India is poised to beat Nile River as the world's longest river as it plans to interlink its major rivers, namely, the Himalayan and Deccan Peninsula rivers through 30 mega-canals and 3,000 dams.

Plan and Purpose of the Project

The country aims to overcome droughts and flood, by diverting water from areas prone to flood to those drought-prone areas. In addition, India plans to establish 35 million hectares of arable land and build hydropower plants.

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India intends to connect the channels of all the major rivers in the country to create a network for transporting water during droughts and floods; this is called the interlink river (ILR) scheme.

As reported in the  New Scientist, the versions of the ILR scheme is way back more than 60 years to the days of British rule in India.

The latest version is planning to link 14 rivers in the northern part of India and 16 in the western, central, and southern parts. It plans to dig 30 channels to create a single 12,500 kilometer-long river, which is twice the length of Nile River.

The project is slated to start as soon as the final clearance has been released by the ministry of environment and forests. Also, it is expected that in the near future, the ministry will also issue a permit to the union of the rivers Betwa and Ken. 

Fears of  Geologist and Ecologist

However, some geologist and ecologist expressed their fear by questioning the science behind this project.

Some experts expressed their concerns that if India's project go ahead, it might lead to ecological disasters and coastal erosion that would threaten livelihoods and endanger wildlife. 

TagsIndia, Nile River, Longest River in the World, Inter link river scheme, Prime Minister Narenda Modi