India's River Linking Project

The GOI announced in Dec 2012 connecting 37 rivers across the country through 31 links with 9,000 km of canals, saying such a project was feasible. This exercise, the government estimates, would cost $140bn.

The plan to link Indian rivers by 2016 does not seem to be progressing easily, with both economists and environmentalists now believing the project is unfeasible

The government's own estimates suggest that inflation and debt-servicing costs during the four-year period of construction would push costs even higher than the already-unaffordable $140bn estimate.

India's average annual rainfall of about 4,000bn cubic metres is unevenly distributed – both regionally and seasonally. The pro-linking lobby suggests that networking would help maintain the flow of water in all the rivers, as well as reducing the risk of drought and floods in various states.

Environmentalists and water experts suggest it is a "mindless proposition", and that the government is unsure of how to reconcile such huge engineering with the environmental impact.

India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which banks on votes from vulnerable people living near rivers, is questioning the will of the government to implement the project