The Indian rivers interlinking project is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to effectively manage water resources in India by linking rivers using a network of reservoirs and canals to enhance irrigation and groundwater recharge and reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of the country.

[5] Beyond water security, the project is also seen to offer potential benefits to transport infrastructure through navigation and hydro power as well as broadening income sources in rural areas through fish farming.

Opponents are concerned about well-known environmental, ecological, and social displacement impacts as well as unknown risks associated with tinkering with nature.

During the British colonial rule, for example, the 19th century engineer Arthur Cotton proposed the plan to interlink major Indian rivers in order to hasten import and export of goods from its colony in indian_subcontinent,South Asia, as well as to address water shortages and droughts in southeastern India, now Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

The river inter-linking idea was revived in 1999, after the National Democratic Alliance formed the Government of India, but this time with a major strategic shift.

[10] By 2004, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the Congress Party was in power, and it resurrected its opposition to the project concept and plans.

Social activists campaigned that the project may be disastrous in terms of cost, potential environmental and ecological damage, water table and the dangers inherent with tinkering with nature.

[10][11] In February 2012, while disposing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) lodged in the year 2002, the Supreme Court (SC) refused to give any direction for implementation of the Rivers Interlinking Project.

[12] India receives about 4,000 cubic kilometers of rain annually, or about 1 million gallons of fresh water per person every year.

The uncertainty of the start date of the monsoons, sometimes marked by prolonged dry spells and fluctuations in seasonal and annual rainfall is a serious problem for the country.

[1][2] Due to global warming, fossil fuels use is discouraged and carbon neutral, clean, and renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are encouraged which are intermittent and variable types of electricity generation.

The resulting demand for food must be satisfied with higher yields and better crop security, both of which require adequate irrigation of about 140 million hectares of land.

Using connected rivers as navigation is a cleaner, low carbon footprint form of transport infrastructure, particularly for ores and food grains.

The end of the era of massive expansion in groundwater use is going to demand greater reliance on surface water supply systems.

The rivers inter-linking feasibility reports completed by 2013, suggest the following investment needs and potential economic impact: #The cost conversion in US $ is at latest conversion price on the historical cost estimates in Indian rupees Some activists and scholars have, between 2002 and 2008, questioned the merits of Indian rivers inter-link projects, and questioned if appropriate study of benefits and risks to environment and ecology has been completed so far.

[40] Other scholars have asked whether there are other technologies to address the cycle of droughts and flood havoc's, with less uncertainties about potential environmental and ecological impact.

[45] Water storage and distributed reservoirs are likely to displace people – a rehabilitation process that has attracted concern of sociologists and political groups.

Lakra et al., in their 2011 study, claim[46] large dams, interbasin transfers and water withdrawal from rivers is likely to have negative as well as positive impacts on freshwater aquatic ecosystem.

The population of India is expected to grow further at a decelerating pace and stabilize around 1.5 billion by 2050, or another 300 million people – the size of United States – compared to the 2011 census.

Tunnelling technology/methodology has also undergone drastic improvements to make them alternate choice to the gravity open canal links with shortest distance and cost effective manner.

[50] BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had propagated the idea of interlinking of rivers to deal with the problem of drought and different parts of the country at the same time.

Jairam Ramesh, a cabinet minister in former UPA government, said the idea of interlinking India's rivers was a "disaster", putting a question mark on the future of the ambitious project.

[51] Karunanidhi, whose DMK has been a key ally of the Congress-led UPA at the centre, wrote that linking rivers at the national level perhaps is the only permanent solution to the water scarcity problem in the country.

The National perspective plan envisions about 150-million-acre feet (MAF) (185 billion cubic meters) of water storage along with building inter-links.

[53] From India-wide perspective, at least 946 billion cubic meters of water flow annually could be utilized in India, power generation capacity added and perennial inland navigation could be provided.

The project claims that the development of the rivers of the sub-continent, each state of India, as well as its international neighbours stand to gain by way of additional irrigation, hydro power generation, navigation and flood control.

The Scheme will benefit not only the States in the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin, but also Nepal and Bangladesh, assuming river flow management treaties are successfully negotiated.

[53] The Himalayan component would consist of a series of dams built along the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers in India, Nepal and Bhutan for the purposes of storage.

By 2015, fourteen inter-links under consideration for Himalayan component are as follows, with feasibility study status identified:[54][55] This Scheme is divided in four major parts.

[60] The Governments of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, Sikkim, Haryana, Union Territories of Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar islands, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep responded that they have no intrastate river connecting proposals.