Linking all the major rivers in India

There has been a long and old ideology of linking all the rivers in India. This has meandered over the years and shelved every time it was brought on the table. The concept was visualized by a British engineer Arthur Cotton way back in the 19th century. He wanted to build canals and link all the rivers in India. Then, Captain Dinshaw J. Dastur, an engineer, revitalised the concept in the year 1945. All the attempts were turned down because of the massive expenditure to materialize the project.

Today, India is poised to be an economic super-power and has the economic capacity to undertake such a colossal project. This year the north-western region in India suffered floods because of 11% more rainfall, and the eastern and north-eastern India received 13% less rainfall. Just imagine if all the rivers were connected, then the waters from the Jamuna and the Kosi could be redirected to meet the Bramhaputra or the Krishna or the Kaveri or a new canal through the Rajasthan desert. So many million lives could be saved, so much destruction and health hazards averted. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam emphasized on this, in his speech at the Field Marshal KM Cariappa Memorial Lecture. 

If the project is undertaken, the canals can serve as water-ways for ships to deliver goods throughout India. This can be another significant and cheaper mode of transport. The Ganga basin is so flat that for the entire length of around 3000KM, the drop in altitude is just a few tens of metres. For this reason, the rivers flowing through the basin constantly change their paths over time. Just imagine, you have a hut on the banks of Yamuna and you have been living there for the past 10 years and suddenly, one early morning, the river changes path and it starts flowing right through your hut. What do you do? These canals will fortify the banks and prevent the river from changing its course. An artificial canal through the now dead Saraswati basin in Rajasthan can revive the lives of so many people.

This project can help in irrigation. There are many central and southern rivers in India which are not perennial. If connected with the northern rivers, they can be a constant source of water.  Smart water redirection systems can manage the water levels throughout India, bringing prosperity to the 60% of our population which is directly or indirectly involved in agriculture.

Water treatment plants can be systematically built and tanneries disallowed to flush effluents into the river. Of course without coordinated efforts from all the State governments, this is not possible. For example, Delhi cannot think of installing a water treatment plant because it will get choked from all the waste that is flushed into the river by the tanneries in Haryana. 

Did you know that we have fresh water  Dolphins in Ganga? Yes, they are still alive, I don't know how they survive. There are many many unheard of species in the Ganga which we have lost forever because of our own foolish doing. The ecology can be saved by implementing this project. I know this is too far fetched but I think it is time this project is taken seriously.