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A 590-km right-bank tributary of the Yamuna rising in the Vindhya Hills of Madhya Pradesh, central to the Ken-Betwa Link Project.
The Betwa is a significant river of central and northern India and an important right-bank tributary of the Yamuna. It rises at Jhirri village in Raisen district near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, at an elevation of about 460 metres in the Vindhya Hills, and flows generally north-east through Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh before joining the Yamuna near Hamirpur town. Its total length is 590 km. Nearly half its course runs over the Malwa Plateau before breaking into the uplands of Bundelkhand, and it is not navigable.
Type: PhenomenonA RIGHT-BANK tributary of the Yamuna — an important distinction from left-bank tributaries
Total length 590 km: 358 km in Uttar Pradesh and 232 km in Madhya Pradesh
Rises at Jhirri village, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, at about 460 metres in the Vindhya Hills
Joins the Yamuna near Hamirpur town in Uttar Pradesh
Major tributaries: the Jamni and the Dhasan
Highly seasonal — very high discharge during the active monsoon and extremely low flow in summer
590 km
358 km
232 km
Jhirri village, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh
About 460 metres, in the Vindhya Hills
Joins the Yamuna near Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh
Dukwan and Deogarh, for irrigation and water management
The Betwa is the receiving river in the Ken-Betwa Link Project, India's flagship river-interlinking initiative, which transfers surplus water from the Ken to the Betwa for irrigation and drinking water in the chronically water-scarce Bundelkhand region. That role alone makes it heavily examinable. Its extreme seasonality — flooding in the monsoon, near-empty in summer — is precisely the hydrological problem interlinking is meant to address. The river also carries deep historical association: it is mentioned in the Mahabharata and once supported the Chedi Kingdom, whose capital Suktimati stood on its banks.
The Betwa appears in the Mahabharata and flowed through the territory of the Chedi Kingdom, whose capital Suktimati was located on its banks. The historic town of Orchha, celebrated for its palaces and cenotaphs, sits on the Betwa and is primarily fed by it; the Orchha Wildlife Sanctuary lies within the area through which the river flows. The Indian Navy has named a frigate INS Betwa after the river, following its convention of naming warships after Indian rivers.
Frequency: Regularly appears in UPSC Prelims geography and in SSC river-mapping questions.
Betwa — right-bank tributary of the Yamuna, 590 km long
Rises at Jhirri village, Raisen district, MP, in the Vindhya Hills at about 460 m
Flows through Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; meets the Yamuna near Hamirpur
Tributaries: Jamni and Dhasan; dammed at Dukwan and Deogarh
Receiving river in the Ken-Betwa Link Project
Orchha town and Orchha Wildlife Sanctuary lie along its course
The Betwa is an important right-bank tributary of the Yamuna, which it joins near Hamirpur town in Uttar Pradesh.
It originates at Jhirri village in Raisen district near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, at an elevation of about 460 metres in the Vindhya Hills.
It is a major river-interlinking initiative that transfers surplus water from the Ken River to the Betwa River for irrigation and drinking water, chiefly benefiting the Bundelkhand region.
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Of its 590 km total length, 358 km lies in Uttar Pradesh and 232 km in Madhya Pradesh.