Interlinking of rivers in India - Advantages & Disadvantages

Interlinking of rivers in India – Advantages & Disadvantages

Introduction:

Interlinking of Rivers is nothing but joining the rivers of the country by networks of canals and reservoirs. Interlinking of rivers in India was proposed for the first time during British Colonial rule. The main intension of the proposal was to reduce the transportation cost of raw materials and finished products. The Indian Government has established the National Water Development Agency to study the interlinking of rivers under the Ministry of Water Resources. Many states have proposed for interlinking of rivers due to scarcity of water in their states and hence the central government is working on a few projects.

Yes – It will reduce the poverty and floods & distribute water equally.

1. India receives most of its rain during monsoon season from June to September, most of it falls in northern and eastern part of India, the amount of rainfall in southern and western part are comparatively low. It will be these places which will have shortage of water. Interlinking of rivers will help these areas to have water throughout the year.

2. The main occupation of rural India is agriculture and if monsoon fails in a year, then agricultural activities come to a standstill and this will aggravate rural poverty. Interlinking of rivers will be a practical solution for this problem, because the water can be stored or water can be transferred from water surplus area to deficit.

3. The Ganga Basin, Brahmaputra basin sees floods almost every year. In order to avoid this, the water from these areas has to be diverted to other areas where there is scarcity of water. This can be achieved by linking the rivers. There is a two way advantage with this – floods will be controlled and scarcity of water will be reduced.

4. Interlinking of rivers will also have commercial importance on a longer run. This can be used as inland waterways and which helps in faster movement of goods from one place to other.

5. Interlinking creates a new occupation for people living in and around these canals and it can be the main areas of fishing in India.

No – It will environmental problems, ecological imbalance & reduce water table

1. Interlinking of rivers will cause huge amount of distortion in the existing environment. In order to create canals and reservoirs, there will be mass deforestation. This will have impact on rains and in turn affect the whole cycle of life.

2. Usually 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.

3. 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.

4. Due to the creation of Canals and Reservoirs, huge amount of area which is occupied by the people will be submerged leading to displacement of people and government will have to spend more to rehabilitate these people.

5. The amount required for these projects is so huge that government will have to take loans from the foreign sources which would increase the burden on the government and country will fall in a debt trap.

Conclusion:

Interlinking of rivers is definitely a good solution for the scarcity of water, but interlinking has to take place after a detailed study so that does not cause any problem to the environment or aquatic life.