111. An Approach Towards Management of Flood and Drought in Bihar in the Context of Interlinking of Rivers

Bihar, a predominantly agricultural state, with bountiful of two most important natural resources – plenty of plain and fertile land with alluvium soil and abundant surface and groundwater, continues to remain economically backward. Floods and droughts are regular features of the state notwithstanding significant developments in the field of water resources including measures for flood moderation and development of irrigation. The mega project for interlinking of rivers, being planning on hiitherto unprecedented scale, has raised high hopes and Bihar is expected to be benefited in a significant way. It is expecting sustainable solution to its problems of flood and drought along with other problems of water resources. The review of the preliminary proposals of link canals related to Bihar indicates that there is scope for modifications and improvements in respect of objectives, application of concepts and other aspects of planning to make it more beneficial and suited to the needs of Bihar.