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Title: Flood Management in India’s North East and Bangladesh
Author: Priyanka Mallick
About the Author:
Dr. Priyanka Mallick
completed M.A (2004)
in Political Science (specialisation
in International Relations) from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), M. Phil
(2004-06) in South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU. She got
her PhD (2012) from South Asian Studies, School
of International Studies, JNU.
She
is currently working as Assistant Professor in Christ University, Bangalore. She
was earlier working in Delhi University as Assistant Professor.
Floods are an integral
part of the inherent variability of nature. It is an attribute of the physical
environment and thus is an important component of hydrological cycle of a
drainage basin. They are also essential elements in the creation and
maintenance of many ecosystems and in the geomorphic evolution of landscape.
Flooding is a normal seasonal inundation of floodplain to which traditional
settlements, infrastructure and land use are well adapted. It plays a major role
in replenishing freshwater resources, recharging wetlands and groundwater and supporting
agriculture and fishery systems, thereby making flood plains preferred areas
for human settlement and various economic activities. However, floods have
negative impacts as well, such as on lives, livelihoods and economic activities
and in extreme cases they cause devastation.
A preoccupation with
natural events and hydrological processes may lead to a narrow, cosmetic and
incomplete understanding of the causes of flood hazards and disasters and to
narrowly defined and unsuccessful approaches for addressing them. On the other
hand, too much focus on social causes can lead to effective measures aimed at
reducing flood risks being overlooked. So, this problem is investigated further
through multidisciplinary and environmental approaches by focussing on two case
studies, namely Bangladesh and India’s north-eastern region.
In the Indian
sub-continent, India and Bangladesh share three major river systems, Ganga,
Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM), which serve as the life line of millions of
people. Due to the excessive water flow in the monsoon months in these three
rivers, the people of both the countries suffer from untold miseries due to the
occurrence of floods almost every year, particularly in Bangladesh and the
north eastern region of India.
India’s North East has
all the attributes of a huge powerhouse and reservoir that could transform the
region, ameliorate poverty, and generate enormous national wealth. The region
receives an average annual rainfall of 2470 mm which drains into one of the
largest river system viz. Brahmaputra and Barak. Due to high rainfall, the
annual soil loss due to erosion is 455.9 million tonnes, carrying with it about
976 thousand tonnes of nutrient load. After the unexpected heavy floods in
1954, the Government of India took several steps to constitute a number of
committees to study flood problems in India. Some important ones are: Policy
Statement (1954), Ministerial Committee on flood control (1964), Working Groups
on flood control for Five Year Plans, Rashtriya Barh Ayog (1980) and the National
Water Policy (2002).
In 1980 The Brahmaputra
Board was established by Government with a number of responsibilities related
to the development and management of the Brahmaputra and Barak basins,
commencing with a series of surveys and investigations that would form a basis
for planning. Two mega projects on the Dihang (also called the Siang), the main
stream of the Brahmaputra, and the Subansiri were identified. Additional
benefits included improved navigation, rich reservoir fisheries, and
considerable augmentation of lean season flows, which could possibly be
diverted to the Ganga in West Bengal through a major link canal traversing
Bangladesh from a barrage at Jogighopa. However, since Bangladesh opposed the
link canal idea on a number of grounds, India had to withdraw the proposal.
Bangladesh being the lower riparian is known to be even
more vulnerable to floods. Frequent floods have put enormous constraints on its
development potential. Unfortunately, the frequency of high intensity floods is
on the rise. So far the country has struggled to put a sizeable infrastructure
in place to prevent flooding in many parts of the country with limited success.
In recent times, it was found that losses of lives and valuable assets could be
significantly minimized by implementing non-structural measures including the
improvement of flood forecasting and warning system. The existing flood
forecasting and warning capacity of Bangladesh could be more effective if
real-time data could be acquired from upstream areas within the GBM catchment,
where runoff is generated. Bangladesh can develop effective flood forecasting
and warning systems with the real-time comprehensive data on water levels in
rivers and rainfall, which are available from India in particular, but also
from Nepal and Bhutan so as to face the problem well before danger levels are
reached.
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