"7,000 Families, 22 Villages, 12 Days of Protest: Thousands Protest Displacement in Bundelkhand Over Ken-Betwa River Project", 25 April 2026

On the banks of the Ken River in Madhya Pradesh, instead of the normal hustle and bustle one might expect from a hotspot of economic and religious activities, the actual scenario is unnerving, to say the least. Hundreds of women and men are lying down on mock funeral pyres alongside the river bank in protest, their faces and bodies slathered with mud. Such are the scenes being seen on the bank of the Ken River, as thousands flock alongside the water body in protest for a fight for their livelihood…

To deliver the supposed benefits, the Daudhan Dam has to be built on the Ken River— that will submerge 22 villages entirely leaving thousands upon thousands displaced from their ancestral lands.

…, thousands of villagers sat in protest on the banks of the Ken river in Daudhan, Madhya Pradesh. Many of them belong to tribal communities— the Gond and Saur— and say their families have lived in these villages for generations. Their complaint is straightforward: they were told to leave without being properly surveyed, fairly compensated, or meaningfully consulted.

… Their demands are simple: either they’ll achieve justice or will perish to death.

Protesters also allege that Gram Sabha consent, required under law before any land acquisition in tribal areas, was obtained through a rushed process that lacked transparency. They say they were not given a real chance to raise objections or participate in the proceedings.

… The protests have also drawn people displaced by the Negua, Runjh, and Majhgaon irrigation projects of 2022, who say compensation from those projects was never fully paid out.

… The Daudhan Dam is expected to submerge around 98 sq. km of the Tiger Reserve, an area that is home to tigers, gharials, and vultures. Environmentalists have warned that felling over 2.3 million trees could trigger local climate changes that worsen droughts in the region, the very problem the project is meant to solve…