Why a mega river-linking plan has sparked massive protests in India.
Thousands of villagers in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are protesting against a multi-million-dollar river-linking project which, they say, will rob them of their homes and livelihoods.
The Ken-Betwa project, with a budget of 440bn rupees ($5.06bn; £4.05bn), will channel excess water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa river in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state through a network of tunnels, canals and a dam.
It is the first of 16 such river-linking projects earmarked under India’s National Perspective Plan for water resource development in the 1980s. The plan faced multiple delays – mainly due to environmental concerns and political disputes – before the government cleared it in 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for its construction in December last year.
