Northeast’s water world

Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Posted online: Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 0000 hrs



Assam had hardly recovered from two successive waves of floods, with farmers trying to make up for their losses by planting a late variety of paddy, when a third and even more devastating wave of floods struck, wiping out almost every sapling. It has been an enormous loss, and this third wave will leave behind a trail of destruction that will have a deep and long-lasting impact on the state’s economy even as the Brahmaputra and its numerous tributaries continues to flow above the high-water mark.



Floods have remained a scourge in this region since 1950, when a devastating earthquake not only raised the bed of the Brahmaputra but also changed its course. As if the floods were not bad enough, last year the state had its first brush with drought. Consequently Assam, which had in 2001 recorded its maiden surplus output of rice, has since slipped again, with agriculture — the mainstay of its rural economy — being very badly hit.

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