QUESTION 1

The Ken-Betwa River Link Project represents a significant milestone in India’s river interlinking initiatives, aimed at addressing water scarcity in drought-prone regions. Discuss its potential benefits and associated ecological and socio-economic challenges.

QUESTION 2

Discuss the evolution of the term ‘yoga’ in Indian literature—from the Vedas and Upanishads to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.

General points on the structure of the answers

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

QUESTION 1: The Ken-Betwa River Link Project represents a significant milestone in India’s river interlinking initiatives, aimed at addressing water scarcity in drought-prone regions. Discuss its potential benefits and associated ecological and socio-economic challenges.

Note: This is not a model answer. It only provides you with thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) envisions moving water from the Ken to the Betwa rivers, both of which are tributaries of the Yamuna.

— The Ken-Betwa Link Canal will be 221 km long, including a 2-kilometer tunnel. According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, the project will provide yearly irrigation to 10.62 lakh hectares (8.11 lakh ha in MP and 2.51 lakh ha in UP), supply drinking water to about 62 lakh people, and create 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

— The Ken-Betwa Link Project comprises two phases. Phase I will comprise the construction of the Daudhan Dam complex and its component units, including the Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Link Canal, and power plants. Phase II will include three components: Lower Orr Dam, Bina Complex Project, and Kotha Barrage.

— The notion of joining the Ken and the Betwa received a significant boost in August 2005, when the Centre and the two states signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding for the creation of a detailed project report (DPR). In 2008, the Centre designated the KBLP as a National Project. Later, it was added to the Prime Minister’s package for the development of the drought-prone Bundelkhand region.

— The project is in Bundelkhand, which includes 13 districts in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, the project will greatly assist the water-stressed region, particularly the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri, and Raisen in Madhya Pradesh, and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi, and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.

— “It will pave the way for more river interlinking projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor for development in the country,” according to a press release from the Ministry.

Conclusion:

— The river-linking project has come under considerable examination for its possible environmental and socioeconomic impact. The project will involve extensive deforestation in the heart of the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve.

— PM Modi recently laid the foundation stone for the Daudhan Dam. Daudhan Dam is 2,031 metres long, with 1,233 metres being earthen and the remaining 798 metres being concrete. The dam’s height will be 77 meters. According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, the project will sink around 9,000 hectares of land, affecting ten communities.

— It is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for River Interlinking, which was created in 1980. This plan includes 16 projects under its peninsular component, including the KBLP. Aside from this, 14 linkages are envisioned in the Himalayan Rivers Development Plan.

(Source: PM Modi lays foundation stone: What is the Ken-Betwa river linking project, environmental concerns around it by Harikishan Sharma and Nikhil Ghanekar)

Points to Ponder

Other river linking projects in India

What are the project’s likely environmental and social impacts?

Related Previous Year Questions

The interlinking of rivers can provide viable solutions to the multi-dimensional inter-related problems of droughts, floods, and interrupted navigation. Critically examine. (2020)

The groundwater potential of the Gangetic valley is on a serious decline. How may it affect the food security of India? (2024)

QUESTION 2: Discuss the evolution of the term ‘yoga’ in Indian literature—from the Vedas and Upanishads to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.

Note: This is not a model answer. It only provides you with thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Yoga originated in ancient India. However, it is impossible to determine exactly how ancient it is. While the term “5,000-year-old tradition” is frequently used, the existing evidence does not support such specificity.

— The term “yoga” appears in the Vedic corpus (1,500-500 BCE), the oldest (surviving) literature from the subcontinent. However, it appears in a setting that is very different from postural or even meditational exercise, as it is commonly understood today.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

— Two key pieces of archaeological evidence are often cited as proof of yoga’s antiquity.

(i) The first is a tiny staetite seal unearthed from Mojenjodaro, an Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) site in Pakistan. According to historian Alistair Shearer’s book The Story Of Yoga: From Ancient India To The Modern West (2020), the seal from around 2,500-2,400 BCE depicts a seated figure with legs crossed in the mulabandhasana posture, which was later popular among tantric yogis.

(ii) The other, more recent, archaeological find is from Balathal, Rajasthan, one of the chalcolithic Banas culture’s 90 or so sites. A nearly 2,700-year-old skeleton was excavated from the site “sitting in the samadhi position,” a stance “that many yogis adopt for meditation and is also assumed at the time of their burial,” according to Shearer.

— The Mahabharata, written spanning six centuries from 300 BCE to 300 CE, is where yoga is employed in the way that we know it today. “Some of these citations [in the Mahabharata] refer to yoga in a philosophical sense,” whilst others employ it “when describing arduous physical penances and austerities performed by holy men,” according to Shearer. Contemporary and subsequent writings, such as the Upanishads, use the phrase similarly.

— According to one school of thought, yoga has no Vedic beginnings and instead derives from heterodox traditions of the first millennium BCE (and earlier), particularly Buddhism and Jainism. “The unifying feature of this freelance religious movement was the practice of yoga,” Vivian Worthington asserts in A History of Yoga (1982). Yoga is mentioned in a variety of Buddhist and Jain scriptures.

— The Yoga Sutra of Maharishi Patanjali is the most well-known text on the subject, having been written around 350 CE and being the oldest text dedicated completely to it. Most experts agree that this literature affected their current knowledge of yoga.

Conclusion:

— None of the sources listed above provide definitive, empirical answers about the origins of yoga. This is largely due to the fact that India lacks a history-writing tradition like the West, where a clear distinction is made between history, which is founded on empirical data, and myth, whose credibility stems from its meaning rather than its accuracy.

— There are no contemporary sources on yoga that can provide empirical information on its origins. While examining textual evidence can provide insights about the changing meaning of the term and the growth of the practice, it cannot definitively pinpoint when yoga originated.

(Source: International Yoga Day: Why is it hard to pinpoint the origin of yoga?)

Points to Ponder

Read more about Yoga

Read about Upanishads and Yoga Sutra of Maharishi Patanjali

Related Previous Year Questions

Underline the changes in the field of society and economy from the Rig Vedic to the Later Vedic period. (2024)

Indian philosophy and tradition played a significant role in conceiving and shaping the monuments and their art in India. Discuss. (2020)

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