Investigative reporting with dedication.
In 2003, India announced plans to build approximately 150 dams, most of them in Arunachal Pradesh, partly in response to China’s plans for major upstream hydropower development on the Yarlung Tsangpo. That announcement marked a turning point for me. I became deeply interested in the rivers of Northeast India. Any dam larger than 100 megawatts concerns me greatly because of its potential environmental and social consequences.
A common justification was, “Oopar mein banata hai, neeche mein bhi banegi”—if they build upstream, we should build downstream too. I never found that reasoning convincing. Rivers are not geopolitical trophies; they are living systems that sustain millions of people. In 2003 dams were proposals and then in last ten years they became reality.
I began conducting my own research and writing extensively about the rivers of Northeast India. For a time, I was able to raise public awareness. Then, gradually, dams became something of a taboo subject. Local newspapers became reluctant to publish articles questioning large hydropower projects. If the public is encouraged to look away, projects can move forward long before people fully understand their consequences. That, too, becomes a strategy.
During this period, I turned to writing books. By then, however, the media landscape had begun to change. Digital news portals, podcasts, WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media platforms created new ways for information to reach the public. Once again, important conversations became possible.
Today, more citizens are discussing issues that were once ignored: landslides in Mon district of Nagaland, open-pit coal mining, unscientific hill cutting for four-lane highways, the removal of stones from riverbeds, and the difference between cloudbursts and prolonged, intense rainfall. Public awareness is slowly returning.
Today, I will let the picture of a handloom speak for me.
In Tibet and throughout Northeast India, the weaving loom is far more than a craft tool. It is a symbol of resilience, dignity, and survival. In almost every household, women have traditionally known how to weave. No caste barriers prevent them from practicing this craft. For generations, the loom has been a quiet companion through life’s uncertainties.
Human life is rarely smooth sailing. The modest income earned from weaving helped families prepare for the “rainy days.” It paid for salt, cooking oil, a child’s schoolbooks, and sometimes even higher education. Farmers depended on this supplemental income to educate their children while preserving a measure of economic independence. Women were not merely contributors to the household economy—they were often its quiet foundation.
When a weaving loom speaks, it carries the voices of generations of women who have sustained their families through hardship with patience, skill, and determination.
India should listen—not only to their stories but also to their warning that the rivers which have nurtured civilization must be managed with wisdom, transparency, and responsibility.
The people of Northeast India, like similarly vulnerable communities in Uttarakhand, deserve transparent decision-making, timely warnings, sound scientific river management, and respect for those whose lives have depended on these rivers for generations. Development should never come at the cost of keeping citizens uninformed or unprotected.
This is not simply nature at work. When avoidable disasters occur because risks were ignored, information was withheld, or science was neglected, they reflect failures of governance and accountability.
Let us also remember the extraordinary geological history of Northeast India. This landscape was shaped by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, closing the ancient Tethys Ocean and giving rise to the Himalayas—the youngest major mountain range on Earth, which continues to rise today. This dynamic and fragile region demands humility and scientific understanding.
We cannot afford to make decisions based solely on the lowest cost of generating electricity through large hydroelectric dams. In a geologically active landscape, every major intervention must be guided by rigorous science, environmental responsibility, and respect for the people who call these river valleys home.
