Let us remember to love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with sincerity. This love however should also appear in our actions, not merely verbal expressions.
Let us remember to love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with sincerity. This love however should also appear in our actions, not merely verbal expressions.
Let us remember to love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with sincerity. This love however should also appear in our actions, not merely verbal expressions.
Let us remember to love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with sincerity. This love however should also appear in our actions, not merely verbal expressions.
Reminder that the goal of Tasawwuf is purification of the soul which is not possible for us without following the Prophet ﷺ in words and deeds. Following the sunnah is integral to Sufism. This is contrary to what many of the critics and pseudo Sufis will try to convince you. Remember that none of us becomes a sufi without being upon the path (Tariqah) of Muhammad ﷺ.
“Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ ‘If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’” [Ali Imran 3:31 — Dr. Mustafa Khattab interpretation]
DISCLAIMER: Post written and researched by me (besides some copy paste), Do not use as reference and verify your info with trusted sources . I present criticism and official narratives but do not necessarily agree with everything I present of either.
As the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) makes headlines with the ongoing tribal protests In regions like chhatarpur. The Popularity of this topic has increased. Yet there is often little info available about it and it's often seemingly contradictory or simply the official narrative.
I have tried to put together a brief introduction on the topic including its history and timeline, motivations, criticism, proposed alternatives etc below.
I talked about this problem in my previous post about detailed introduction to geography of Bundelkhand. But I will briefly explain it here without making it look like the core topic at hand.
Bundelkhand was historically known as a relatively lush and green region with infrequent droughts. However since the British era the droughts have increasingly became common. This trend continued into the modern republic era and has been worsening.
There has been a continuous decline in rainfall across Bundelkhand which is considered a part of broader climate change happening across the globe. However the impact is particularly severe in Bundelkhand with continuous decline for over a century.
The decrease in rainfall however is not the only reason behind the water scarcity as much of Bundelkhand gets plentiful rainfall (1200mm+) annually. One of the main issues causing it is Surface runoff. Excessive amounts of things like deforestation, hill blasting, mining, lake drying causes severe levels of soil erosion resulting in lack of water retention by the soil.
lakes and soil absorb water in the wet Monsoon season resulting in recharging of aquifers which is later proven helpful in dry Summers with groundwater seepage and extraction.
However when the top layer of soil is disturbed and natural water sources are dried up. This reduces the ground's ability to absorb water. Resulting in immediate runoff to rivers and depressions. Causing flooding in Monsoon and droughts and groundwater depletion in summers.
KBLP was the first project under India’s National Perspective Plan (NPP, 1980) for interlinking rivers. It aimed to link around 30 or so rivers to transfer waters from "surplus" to "deficit" areas.
Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Centre, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh in 2005.
It was declared a national project in late 2000s and was allocated ₹44,605 crore in budget in 2021.
In December 2024 the foundation stone was laid and the implementation has been ongoing. It is planned to take around 8 years for the completion of the project.
The official motivation behind the project is obviously to solve the water scarcity problem of the Bundelkhand region by linking the Ken having "Surplus" water to Betwa having "deficit". This allegedly will solve the water crisis in Bundelkhand, will help in Agricultural expansion through irrigation and increase the power generation.
The large allocated budget however draws criticism about other potential motivations which are neither uncommon nor surprising in context of Indian politics nor Bundelkhand.
Other possible motivations are hiding the previous failures (e.g Lower Betwa schemes) and boasting about the “first major river interlinking project of India” for political gains.
The Plan majorly includes these components :
Daudhan Dam: 77 meters high and 2,031 meters long composite structure (1,233m earthen, 798m concrete) built on the Ken River.
Link Canal: 221 km long concrete-lined canal, which includes a 2 km long tunnel for water transfer.
Lower Orr Dam: Built across the Orr River (a tributary of the Betwa).
Bina Complex Project: Multipurpose storage and distribution infrastructure.
Kotha Barrage: Additional barrage structure to manage downstream and command area water flows.
It is divided into two phases with the Duadhan dam and Link canal being in Phase I and rest of them in phase II.
The allocated budget as I mentioned is of a whopping ₹44,605 crore.
This is the core topic of this post. The critics have presented multiple criticism of the Topic which I am laying out under separate headlines.
One of the main criticism is about the assumption of surplus in Water levels of ken..
This project was proposed based on the assumption that Ken has surplus water which it can provide to betwa during dry months and yet has sufficiency itself. This is the core idea behind the interlinking project. But if this assumption is unreasonable, then that means the entire project is being proposed based on an unreasonable assumption.
Inter-state agreements allocate 4543.52 MCM of Daudhan reservoir for local uses, leaving 1377.45 MCM as surplus to transfer. However the figure is contested even between the states.
This assumption of surplus is neither reasonably proven nor has there been any attempt.
If we take look at modern trends and continuous analysis of the recent past. We find that Ken does indeed NOT have such a surplus which is being claimed.
The water capacity of ken has been seriously harmed by excessive sand mining. Many of Its tributaries have been depleted severely and Ken's water level falls drastically in the dry months (Especially Spring and Summer).
Such a large scale transfer of water is expected to cause water deficiency problems in the Ken river and cause major problems to the settlements depending on it.
Infact, Lower betwa schemes (Projects that similarly allocated water for transfer from Upper betwa basin to lower betwa basin) failed to meet the expectations due to such an overestimation of the Surplus. This resulted in serious deficiency in the upper betwa basin. Critics say the attempt at rectification of this poor assumption is now being carried out by repeating the same flawed assumption. A CEC report is cited to support it.
CEC and various others note that The annual rainfall in the Ken–Betwa catchments is relatively low (around 900mm) with frequent droughts and that Ken falls drastically in the dry seasons as I mentioned earlier.
The CEC said that such project before developing upper ken basin appears to be a premature move.
The hydrological data of ken estimated officially has not been made public which can help us verify the official claims.
One of the most Major criticism of this project is the environmental impact.
The daudhar dam is expected to submerge around 9000 ha of land including 4,141 ha of CORE panna national park and plenty of its buffer zone.
The project includes clearing around 2 to 3 million trees causing loss of almost a hundred square kilometres of forest area.
10% of Panna national park is under threat directly. Indirect loss due to fragmentation is expected to an extra 105 square kilometres. Thus over 20% of the reserve.
Panna is the only Biosphere reserve, The Largest national park and the most densely forested area of Bundelkhand.
This project threatens many endangered to critically endangered species like Tigers (cuts around 10% of Tiger habitat in the Panna tiger reserve), Vultures (7-8 species of Vultures are found in Panna with atleast 3 critically endangered and atleast 1 endangered. The project directly threatens their nesting sites ) and Gharial (Critically endangered and found in Ken river which can be disturbed by the change in river flow and levels).
The river interlinking itself threatens aquatic ecosystems due to very altered flow and water availability issues potentially disrupting fish migration and aquatic wildlife in general.
According to a scientific simulation by IIT Bombay. Such river interlinking projects are expected to cause 12% decrease in rainfall in September.
The construction of daudhan dam impacts several villages and is expected to displace around 2000 families in the immediate vicinity. While about the broader impact of the plan 6,600+ families are expected to be displaced.
Many of these are tribal communities and their source of earning is related to forest activites which requires access to forest resources.
Officially there have been compensation allocated but on ground reports suggest delay, insufficiency or lack of payments which many people have been protesting against.
As there are better working alternatives available which completely avoid this, this is a major point of criticism.
Experts have criticised the plan continuously and have proposed several small scale or more local alternatives which appear to be more cost effective, less risky and are expected to be more efficient.
It includes managing local water bodies (e.g lakes and ponds), fixing smaller canals, micro-irrigation, decentralised harvesting, restoring traditional harvesting systems, crop restructuring etc with an overall focus on smaller projects over a high risk macro project we cannot reverse.
The allocated budget has been a major target of criticism. Standing at whopping ₹44,000 crore. Criticism includes it vastly exceeding the estimated cost and its allocation prior to achieving environmental related clearances.
Bundelkhand has a history of such allocations where a large sum of money is allocated to a very large scale project but no groundwork is done as the money gets spent on personal use. This has prevented development in the region and is done by officials from both states.
In 2009, A budget of ₹7,226 was allocated to Bundelkhand development project called “Bundelkhand package” and what Bundelkhand recieved was fake machinery and a small amount of poorly built infrastructure while the assets were transferred to Politicians and contractors who used it for themselves. You can read more about it but that was just an example, Similar has happened with Bundelkhand for decades.
The protests by the tribal people made headlines, though barely but I assume you're aware of them to an extent.
Many tribals from the Bundelkhand regions along with others who join them in parts like Chhatarpur have been protesting against the project at the Ken. They have been on hunger strikes and raising the slogans “nyay do ya maar do (Provide justice or end us)”
The protests are driven by threats to their homes and livelihood and lack of clarity from the officials. So far not much attention has been paid.
I urge you to educate others about the topic of Ken-betwa link project and its potential consequences through social media and other methods.
Thank you for reading.
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should say [something] good, or remain silent.” [Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]
Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Anyone who guarantees me [The protection of] what is between his jaws [i.e., the tongue] and what is between his legs [i.e., the private parts], I will guarantee him Jannah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]
Sufyan ibn ‘Abdillah Ath Thaqafi says, I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Inform me of something that I may hold fast on to.” He said, “Say, ‘My Rabb is Allah’ and then be steadfast.” I said, "O Rasulullah! What is the thing that you fear most for me?" Nabi ﷺ took hold of his tongue and said, “This.” [Tirmidhi]
'Ubadah ibn Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Speak good, you will gain [reward] and keep silent from speaking evil, you will be safe.” [Mustadrak Hakim, Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Ibn Mas'ud said: “nothing on earth is in greater need of a lengthy prison sentence than the tongue.” [Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Hasan Al Basri said: “The tongue of a wise person is behind his heart. When a [thought] presents itself, he inspects. If it will be beneficial for him he will utter it but if it is against him, he will refrain [from uttering it], whereas the tongue of a fool is in front of his heart. When he decides to say something, he utters it regardless of whether it will harm him or benefit him.” [Shu’abul Iman, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (with slightly different wording) ]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say [something] good, or remain silent.” [Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]
Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever guarantees me [The protection of] what is between his jaws [i.e., the tongue] and what is between his legs [i.e., the private parts], I will guarantee him Jannah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]
Sufyan ibn ‘Abdillah Ath Thaqafi says, I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Inform me of something that I may hold fast on to.” He said, “Say, ‘My Rabb is Allah’ and then be steadfast.” I said, "O Rasulullah! What is the thing that you fear most for me?" Nabi ﷺ took hold of his tongue and said, “This.” [Tirmidhi]
'Ubadah ibn Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Speak good, you will gain [reward] and keep silent from speaking evil, you will be safe.” [Mustadrak Hakim, Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Ibn Mas'ud said: “nothing on earth is in greater need of a lengthy prison sentence than the tongue.” [Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Hasan Al Basri said: “The tongue of a wise person is behind his heart. When a [thought] presents itself, he inspects. If it will be beneficial for him he will utter it but if it is against him, he will refrain [from uttering it], whereas the tongue of a fool is in front of his heart. When he decides to say something, he utters it regardless of whether it will harm him or benefit him.” [Shu’abul Iman, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (with slightly different wording) ]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say [something] good, or remain silent.” [Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]
Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever guarantees me [The protection of] what is between his jaws [i.e., the tongue] and what is between his legs [i.e., the private parts], I will guarantee him Jannah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]
Sufyan ibn ‘Abdillah Ath Thaqafi says, I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Inform me of something that I may hold fast on to.” He said, “Say, ‘My Rabb is Allah’ and then be steadfast.” I said, "O Rasulullah! What is the thing that you fear most for me?" Nabi ﷺ took hold of his tongue and said, “This.” [Tirmidhi]
'Ubadah ibn Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Speak good, you will gain [reward] and keep silent from speaking evil, you will be safe.” [Mustadrak Hakim, Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Ibn Mas'ud said: “nothing on earth is in greater need of a lengthy prison sentence than the tongue.” [Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Hasan Al Basri said: “The tongue of a wise person is behind his heart. When a [thought] presents itself, he inspects. If it will be beneficial for him he will utter it but if it is against him, he will refrain [from uttering it], whereas the tongue of a fool is in front of his heart. When he decides to say something, he utters it regardless of whether it will harm him or benefit him.” [Shu’abul Iman, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (with slightly different wording) ]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say [something] good, or remain silent.” [Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]
Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever guarantees me [The protection of] what is between his jaws [i.e., the tongue] and what is between his legs [i.e., the private parts], I will guarantee him Jannah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]
Sufyan ibn ‘Abdillah Ath Thaqafi says, I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Inform me of something that I may hold fast on to.” He said, “Say, ‘My Rabb is Allah’ and then be steadfast.” I said, "O Rasulullah! What is the thing that you fear most for me?" Nabi ﷺ took hold of his tongue and said, “This.” [Tirmidhi]
'Ubadah ibn Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Speak good, you will gain [reward] and keep silent from speaking evil, you will be safe.” [Mustadrak Hakim, Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Ibn Mas'ud said: “nothing on earth is in greater need of a lengthy prison sentence than the tongue.” [Al Mu’jamul Kabir]
Hasan Al Basri said: “The tongue of a wise person is behind his heart. When a [thought] presents itself, he inspects. If it will be beneficial for him he will utter it but if it is against him, he will refrain [from uttering it], whereas the tongue of a fool is in front of his heart. When he decides to say something, he utters it regardless of whether it will harm him or benefit him.” [Shu’abul Iman, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (with slightly different wording) ]
Yahya ibn Mu’adh Ar Razi said: “The true intelligent person in this world is the one who does three things; he abandons the world before it abandons him, prepares his grave before entering it, and earns the pleasure of his Rabb before meeting Him.”
[Al Fawaid wal Akhbar]
Yahya ibn Mu’adh Ar Razi said: “The true intelligent person in this world is the one who does three things; he abandons the world before it abandons him, prepares his grave before entering it, and earns the pleasure of his Rabb before meeting Him.”
[Al Fawaid wal Akhbar]
Yahya ibn Mu’adh Ar Razi said: “The true intelligent person in this world is the one who does three things; he abandons the world before it abandons him, prepares his grave before entering it, and earns the pleasure of his Rabb before meeting Him.”
[Al Fawaid wal Akhbar]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A man who weeps out of fear of Allah will not enter Hell until the milk goes back into the udder.” [Tirmidhi, Nasa'i]
“Until the Milk goes back into the udder” is a metaphor which means it is impossible [Tuhfat al Ahwadhi]
Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Two eyes will never be touched by Hellfire; an eye which weeps out of fear of Allah, and an eye which spends the night in guarding in the cause of Allah” [Tirmidhi]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“There are seven whom Allah Ta'ala will shade with His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His: a just ruler; a young man who grows up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque; two men who love one another for the sake of Allah and meet and part on that basis; a man who is called by a woman of rank and beauty and says ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gives in charity and conceals it to such an extent that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives; and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone, and his eyes fill up.”
[Bukhari]
It was narrated that Ibn Mas'ud said: The Prophet ﷺ said to me: “Recite the Quran to me.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, shall I recite it to you when it was revealed to you?” He said: “I like to hear it from someone else.” So I recited Surah an Nisa to him, and when I reached this verse – “So how [will it be] when We bring from every nation a witness and We bring you, [O Muḥammad], against these [people] as a witness?” [4:41, Saheeh international interpretation] – he said: “That is enough for now.” I turned to him and saw his eyes were streaming with tears. [Bukhari and Muslim]
It is reported that There were two black lines on the face of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab from weeping [Kitabuz Zuhd of Ahmad]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A man who weeps out of fear of Allah will not enter Hell until the milk goes back into the udder.” [Tirmidhi, Nasa'i]
“Until the Milk goes back into the udder” is a metaphor which means it is impossible [Tuhfat al Ahwadhi]
Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Two eyes will never be touched by Hellfire; an eye which weeps out of fear of Allah, and an eye which spends the night in guarding in the cause of Allah” [Tirmidhi]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“There are seven whom Allah Ta'ala will shade with His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His: a just ruler; a young man who grows up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque; two men who love one another for the sake of Allah and meet and part on that basis; a man who is called by a woman of rank and beauty and says ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gives in charity and conceals it to such an extent that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives; and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone, and his eyes fill up.”
[Bukhari]
It was narrated that Ibn Mas'ud said: The Prophet ﷺ said to me: “Recite the Quran to me.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, shall I recite it to you when it was revealed to you?” He said: “I like to hear it from someone else.” So I recited Surah an Nisa to him, and when I reached this verse – “So how [will it be] when We bring from every nation a witness and We bring you, [O Muḥammad], against these [people] as a witness?” [4:41, Saheeh international interpretation] – he said: “That is enough for now.” I turned to him and saw his eyes were streaming with tears. [Bukhari and Muslim]
It is reported that There were two black lines on the face of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab from weeping [Kitabuz Zuhd of Ahmad]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A man who weeps out of fear of Allah will not enter Hell until the milk goes back into the udder.” [Tirmidhi, Nasa'i]
“Until the Milk goes back into the udder” is a metaphor which means it is impossible [Tuhfat al Ahwadhi]
Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Two eyes will never be touched by Hellfire; an eye which weeps out of fear of Allah, and an eye which spends the night in guarding in the cause of Allah” [Tirmidhi]
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“There are seven whom Allah Ta'ala will shade with His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His: a just ruler; a young man who grows up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque; two men who love one another for the sake of Allah and meet and part on that basis; a man who is called by a woman of rank and beauty and says ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gives in charity and conceals it to such an extent that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives; and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone, and his eyes fill up.”
[Bukhari]
It was narrated that Ibn Mas'ud said: The Prophet ﷺ said to me: “Recite the Quran to me.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, shall I recite it to you when it was revealed to you?” He said: “I like to hear it from someone else.” So I recited Surah an Nisa to him, and when I reached this verse – “So how [will it be] when We bring from every nation a witness and We bring you, [O Muḥammad], against these [people] as a witness?” [4:41, Saheeh international interpretation] – he said: “That is enough for now.” I turned to him and saw his eyes were streaming with tears. [Bukhari and Muslim]
It is reported that There were two black lines on the face of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab from weeping [Kitabuz Zuhd of Ahmad]