The $120 billion Interlinking of Rivers Project would primarily divert monsoon runoff from 12 rivers in eastern India to parched western states via canals, tunnels, and reservoirs. The project has support across the political spectrum; India’s President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam says it offers “the promise of freeing the country from the endless cycle of floods and droughts.” But critics view it as an impending disaster and decry the envisioned resettlement of tens of thousands of people. “It would spell doom for the people who would be affected and uprooted,” contends Medha Patkar of the Save the Narmada Campaign in Barwani.