CLIMATE CARE - NORTHEAST INDIA

MONOJ GOGOI   The riverbank erosion is one of the major problems in Assam. The riparian community in the Brahmaputra basin in Assam has been bearing the brunt of erosion for decades. They lose properties, houses, homestead land and agricultural lands to erosion. The riverbank erosion, sometimes, engulfs even an entire settlement or village and thus displaces thousands of people annually in the state. According to a report, the state has already lost more than 4.27 ha of land to the  erosion caused by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. There is no any mantra or strategy to stop suddenly the increasing trend of the erosion but scientific studies like “Mapping riverbank erosion and assessing it's impact on socio-economy and livelihood of people in selected villages in Lakhimpur and Majuli district: A case study for sustainable policy intervention to improve disaster and climate resilience of vulnerable communities”, prepared by Partha J Das (lead author) and Arup Kr. Das (remot...

MONOJ GOGOI   The 2000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project which construction work is undergoing at Gerukamukh ( the project site) in the West Siang of Arunachal Pradesh and Dhemaji districts Assam will be commissioned by December 2024. This was recently revealed to the media by Rajeev Kumar Vishnoi, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd. All the eight units, comprising 250 MW each will be commissioned by the end of 2024. This one is one of the major projects of NHPC Ltd and after completion it will add 4 percent to the total hydro power generation of India.  A file photo of the project site. Earlier several deadlines were set to complete the project but each time it failed for several reasons. If the project is finished by the end of 2024, it would take more than two decades in developing the project. Due to time overrun cost overrun also took place. The estimated cost of the project Rs 21,274....

MONOJ GOGOI   Extreme summer heat waves in northern states of India poses a serious question on the human survivability threshold in India. The number of heatwave days, also the intensity, have been increasing over the years in the states such as Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,  Punjab etc. The Mercury level soars high and the human plight starts. People from vulnerable groups are dying.   The states of northeast India also suffered from high temperatures combined with high summer humidity in the month of June. Noticing the exposure of children to scorching heat, the Assam government advanced the school starting time from 9:00am to 7:30 am. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), heatwave occurs when the maximum temperature reaches 40C or above in plains and 30C in hilly terrains. Although Assam did not record 40C in the last month, but the heat compounded with high humidity became unbearable. People from vulnerable groups - elderly persons, childre...

MONOJ GOGOI   Massive river bank erosion in Assam has been  displacing hundreds of thousands families across the state over decades since India's Independence in 1947. In recent years,  the intensity and frequency of floods and erosion have also been increasing in the state. A photo of the IAG meeting in Lakhimpur. According to experts the behavior of rivers in Assam changed just after the Assam Earthquake of 1950 which was measured 8.7 in the Richter scale. The earthquake and the aftershock elevated the river beds of all rivers in Assam. Some rivers including  Subansiri changed channels during the earthquake. It is estimated that since 1950 about 4.27 Sq km of land has been eroded by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries in Assam. In a recent statement CK Das, former Additional Chief Secretary of the state said that the size of the land that fell in river bank erosion would be about 5000 Sq km. But it is believed that the furious fast flowing rivers eroded mass more l...

MONOJ GOGOI   It's the harvesting period of betel nut or supari (areca nut) in Assam. But the yield of betel nuts is discernibly low this year in all the districts of Assam compared to previous years.       Chandan Boro, who plucks betel nuts, with Ranjit Basumatary and Raju Basumatary in this season in various villages under Gogamukh revenue circle of Dhemaji district in Assam says that in this harvesting season of betel nuts they are not getting as much works as they did in previous years. He says in the orchards where we plucked 20 quintals last year, this year's yield in the same orchard is less than 5 quintals. In many trees not even a single nut is found and in which trees nuts are there, it's comparatively very few.    Ranjit Basumatary says we are roaming from village to village but the situation is the same. "We are shocked to see the drastic change in the crop yields", he adds.    Biren Pegu, a betel nut grower from Goroimari are...

MONOJ GOGOI  Black lentil is one of the major crops that farmers grow in the alluvial soils of Majuli, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji for additional income support and also to compensate if their main cultivation - the sali rice (plant in summer and harvest in winter) fails either due to flood or other causes. But, this harvesting season, most farmers are not harvesting black lentils as no pod found in the plants and cows are freed to eat the plants as the plants are of no use without pods.                                                                                   Photos from Majuli Ananta Hazarika of Garamur, Majuli who also works as temporary worker in district agriculture office told that it was surprising that the farmers in the entire Ma...

MONOJ GOGOI This is one of the biggest questions dwindle in the minds of people affected by extreme climate change induced events across the world now. People in many parts of the world have been experiencing more and more frequent and extreme disasters which led the people to think what wrong did they do or who is responsible for this.  Affected people become more aware of the causes of their sufferings. It's climate change, that's too anthropogenic.  Climate scientists repeatedly warn the world leaders to take action to curb emissions of GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) which trap the atmospheric heat but no major action has been taken till now. No doubt, the countries agreed on the warnings and findings and trying to go ahead with plans of actions of their own. No country rigidly obliges to the resolutions taken in the international climate summits whether it is in Paris (Paris Agreement) - 2015 or the recent Glasgow summit of 2021. Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate C...

  MONOJ GOGOI Photos by the staff of People's Action for Development (PAD)  Assam has been reeling under severe to extreme floods for last one week. Out of total 35 districts in the state, 33 districts have been facing floods in various intensities, affecting a population of 42,28,157 in total till Sunday. The death toll, due to floods and erosion, rose to 73. The major rivers in the state were still flowing above the danger levels. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) still warned large excess rainfall for next 48 hours in the state. Many flood victims said that this was an unprecedented flood and never experienced in their lifetimes. Some said their areas faced inundated for the first time and never occurred flood there earlier.   This year’s catastrophic floods brought untold miseries to millions in state by submerging large swathe of land including houses, cultivable lands, standing crops, affecting livestock, disrupting road communications (as roads submer...

  MONOJ GOGOI Many low-lying paddy tracts, suitable for bau (deep water rice) rice cultivation, will remain barren in next harvesting season in several places of Upper Assam, particularly in the districts of Dhemaji, Lakhimapur and Majuli. Farmers, owned low-lying paddy fields, couldn’t sow bau rice seeds on time (sowing season is spring) as it was rained heavily. Almost all tracts, used to grow bau rice, had been submerged and water-logging occurred. According to local people, heavy precipitation, much earlier than the usual rainy period, occurred for weeks in the region and the adjacent hills of Arunachal Pradesh. The rain water and the inflated water from the rivers   created water logging and submergence in those paddy fields. The water regime of these areas will, possibly, remain unchanged till September. The entire planting season would be over. Nripen Medhi, a senior secondary school teacher, of Jalbhari village in Dhakuakhana of Lakhimapur district told that most...

  MONOJ GOGOI North East Affected-Area Development Society (NEADS), a Jorhat based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) today distributed 5 country boats in 5 flood affected villages under Kamalabari revenue circle in Majuli district.  Hemanta Phukan, the project coordinator of NEADS' “Strengthening Resilience: Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change in Flood-Affected Areas of Assam through Multi-Sectoral Prevention and Adaptation Mechanisms and Advocacy” project informed that the boats had been distributed to 5 villages viz. Dakhinpat Kumar Gaon, Kaniajan, Nam sonowal, Botiamari and Alimur Bamungaon - worst affected by the Brahmaputra flood. He also informed that the boats had been distributed in the advent of the monsoon season for community use and management. Assam experiences massive floods each year due to the inflated water of the Brahmaputra and it’s tributaries. The Northeast Region is also known for high rainfall. Floods devastates road communication along with...

  MONOJ GOGOI Dom Phillips, a veteran journalist who had been contributing for The Guardian and also for The New York Times, Washington Post and Financial Times, has been missing from Amazon rainforest from last Sunday.  According to various news sources, he was last seen with his colleague Bruno pereira on last Sunday in Javari region in the state of Amazonas of Brazil bordering Peru. Phillips has been writing for The Guardian for more than 15 years from Amazon and he was working on a book on environment from Amazon. He has been missing with Pereira, an Brazilian expert on indigenous communities, from a place near Atalaia do Norte town. Search operation has been going on to find out both of them. Relatives and people known to him raised serious concern over his missing and also virulently criticized Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro government that journalists were not safe, who report from Amazon, under his regime. Tweets go like this: (Screenshots from Twitter) ...

MONOJ GOGOI NOMITA BILUNG Several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Soceity Organisations (CSOs), educational institutions and the district administrations observed the World Environment Day today in various places of the  Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Majuli districts. According to sources, Peoples Action for Development (PAD), a Gogamukh based NGO organised the WED at Bahgarha Pathar, a village which comes under the NGO’s  “ Strengthening Resilience: Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change in Flood-Affected Areas of Assam through Multi-Sectoral Prevention and Adaptation Mechanisms and Advocacy” project. This, theTerre des Hommes, a Germany-based organization supported, project includes 10 most hazard prone villages in the area under Bihpuria Revenue Circle in Lakhimpur district. Although PAD organised the WED in Bahgarha Pathar, youth, children, women and men from the other project villages (also from non-project villages) reached the observation place to participate t...