Local responses to too much and too little water in the greater Himalayan region
Table 3: The study sites in Assam
Village Households Community/caste group Population Block/ District
(% covered)
68 Ahom, Chutiya, Baishya 283 (80%) Bordoloni
Majgaon Majgaon
(Dhemaji)
128 Koibartta, Brahmin 557 (50%)
Bahpora
Bihari
Matmora
Dhokuakhona
Opar Khamon 33 Mishing 147 (60%)
(Lakhimpur)
Khamon Birina 70 Mishing 336 (60%)
Tinigharia 22 Mishing 150 (40%)
All the villages have experienced floods, especially since The hazards have led to homelessness, landlessness,
1950 when a displacement in the bedrock occurred breakdown in agriculture, and loss of traditional
which made this area more flood prone and triggered livelihoods.
an earthquake, and have made common attempts to
cope and live with these stresses. However, there are In the last two decades, the Brahmaputra River has
also marked differences among these communities in the engulfed parts of several embankments and more than
degrees of exposure and vulnerability to water hazards ten villages – compelling people to shift to new areas or
and in the way they adapt depending on each ethnic or adopt semi-nomadic lifestyles. Increased spells of heavy
caste group’s culture, traditions, indigenous knowledge, rainfall have prolonged flood inundation, and the two
and access to outside interventions. recent big floods in 2007 and 2008 left 1-2 m deep
layers of sand in more than 25 villages.
People at both research sites reported changes in the
local climate. In Majgaon, the summers have become Matmora was an agriculturally prosperous area with self-
warmer and longer. Increased rainfall intensity and sufficient farmers; the floods have reduced it to a sandy
frequency of heavy rain spells have led to more flash and barren landscape where agriculture has ceased to
floods. Floods have become more furious and rivers now be the main source of livelihood. People have sought
carry more sediment. to become daily wage earners; fisher folk; carpenters;
or small traders selling country liquor, milk, and other
The microclimate has assumed the properties of an local produce. Many migrate to other places for menial
arid desert area, with groundwater going down and labour in factories, industries, and service jobs. Some
soil layers underneath losing moisture. According to collect driftwood from the bed of the Brahmaputra
the locals in Matmora, the climate has become hotter River, risking their lives at times to sell the timber. Some
and more sultry, monsoon rains have become irregular have become skilled boat makers catering to the high
and unpredictable, and heavy rains and storms more demand for boats and using the timber from the rivers or
frequent. The village and nearby areas were devastated trees in and around the village. Weaving has become
in 2007 when a major flood in the Jiyadhal River an important income generating activity for the women,
breached embankments. who also work as labourers in the construction of roads
and the embankments.
Impacts of Water Stress and Hazards
The local scale migration, both temporary and
Matmora
permanent, has caused psychological trauma and
social dislocation for many. Many young people who
The annual cycles of water hazards combined
migrated in search of jobs have had to discontinue their
with increasing impoverishment have reduced the
education. This has drastically decreased the educated
communities of Matmora to disparate groups of
population in the area, once known for its contribution to
the poor, displaced from their ancestral places and
social and literary fields.
challenged with having to begin life anew each year.
44
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