Activist on hunger strike over Ken-Betwa river link project ends fast after 18 days

📌 Summary:

• Activist Amit Bhatnagar suspended an 18-day hunger strike against the Ken-Betwa river linking project on July 23, after a government assurance to include people left out of the rehabilitation process
• He said he ended the fast because several tribal women who joined the protest had also stopped eating since July 19, when police forcibly hospitalised him and dismantled the demonstration site on the banks of the Barana river in Kupi village, Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh
• The protest highlights concerns over displacement and inadequate rehabilitation of affected communities, especially tribals, under India's first major river-interlinking project
• Underlines the tension between large water-infrastructure projects and environmental/social costs (submergence, forest loss, displacement)

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — river interlinking, environmental clearance and rehabilitation, displacement of tribal communities; ethics of development vs. livelihoods.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Ken-Betwa Link Project connects the Ken and Betwa rivers (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh); it is India's first river-interlinking project under the National Perspective Plan
• Protest site: Barana river bank, Kupi village, Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh

🔑 Key Term: River interlinking — transferring water from surplus river basins to deficit basins via canals/reservoirs; the Ken-Betwa project is its first implementation.