Activist ends fast against Ken-Betwa linking after 18 days
Activist ends 18-day hunger strike over rehabilitation gaps in the Ken-Betwa linking plan
- The Ken-Betwa river-linking project is part of India’s broader inter-basin water-transfer policy debate.
- The protest took place on the Barana riverbank in Chhatarpur district.
- The protest focused on people omitted from the rehabilitation plan for the project.
What happened
An activist ended an 18-day hunger strike against the Ken-Betwa river-linking project after receiving an assurance from the government that people omitted from the rehabilitation plan would be included. The protest was being held on the Barana riverbank in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district.
The activist said he stopped the fast because several tribal women involved in the protest had also begun fasting after police removed him to a hospital and dismantled the protest site.
UPSC may frame the Ken-Betwa project around the trade-off between river-linking for water-security goals and the constitutional and administrative duty to ensure fair rehabilitation of affected people, especially tribal communities. The question can test project design, environmental governance, and the implementation gap in rehabilitation planning.
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