व्यवहार्यता के आधार पर नदियों का अंतर्संयोजन।

The 2014 manifesto's commitment on river linking is one line in a bulleted list about water: "Inter-linking of rivers based on feasibility." The qualifier is doing real work — it is a promise to proceed where feasible, not a promise to build a specific link — and this fact-check reads it as written.

Nothing was built in the 2014-19 term. The first inter-basin transfer under the National Perspective Plan, the Ken-Betwa Link, was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2022. That is eight years after the promise and three years after the term it belongs to closed, which is why the delivery here is recorded as not delivered rather than late.

The project is now under way, and the Ministry of Jal Shakti's answer to the Lok Sabha of 6 August 2026 gives its state. "The works of Ken–Betwa Link Project have been commenced. The Project was approved by the Union Cabinet at an estimated cost of ₹44,605 crore, comprising Central Assistance of ₹39,317 crore… The expenditure incurred up to June 2026 is ₹12,381.94 crore." Asked specifically about cost escalation, the ministry answered: "No cost escalation has occurred in the Project since its approval in 2022." For a project of this size at this stage, that is worth recording.

The answer is also unusually direct about what the project costs in things other than money, and those figures belong in any account of it. On forest: "A total of 6,017 hectares of forest land is required for the Project, of which 5,578.92 hectares fall within the Panna Tiger Reserve." The Daudhan dam and canal, it adds, have "biodiversity implications", managed through an Integrated Landscape Management Plan under a Greater Panna Landscape Council.

On people: "a total of 22 villages are affected, involving 4,443 displaced families", of which 14 villages and 3,212 families are in Chhatarpur district and 8 villages and 1,231 families in Panna. Separately, land acquisition for the link canal "affects 116 villages" across Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari and Jhansi. Rehabilitation is the responsibility of the state governments under the 2013 land acquisition Act or their own policies; Madhya Pradesh approved a special package on 13 September 2023. The answer does not report how many of the 4,443 families have actually been resettled, and that is the number this fact-check would most want.

The ministry also says alternatives were examined during preparation of the detailed project report — various "alternative water-management and inter-basin transfer options" — before this configuration was selected.

So: a conditional promise, no delivery within the term, and one link now under construction with a quarter of its money spent, no reported cost overrun, and a forest and displacement bill that the government itself sets out. Our verdict is lacks context.