

Daily Current Affairs – 2020
Topic: For Prelims and Mains
Ken Betwa Interlink Project
26thNovember 2019
Why in news?
Centre nudging M.P., U.P. on Ken-Betwa.

Ken Betwa Interlink Project
- The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) is the River interlinking project aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken river in MP to Betwa in UP to irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region spread across the districts of two states mainly Jhansi, Banda,Lalitpur and Mahoba districts of UP and Tikamgarh, Panna and Chhatarpur districts of MP.
- Ken-Betwa is one of the 30 river inter linking projects conceived across the country.
- Ken and Betwa rivers originate in MP and are the tributaries of Yamuna.
- Ken meets with Yamuna in Banda district of UP and with Betwa in Hamirpur district of UP.
- Rajghat, Paricha and Matatila dams are over Betwa River.
- Ken River passes through Panna tiger reserve.
- The project has been delayed due to political and environmental issues.
Facts for Prelims
28 Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli to be merged:
- Two Union Territories — Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli — will be merged into one and a bill in this effect will be tabled in Parliament.
- The merger of the two UTs, located along the western coast near Gujarat, will be done for better administration and check duplications of various work.
- At present, the country currently has nine UTs after the creation of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
- However, with the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UTs will come down to eight.
What is Golden rice?
- It is genetically-engineered rice that contains beta-carotene. Here, the traditional rice is changed by inserting bacteria and daffodil and maize genes into it.
- It is called golden rice because of the golden colour of its grains.
- It was claimed to be able to fight Vitamin A deficiency, which is the leading cause of blindness among children and can also lead to death due to infectious diseases such as measles.