A national water grid
Water & sanitation · infrastructure that is not built
The proposal to link India's river basins so surplus water can reach deficit ones has been studied for decades. The first link is under construction. Whether the full concept should be built at all is genuinely contested on ecological, cost and displacement grounds — it is on this list as an open national question, not as a settled goal.
Why it matters
Floods and droughts routinely occur in the same country in the same season. Whether large-scale interlinking is the right answer, or whether watershed management, groundwater recharge and demand-side reform would achieve more per rupee, is one of the most consequential open infrastructure arguments in India.
Where we actually are
The first interlinking project is under construction after a long approval process. Other links remain at study stage. Inter-state water disputes, forest and wildlife clearances, and displacement are live obstacles on most proposed routes.
What it would take
An honest public accounting of cost, displacement and ecological effect per link — and a willingness to conclude that some links should not be built. This entry earns its place by being argued about in public, not by being completed.