Why are there protests over the Ken-Betwa project?

Published 25 July 2026 · india

The story so far: Madhya Pradesh police personnel went to the banks of the Barana river stream in Kupi village of Chhatarpur district on July

The story so far: Madhya Pradesh police personnel went to the banks of the Barana river stream in Kupi village of Chhatarpur district on July 19 and cleared a protest site where hundreds of villagers, mostly tribal people, had been demonstrating for two weeks against the Union government’s ₹44,000 crore Ken-Betwa Link Project, India’s first river-linking project, and two irrigation projects of the State government. The police took local activist Amit Bhatnagar, founder of the Jai Kisan Sangathan, who had been on an indefinite hunger strike for 14 days, and admitted him to a government hospital. They also picked up nearly 150 protestors, most of them from neighbouring Panna district, in buses and dropped them off at their villages. On July 23, he suspended his 18-day fast after the government’s assurance that people left out of the rehabilitation process will be included. What is the Ken-Betwa river linking project? The Ken-Betwa River Linking Project is the first of 30 proposed river-linking projects under the Perspective Plan (NPP). Formulated in 1980 by the then Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission, the NPP aims to transfer water from rivers with a perceived surplus to those facing water deficits. The NPP is divided into two components — Himalayan Rivers Development that proposes 14 links and Peninsular Rivers Development that plans 16 links, as identified by the Water Development Agency.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2024, in Khajuraho, where he also laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Daudhan Dam during a public event. The project aims to transfer the declared surplus water of the Ken River to the Betwa River by constructing the Daudhan Dam on the Ken and a 221-kilometre canal, including a 2-km tunnel. In addition, the project is expected to generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power. It also aims to address water scarcity in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region by providing drinking water to about 4.4 million people across 12 districts of Madhya Pradesh and more than 2 million people across 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Why are tribal people protesting and what are their key demands? According to the Union government, 7,193 families of 14 villages in Chhatarpur and eight villages in Panna district are facing displacement under the project. According to Divya Ahirwar of Jai Kisan Sangathan, the key demands regarding the Ken-Betwa project are that each adult be treated as an individual beneficiary — rather than as part of a family — for the ₹12.5 lakh rehabilitation package, and that the eligibility cut-off date be revised from February 16, 2024, to the present date.