Interlinking of Rivers and their Ecological-Economic Trade-offs

The Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) in India aims to redistribute water from surplus river basins to deficit basins, addressing regional water stress, drought, and flood imbalances. The concept is based on India’s spatial hydrological disparity, where Himalayan Rivers are water-rich, while Peninsular Rivers are largely seasonal. The interlinking project forms part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP, 1980) under the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), encompassing 30 major links: 14 Himalayan and 16 Peninsular. Among these, the Ken–Betwa and Godavari-Cauvery links represent two critical pilot projects demonstrating both the promise and trade-offs of large-scale river integration.

Ken-Betwa Link Project