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A PIB Backgrounder issued on 21 August 2026 sets out the status of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP), the first project under the National Perspective Plan for Interlinking of Rivers to reach the implementation stage.
Water is transferred from the Ken basin to the Betwa basin through the 96.7-metre-high Daudhan Dam in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh and a 216.465-km link canal ending at Barua Sagar near Jhansi.
Total project cost is Rs 44,605 crore; the foundation stone was laid on 25 December 2024 and completion is scheduled for 2030.
Stated benefits: irrigation for 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water for about 62 lakh people, 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power.
The project carries a full set of statutory clearances - Wildlife (2016), Environmental (2017), Tribal Affairs (2017) and Forest (2023) - and an Integrated Landscape Management Plan for the Greater Panna Landscape prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India.
The Ken and the Betwa are both right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna and both drain the Bundelkhand region straddling Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Ken rises in the Kaimur range in Madhya Pradesh and joins the Yamuna near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh; the Betwa rises in the Vindhya range near Raisen in Madhya Pradesh and meets the Yamuna at Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh. The Daudhan Dam sits on the Ken in Panna and Chhatarpur districts, roughly 40 km from the Khajuraho temple complex, and within the Panna landscape. Beneficiary districts named in the release are Chhatarpur, Niwari, Tikamgarh, Panna, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen in Madhya Pradesh, and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.
The Government of India formulated the National Perspective Plan in 1980 to move water from basins judged to have a surplus to basins judged to be deficit. It has two components - the Himalayan Rivers Development Component and the Peninsular Rivers Development Component - and identifies 30 river links in all, 14 Himalayan and 16 Peninsular. Detailed feasibility work on these links is carried out by the National Water Development Agency, set up in 1982. Of the 30 links, the Ken-Betwa Link is the first to move from paper to construction.
Simple Analogy: Think of the NPP as a national plumbing plan drawn up in 1980 for 30 pipes between river basins. For over four decades none of the pipes was laid; Ken-Betwa is the first one being physically built.
National Perspective Plan for Interlinking of Rivers formulated, identifying 30 links
National Water Development Agency set up to carry out the feasibility studies
Wildlife Clearance granted to the Ken-Betwa Link Project
Environmental Clearance granted after studies under the EIA Notification, 2006
Clearance from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Memorandum of Agreement signed on World Water Day by the Ministry of Jal Shakti with Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; KBLPA constituted as the implementing special purpose vehicle
Madhya Pradesh Cabinet decides on, and the state government approves, the Special Rehabilitation and Resettlement Package for project-affected families
Forest Clearance accorded by MoEF&CC after the Gram Sabha consent process under the Forest Rights Act, 2006
Foundation stone of the project laid by the Prime Minister
Scheduled completion of the project
Prepares feasibility reports and detailed project reports for the river links under the National Perspective Plan; set up in 1982 as a registered society
Special purpose vehicle constituted to implement the project, monitored by a national steering committee chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti
Prepared the Integrated Landscape Management Plan (ILMP) for the Greater Panna Landscape covering tiger, vulture and gharial conservation; established 1982, granted autonomous status in 1986
Granted the Environmental Clearance in 2017 and the Forest Clearance on 3 October 2023
Oversees the rehabilitation and resettlement process for the project alongside the district administration
Governs land acquisition and R&R. Section 3(c) defines a Project Affected Family to include landowners, those whose livelihood is affected, tenants, agricultural labourers, share-croppers and forest-rights holders. Section 3(m) defines a family; for R&R purposes adult sons and daughters aged 18 or above, as well as widows, divorcees and deserted women, are counted as separate family units.
District Collectors initiated the free, prior and informed consent process of the concerned Gram Sabhas, on the basis of which Forest Clearance was accorded on 3 October 2023.
Provided the framework for the public hearings held during the Environmental Clearance process; the concerns raised were folded into the environmental assessment and mitigation measures.
The Daudhan Dam is about 40 km from Khajuraho in Chhatarpur district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1986 for the Nagara-style temples built by the Chandela dynasty in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Both the Ken and the Betwa are right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna, so the link redistributes water within the Yamuna sub-basin of the Ganga system rather than between two unrelated river systems.
A national park since 1981, a tiger reserve since 1994 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2020; the Ken flows through the reserve, which is why wildlife clearance preceded environmental clearance here.
KBLP is a live illustration of how the LARR Act, 2013 interacts with a state's own more generous Special Package - families were given a choice between compensation under the Act and the state package.
GS Paper 1 > Geography > Drainage systems and water resources; GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation
General Awareness > Indian Geography > Rivers and Dams
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Indian Geography
General Awareness > Government Projects and Schemes
River interlinking and Bundelkhand water scarcity recur in UPSC Prelims and in GS Paper 1 and 3 Mains; Panna Tiger Reserve appears regularly in environment questions.
The 1980 framework for interlinking rivers, with 30 identified links - 14 under the Himalayan Rivers Development Component and 16 under the Peninsular Rivers Development Component.
Under Section 3(c) of the LARR Act, 2013, a family whose land, house, property, forest rights or main source of livelihood is affected by acquisition - land ownership is not a precondition.
The conservation plan prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India for the Greater Panna Landscape, extending mitigation beyond the tiger reserve boundary into the surrounding landscape.
A dedicated implementing entity - here the Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority - created to execute a single project with its own CEO and steering committee.