible Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families in Scheduled Areas — reflecting the heightened protections that apply where acquisition affects tribal land, including the special safeguards the RFCTLARR Act carries for Scheduled Areas.
The Daudhan Dam site lies in the landscape of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, which is why the project required wildlife and environmental clearances alongside land acquisition — the source of much of the litigation and debate around it.
The Ken and the Betwa are both right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna, rising on the northern slopes of the Vindhyan system in Madhya Pradesh and flowing north-east into Uttar Pradesh. The Ken joins the Yamuna near Chilla in Banda district; the Betwa joins it near Hamirpur. Between them lies Bundelkhand, a drought-prone plateau region straddling Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, whose districts — Chhatarpur, Panna and Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh — are the intended beneficiaries. The Daudhan Dam is being built on the Ken upstream of the existing Gangau weir, within the landscape of the Panna Tiger Reserve, from where a link canal will carry water westward to the Betwa. Because both rivers are in the same larger Yamuna-Ganga system, this is an intra-basin transfer rather than a transfer between separate basins.
Carries out surveys and feasibility studies for the links under the National Perspective Plan and prepares detailed project reports for inter-basin water transfer.
The special purpose authority implementing the project, coordinating between the Government of India, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on construction, land acquisition and rehabilitation.
A tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, in whose landscape the Daudhan Dam is located. Its presence is the reason the project needed wildlife clearance and remains the focus of environmental objections.
Ken-Betwa is the test case for the entire National Perspective Plan; the roughly 30 remaining links across the Himalayan and Peninsular components will be judged against its cost, ecological outcome and rehabilitation record.
The project is a live application of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013, including its Scheduled Area safeguards — a standard Mains case study on balancing public purpose against displacement.
The Daudhan Dam's location in the Panna Tiger Reserve landscape makes this the sharpest recent instance of the wildlife-clearance question in Indian infrastructure.
Recurrent drought and distress migration in Bundelkhand are the standing justification advanced for the project, and the reason irrigation and drinking-water numbers dominate its case.
Water is a State subject in the Seventh Schedule, so an inter-state link requires an agreement between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with the Centre as facilitator — the constitutional constraint that has historically slowed interlinking.
GS Paper 1 > Geography > Drainage Systems; GS Paper 3 > Water Resources and Infrastructure; GS Paper 2 > Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation
General Awareness > Geography and Current Affairs
General Awareness > Current Affairs
River interlinking and the Ken-Betwa project have appeared repeatedly in Prelims and Mains since 2021; the Panna Tiger Reserve link is the most frequently tested detail.
Moving water from one river basin to another; Ken-Betwa moves water between two tributaries of the same Yamuna system.
The land acquisition statute that replaced the 1894 Act, adding Social Impact Assessment, consent requirements and statutory rehabilitation entitlements.
The formal determination of compensation payable to an affected person under the land acquisition law; awards passed and amounts disbursed are different stages.
The 1980 framework for interlinking Indian rivers, with Himalayan and Peninsular components covering around 30 links.
An area notified under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, where additional protections apply to tribal land and its acquisition.