About the Betwa
The Betwa River flows through the heart of Madhya Pradesh's Bundelkhand region — a culturally rich, historically significant, but ecologically stressed landscape of ancient temples, medieval forts, and eroded agricultural land. The river's source area near Bhopal and its flow through the Vindhyan highlands supports the Panna Tiger Reserve, where the Betwa's dramatic gorge and the Ken River nearby create one of central India's finest wildlife corridors. Panna's successful tiger reintroduction programme — from zero tigers in 2009 to a healthy breeding population today — is one of India's great conservation success stories.
The Ken-Betwa River Link Project, India's first inter-linking river project, proposes to transfer water from the Ken (a Yamuna tributary flowing through Panna Tiger Reserve) to the Betwa basin to irrigate Bundelkhand. The project has been deeply controversial — the UNESCO World Heritage nomination of Panna Tiger Reserve and the Ken river's critical importance as tiger and vulture habitat are at stake. The long-tailed vulture colony at Panna is one of India's largest.
Dhasan · Birsagar · Jamni