The Betwa (

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

: बेतवा,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

: वेत्रवती) is a river in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

Northern India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

, and a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Ba ...

. It rises in the

Vindhya Range The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India. Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...

(Raisen) just north of

Narmadapuram Hoshangabad, officially known as Narmadapuram is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Hoshangabad district and Narmadapuram division. It is located in central India, on the south ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

and flows northeast through

and

Orchha Orchha is a town, near city of Niwari in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by rajput ruler Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of covering parts of ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. Nearly half of its course, which is not navigable, runs over the

Malwa Plateau Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syn ...

. The confluence of the Betwa and the Yamuna rivers is in Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh. The

Indian navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

named one of its frigates INS ''Betwa'' in honour of the river.

History

In Sanskrit "Betwa" is ''Vetravati''. This river is mentioned in the epic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

along with the Charmanwati river. Both are tributaries of Yamuna. Vetravati was also known as Shuktimati. The capital of

Chedi Kingdom Chedi ( sa, चेदी) was a kingdom which fell roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna along the river Ken. Its capital city was called Suktimati in Sanskrit. According to the Mahabh ...

was on the banks of this river. The length of the river from its origin to its confluence with Yamuna is , out of which lies in Madhya Pradesh and the balance of in Uttar Pradesh. In accordance with an inter-state agreement between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 1973, Betwa River Board (BRB) was constituted under the Betwa River Board Act, 1976. The Union Minister of

Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of water resources may refer to: * Ministry of Water Resources (Bangladesh) * Ministry of Water Resources (India) * Ministry of Water Resources (Iraq) * Minister of Water Resources (Nigeria) * Ministry of Water Resources (Pakistan) * Minis ...

, the Chairman of the Board, the Union Minister of Power, Union Minister of State for Water Resources, and Chief Ministers and Ministers in-charge of Finance, Irrigation and Power of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are its members.

Future

The Betwa River is being linked with the

Ken River The Ken River is one of the major rivers in the Bundelkhand region of central India and flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It is a tributary of the Yamuna. Course The Ken River originates near the village Ahirgawa ...

as a part of the river linking project in Madhya Pradesh. Latterly the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has given its clearance for the Ken-Betwa inter-linking of rivers (ILR) project. Another noteworthy project on the Betwa River is the construction of the

Matatila Dam The Matatila Dam is a dam in district Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, that was built in 1958 on the Betwa River. Situated 93 km away from Deogarh, this earthen dam is 35 m high. The catchment area is around 20 km2 with a maximum st ...

, an undertaking between the states of Madhya Pradesh and

. The region is important for migratory waterbirds.Shukla, D.C. (1994). "Habitat characteristics of wetlands of the Betwa Basin, India, and wintering populations of endangered waterfowl species". ''Global wetlands'', pp. 863–68 An ambitious project to link Ken and Betwa rivers has become a stage for a unique man-animal conflict. Proponents of the project, led by the Union Water Ministry, say that the proposed Daudhan dam and the canal—the key structures of the project—that will transfer surplus water from the Uttar Pradesh section of the Ken to the Betwa in Madhya Pradesh are critical to irrigate nearly in drought-ravaged Bundelkhand.

Dams

* Rajghat Dam *

* Parichha Dam * Dhurwara Dam * Halali Dam

References

External links

Betwa River

Business Line ''Business Line'' or ''The Hindu Business Line'' is an Indian business newspaper published by Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the newspaper '' The Hindu'' located in Chennai, India. The newspaper covers priority industry verticals, such as Agr ...

* {{Authority control Rivers in Buddhism Rivers of India Rivers of Madhya Pradesh Rivers of Uttar Pradesh Tributaries of the Yamuna River

History

Future

Dams

See also

References

External links