- The Subansiri Decrease Hydroelectric Venture affords jobs and sustainable power however raises issues about long-term job safety for native employees.
- The undertaking has brought on environmental degradation, together with elevated sedimentation, diminished water depth, and a decline in biodiversity in downstream areas.
- Stronger regional planning, management, and proactive insurance policies are essential to defending susceptible communities and stopping hydropower from deepening social inequalities.
- The views on this commentary are that of the authors.
One brilliant afternoon, we stood on the Subansiri Decrease Hydro Electrical Venture (SLHEP) web site, an under-construction dam in Arunachal Pradesh. The solar forged a golden glow on the Subansiri river beneath. The hum of equipment crammed the air, mixing with the rhythm of employees, every step bringing the undertaking nearer to life. Amidst the bustle, we spoke to a employee in his early thirties, his face weathered by the solar. He paused, wiped his forehead, and shared his story, “After COVID-19, we secured some jobs right here, however we hope they’ll rent extra locals. Many people have expertise and certificates. If the federal government helps us, we are able to work right here, earn an honest dwelling, and keep house as an alternative of looking for jobs in different states.”
This resonates with the discussions at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2024, the place the urgent want for a ‘simply transition’ was underscored. The time period ‘simply transition’ refers back to the deliberate effort to shift in direction of sustainable growth and clear power methods whereas defending the rights and livelihoods of affected communities, notably these depending on fossil gas industries or susceptible to local weather impacts. As India strikes in direction of clear power, it’s critical that tasks like SLHEP not solely present sustainable energy but additionally foster inclusive financial alternatives, creating jobs and supporting the livelihoods of these central to this transition.
The SLHEP is a 116-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Subansiri river, a Brahmaputra tributary. Situated at Gogamukh, it spans the Kamle district of Arunachal Pradesh and Dhemaji district of Assam. Delays stemmed from protests over forest land transfers, downstream issues, and Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) interventions, halted the development till October 2019. Committees like Thatte and Reddy had been fashioned, however their stories lacked consensus, prolonging delays. Following NGT clearances, development resumed in 2019, and 93% of the 2000 MW undertaking is now full. NHPC, the Indian public sector hydropower firm that runs this undertaking, goals to generate 750 MW by March 2025, reaching full 2000 MW capability by March 2026 with eight generators.
Insights from Dhemaji
On the Gogamukh income circle, a village in Dhemaji district, it appeared that the SLHEP was bringing some modifications to the lives of individuals on this traditionally underdeveloped area. Notably, the whole Dhemaji district lies inside a flood-prone space, having skilled 25 flood occasions between 2015 and 2023. Moreover, Gogamukh income circle has lengthy struggled with financial stagnation, restricted industries, and climate-induced migration. Its subsistence agrarian financial system stays extremely susceptible to recurring floods that disrupt livelihoods and infrastructure, perpetuating poverty and underdevelopment.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic worsened the disaster, forcing migrant employees to return, straining native sources in an already fragile financial system. Households reliant on city remittances confronted monetary misery. Amid this, the SLHEP emerged as a uncommon reduction, offering short-term jobs at Rs. 700 per day, providing short-term stability in an in any other case unsure panorama. A development employee recounted his journey, his voice reflecting each the hardships of the previous and the optimism of the current, “Earlier than the Subansiri hydel energy undertaking, I needed to work outdoors the state, leaving my household behind to take up unsure jobs with unstable wages. Since becoming a member of the undertaking, I’ve acquired new expertise and now function equipment. Right now, I personal a home, reside with my household, and have even bought a motorbike. Our way of life has improved dramatically. That is every part I ever wished — a safe and steady future for my household.”
Nonetheless, a key query stays: does SLHEP guarantee financial justice by fostering upskilling for long-term employment in renewable power, uphold environmental justice by selling sustainable livelihoods, and advance social justice by equitably distributing talent growth advantages, notably to marginalized communities?
Growth for whom?
Whereas the SLHEP has introduced hope and alternatives to some, a extra troubling actuality persists. Regardless of the promise of steady incomes and technical expertise, native households are more and more involved about job safety and long-term prospects. The undertaking has primarily supplied short-term, ad-hoc employment, and lots of concern that when the dam is operational, upkeep roles might be handed to outdoors employees, side-lining the native workforce. This concern is compounded by perceptions that locals, usually extra vocal about inner points, is likely to be excluded in favour of outsiders.
The uncertainty surrounding sustained employment casts a shadow over the preliminary optimism, leaving many to surprise if their newfound hope is merely fleeting. Questions on SLHEP’s dedication to inclusive employment are rising. Conversations with employees revealed that SLHEP primarily employs engineers and a major variety of employees from outdoors the area, with its core give attention to hydroelectric energy era. It usually side-lines the issues of native communities, they are saying. The advantages appear to circulate outward, whereas these dwelling within the shadow of the dam proceed to wrestle.
For SLHEP to really align with the rules of financial justice, it should transcend short-term employment and put money into the long-term well-being of native communities. This includes creating sustained job alternatives, implementing strong talent growth applications, and prioritising native employees for everlasting roles. With out these measures, the undertaking dangers changing into one more instance of growth that enriches firms whereas leaving susceptible populations behind. True financial justice requires that those that bear the prices of such tasks additionally share of their advantages.
A river disrupted and livelihood misplaced
The SLHEP’s affect is stark in downstream Lakhimpur, Assam, the place rising water ranges erode huge land areas yearly. As an alternative of replenishing waters, floods now deposit extra sediments, lowering river depth. This disrupts the delicate ecosystem, depleting fish populations and hindering breeding. Boulder extraction has worsened sedimentation, and villagers report dolphin disappearance. Mushy sedimentary rocks heighten earthquake dangers, whereas downstream Assam faces worsening floods. Political divisions between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh additional complicate the disaster.
Whereas flooding is a serious concern throughout the monsoons, a contrasting situation arises throughout dry spells in some villages of Lakhimpur’s Kadam Circle. The river now known as ‘mora Subansiri’ (lifeless Subansiri), have seen a decline in water ranges since 2005. Villagers, as soon as tormented by floods, now mourn the lack of water provide that when supported their livelihoods.
The rapid aftermath of heavy rains, when the dam gates open, causes catastrophic flooding. Although NHPC sends early warnings, they’re usually too late for communities to organize. Lakhimpur residents share that by the point they get the warning, the flood has already began and sweeps away properties, cattle, and their belongings.
This delay highlights a reactive system, leaving susceptible communities in a relentless state of emergency. Regardless of compensation from the federal government of Rs. 95,000 per family, there is no such thing as a long-term answer. Repeated requests for embankments to cut back erosion and flooding have gone unmet, with makeshift options like geo baggage providing little safety.
For SLHEP to align with environmental justice, it should tackle these extreme, far-reaching impacts. True environmental justice requires affected communities to be lively individuals in decision-making, making certain that growth doesn’t come at the price of their surroundings, livelihoods, or future.
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The damaged guarantees of growth
Through the preliminary public hearings of the undertaking, many Gogamukh residents signed petitions in favour of the undertaking, enticed by guarantees of jobs and growth, but largely unaware of its long-term penalties. Over time, as opposition to the undertaking grew, the absence of robust management left many residents feeling resigned to the inevitable. As an alternative of resisting, they tailored.
Farmers, grappling with dwindling water provides throughout dry spells, shifted from cultivating paddy — a staple meals crop important for his or her family consumption — to extra water-efficient money crops akin to sesame, pulses, and mustard. Whereas this transition could tackle rapid water shortage, it has disrupted their self-sufficiency, leaving many households susceptible as they now depend on market-oriented crops moderately than staples to maintain their livelihoods.
Native and political establishments sometimes present reduction, distributing important objects like potatoes, pulses, onions, and mustard seeds to help farming. Nonetheless, this support is inconsistent and unfairly distributed, exacerbating present inequalities and deepening the neighborhood’s hardships. The query stays: what was as soon as a promise of progress has develop into a each day wrestle for survival. SLHEP’s advantages largely favour exterior stakeholders, whereas native communities bear its prices. True social justice requires equitable compensation, community-driven selections, and sustainable livelihoods. With out these, SLHEP dangers widening, not bridging, social and financial gaps.
What does the long run maintain?
As of 2018, Assam contributed simply 1.11% of India’s emissions but stays extremely susceptible to local weather change, worsened by deforestation in Arunachal Pradesh. A college skilled really helpful regional planning with small-scale hydropower (500 MW every), afforestation, and community-led flood mitigation. Correct assessments should information future developments to keep away from high-risk zones. As SLHEP nears full operation, its success have to be measured past megawatts — making certain financial, environmental, and social justice. With out equitable jobs, truthful useful resource distribution, and sustainable livelihoods, it dangers widening disparities as an alternative of fostering inclusive progress. Although hydropower is central to a simply transition, unchecked conflicts, inequalities, and displacement may flip it right into a ‘violent transition,’ particularly in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur. Attaining justice calls for proactive planning, grassroots options, and truthful useful resource allocation — not simply reactive insurance policies. This raises crucial questions: Are we stopping crises or merely reacting to them? Is hydropower main us to sustainability or deepening social and environmental injustices? The solutions will determine whether or not SLHEP turns into a mannequin for simply growth or a cautionary story of unintended penalties.
With inputs from Chayashri Basumatary.
Anamika Barua is a professor and Debarchana Biswas is an Institute Put up-Doctoral Fellow, each on the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati. Debarpita Banerjee is a school member of the Division of Geography, Prafulla Chandra School, Kolkata. Chayashri Basumatary was a subject investigator for the undertaking.
Quotation:
Dekaraja, D., & Mahanta, R. (2018). Extent of inhabitants migration from riverbank eroded areas and its rationales: a case examine of Dhubri and Dhemaji districts of Assam. Indian Journal of Economics and Growth, 6(1), 1-12.
DRIMS (2022, 2023, 2024). Cumulative Flood Report of Dhemaji District, Assam. Assam: Catastrophe Reporting and Info Administration System.
GOI (2021). Tour Report of Subansiri Decrease Hydro Electrical Venture (8×250=2000 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh/ Assam being executed by NHPC Ltd. New Delhi: Ministry of Energy, Central Electrical energy Authority, Authorities of India.
Heffron, R., & McCauley, D. (2018). What’s the ‘Simply Transition’? Geoforum, 88, 74-77.
www.nhpcindia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nhpcindia.com/welcome/project_detail/5/3.html
Banner picture: The Subansiri Decrease Hydro Electrical Venture. Picture by Anamika Barua, Debarchana Biswas and Debarpita Banerjee.
