Day-6 Answer Writing Challenge : Model Answer

Question: The interlinking of rivers can provide viable solutions to the multi-dimensional inter-related problems of droughts, floods, and interrupting navigation. Critically examine.    20 Marks

Answer: 

OBJECTIVES – Interlinking of River (ILR) programme is of national importance and has been taken up on high Priority. The mission of this programme is to ensure greater equity in the distribution of water by enhancing the availability of water in drought prone and rain-fed area. The basic idea is to connect the Himalayan and peninsular rivers via a network of canals so that excess water from one channel can be diverted to another which has inadequate flow.

The overall implementation of Interlinking of Rivers programme under National Perspective Plan would give benefits of 35 million hectares of irrigation, raising the ultimate irrigation potential from 140 million hectare to 175 million hectare and generation of 34 gigawatt of power, apart from the incidental benefits of flood control, The ample opportunities for inland navigation and thus reduce pressure on rail and road transport, water supply, fisheries, salinity and pollution control etc.

THERE ARE TWO COMPONENT OF NATIONAL RIVER PLANNING PROJECT :

1. HIMALAYAN COMPONENT

The Himalayan component envisages construction of storage reservoirs on the main Ganga and Brahmaputra Rivers and their principal tributaries in India and Nepal so as to conserve monsoon flows for irrigation and hydro-power generation, besides flood control. Links will transfer surplus flows of the Kosi, Gandak and Ghagra to the west. Surplus flows that will become available on account of inter-linking of the Ganga and the Yamuna are proposed to be transferred to the drought prone areas of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. With this proposal about 14 Mha-m of additional water would be available from these river systems for irrigating an estimated 22 M-ha in the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin apart from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. It would also provide 1120 cumec to Calcutta Port and would provide navigation facility across the country. It will also provide flood moderation in the Ganga-Brahmaputra system.

Peninsular Component – The main component of Peninsular Rivers Development is the “Southern Water Grid” which is envisaged to link Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar, and Cauvery rivers. The peninsular scheme was envisaged to provide additional irrigation benefits of over 13 million ha.

CHALLENGES OF INTERLINKING OF RIVERS

1. Huge Investment – The project will involve a huge cost of 5, 60,000 crore or $ 120 billion which amounts to a quarter of the country’s current GDP. A developing country like India can hardly afford such a huge investment in just one project. The Ken-Betwa link project alone will require over Rs 18,000 crores .
2. Environmental Impact – Different water flows represent different ecological systems thus can lead to ecological imbalance. The full range of natural intra and inter annual variation in hydrologic regimes and associated characteristics of timing , duration , frequency , and rate of change , are critical in sustaining the full native biodiversity and integrity of aquatic ecosystems. When rivers flow through forested, cultivated, and settled lands, they carry with them large amounts of silt. This silt is deposited along the way, enhancing the productivity of the surrounding lands, and finally of the coastal waters. This is the basis of the rich agriculture of the plains of India, and of the rich fisheries off our coasts. The river also pushes out the sea, which would otherwise invade deep into the land, and erode the

In order to create canals and reservoirs, mass deforestation will take place. This will have impact on rains and in turn affect the whole cycle of life. The project envisages the building of many dams with some of them having high lifts upto 120 m. This will lead to a huge social and environmental cost. Further , rivers change their course and direction in about 100 years and if this happens after interlinking, then the project will not be feasible for a longer run.

Due to interlinking of rivers, there will be decrease in the amount of fresh water entering seas and this will cause a serious threat to the marine life system and will be a major ecological disaster. The Government has also ignored the dynamics of the river while planning the project. Every river has its own quality so the mixing of water will affect the particular quality of the river, or to say when most of the rivers in the country are polluted, this will cause mixing of a less polluted river with the cleaner one.

According to some experts , arresting the natural flow of rivers on this gigantic scale could spell “the death knell” of mangroves in the Delta region of West Bengal and Bangladesh and some of the richest fisheries could be lost forever.

2. Neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal have not been consulted although these countries, along with China, would be affected by the
3. More over lifting the rivers in the table land topography of the peninsula is a energy demanding project and will incur huge cost in terms of energy and
4. The concept of surplus and deficit concept is a Water flowing into the seas and oceans is considered as waste but river basin and its water flowing in to oceans is a sub unit of a larger ecological system and hydrological cycle. How biota and system of rivers will behave after the linking is not taken into consideration and only water in quantitative terms is being discussed.

Buckingham and Indira Gandhi Canal project are short of linking which have already proved as an unsuccessful mission.