River Traveller is author, filmmaker, and journalist Sanjoy Hazarika’s tribute to the Brahmaputra, India’s only “male” river, as the name indicates (the Son of Brahma). It’s a mighty river flowing down from Tibet at an elevation of over 17,300 feet, but as Hazarika explained on The Gist, in Tibet, “It’s largely a narrow stream rushing through valleys and gorges as it plunges towards Arunachal Pradesh.”
There it comes into its own, providing life, also sorrow, when it floods its banks during the monsoon, generating stories that add to legends. But Hazarika is concerned about current times, as he noted “Each country treats the Brahmaputra as a sovereign thing. But they forget that the river is an entity. It needs water to flow in order to sustain life. We treat it as if it is our own personal one with an extractive approach.”
He is cautious and wary of China’s plans to build a dam in Medog in Tibet, from where the Yarlung Tsangpo navigates the famous “S” bend before it plunges 15000 feet into India to become the Brahmaputra.
“The Brahmaputra is a rather difficult river to dam. The Chinese are trying to do it upstream. And Medog is the biggest dam, perhaps on the face of the earth, in the deepest gorge.”
He adds that due to the secretive nature of the Chinese, it is hard to predict how the dam will turn out, but “we must take lessons from other parts of the Himalayan landscape.”
The dam in China will generate power, but Hazarika adds that dam building also leads to water cleaning. “The rocks are cleared because going to the turbines will damage them. This clears it of nutrients that are necessary for the downstream communities. The people in Assam need the nutrients for farming. It clears the fish, which is also essential to communities downstream that rely on this.”
The Chinese dam also faces the challenge of being in seismic zone five, which is the highest risk factor. He further adds, “An engineering intervention of this scale will not just impact Arunachal Pradesh or Assam but also Bangladesh, which is a good friend of China. “
While in Arunachal, it’s a steep fall before it meets other rivers, in Assam, the gradient is flat and wide due to the enormous silt and sediment the river brings down. In Bangladesh, the river widens even further, merges with the Ganga, and flows into the Bay of Bengal. So in a way, although the challenges are different, the geography is different, the riverscape is different, the style of people living by the river is similar in terms of fishing, livelihoods, farming, and so on, adds Hazarika.
In order to deal with the challenges that dam building, borders, and water sharing present, Hazarika vouches for regional cooperation. “If we have better relations with our neighbors, we will be able to trade better with them through rivers and have access to the sea. And once we have access to the sea, then everybody would benefit. It’s the cliche, the win-win situation!”
