River Interlinking: A possible solution to the Indian Agricultural Dilemma

What is the river inter-linking project?

The river interlinking project of the Indian Government is a proposed large-scale engineering project which aims at connecting different river groups to solve the problem of drought, improve irrigation, reduce flood chances, and recharge the groundwater. It is about transporting water from water surplus regions to water deficit regions. This project is estimated to be around ₹5,60,000 cr. This will be irrigating 87 million hectares of land, an area which is bigger than the area of Pakistan. As this interlinking will be done with the help of canals, hydroelectric power plants will also come into action, producing up to 34 Gigawatts of energy.

How does it solve the problem?

1. 80% of Indian farmers are marginal, i.e. they have a land holding of less than 2 Hector (5 Acre). The second bigger challenge is, that majority of Indian farmers hold fragmented land. The more the land is fragmented the less the productivity becomes. Therefore, if a farmer invests his hard-earned money into digging a well, it will be only beneficial to a specific piece of land. The economic cost of transporting this water also increases when he has to transport this water to the other pieces of land which might be a bit far. Digging a well for a small piece of land is also an economic failure. When this plan comes into action these all problems related to irrigation will be solved as the water will be transported to the remotest regions with help of canals.

2. 60% of the Indian farms are rain-fed (The farmer has to depend upon the rains for the purpose of irrigation). Because of this most of the farmers have to depend on the climate cycles which are very variable in nature. With the help of this project, the dependency on rains will reduce, giving farmers much flexibility in choosing the crops which will benefit them economically (like cash crops which require intense irrigational facilities)

3. As per the ratios, Agriculture was turning into a non-performing asset for the government. After 2014, the scenario changed under the NDA government when the contribution of agriculture to GDP increased, occupying up to 20% of the chunk. This is due to the better agricultural and rural reforms which the government has brought, making the farmers' life simpler. This project can help to take this contribution to but on a whole different level.

Challenges and Risks

1. Effects on natural climate and cycles, as it is existing for millions of years.

2. Even a tiny error can lead to a massive disaster which will cause mass casualties plus a huge economic blunder.

3. Loss of habitat

4. Legal challenges

Conclusion

It is an exceptionally good initiative to solve the current agricultural problems of India, but the planning and organising must be done very precisely and there should be no margin for error as the smallest mistake can pull over a big disaster leading to economic loss, environmental loss and also loss of human life. So, disaster readiness should be increased before we incorporate this project and also a detailed study must be done about the ecosystem of the respective area.