In which year was the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), India's first multipurpose river valley project after independence, established?

The Damodar Valley Corporation was set up on 7 July 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly (Legislative), the Damodar Valley Corporation Act, 1948. It was the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India.

Background:

• The Damodar river rises in the Chota Nagpur plateau and flows east through Jharkhand and West Bengal, joining the Hooghly south of Kolkata.
• It was known as the "Sorrow of Bengal" because of its frequent and destructive floods, such as the major flood of 1943.
• After the 1943 flood, the government looked for a permanent solution.

The model:

The DVC was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of the United States.

The American engineer W. L. Voorduin, of the TVA, prepared a plan for the integrated development of the Damodar valley.

Objectives of the DVC:

Flood control, irrigation, generation of hydroelectric and thermal power, water supply, navigation, soil conservation and afforestation.

Main dams of the DVC:

• Tilaiya Dam (on the Barakar), the first dam of the DVC, completed in 1953.
• Konar Dam (on the Konar).
• Maithon Dam (on the Barakar).
• Panchet Dam (on the Damodar).
• The Durgapur Barrage supplies water to a network of canals in West Bengal.

Other facts:

• The DVC's headquarters is in Kolkata.
• It is jointly controlled by the central government and the governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand.
• Today, it is a major producer of thermal and hydroelectric power in eastern India.

Other early river valley projects:

Bhakra-Nangal (Sutlej), Hirakud (Mahanadi), Nagarjuna Sagar (Krishna) and the Kosi project were among the major projects of the 1950s.

Why not the other options?

1950, 1952 and 1956 do not match. India's Constitution came into force in 1950, and the First Five-Year Plan began in 1951.