The moment rivers traverse borders, their courses affect terrains and political responses. Sitting atop the glistening snowy Tibetan Plateau is the Angsi Glacier, the source of the Brahmaputra. The river meanders from China down to India’s Arunachal Pradesh and subsequently flows into the Ganges Delta in Bangladesh.
The Brahmaputra brings life to more than 100 million people living downstream, but also underlying tensions between countries. As China sought to construct the world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet, India became concerned about reduced water flows, which could jeopardize its national security, regional dominance and people’s livelihoods.
For farmers and city dwellers, access to billions of cubic meters of water during the dry season is a matter of life and death. India’s government has promptly responded by announcing a dam-building project in Arunachal Pradesh, hoping to reduce water shortages around Guwahati, the largest city in Assam state, during the non-rainy season.
Its approach shows that when an upstream country controls water flows, the sovereignties and livelihoods of downstream countries could be weaponized and threatened. Dams are not just water facilities; they are bargaining chips countries can wager during international negotiations.
That said, residents of Arunachal Pradesh have long resisted the dam project. They worry their villages would be flooded and their traditional way of life would be destroyed; such fears from local communities stand in direct conflict with the government’s strategic demands.
While India’s dam project aims to mitigate the impact of droughts during dry seasons, the social costs and ecological risks it incurs are difficult to overlook. It is emblematic of contemporary challenges, where concerns of national security, local life, technological capabilities, natural constraints, political ambitions and ethical responsibilities intertwine, and are difficult to be addressed in isolation of each other.
China claimed its hydropower dam had undergone strict scientific evaluation, and it vowed to act responsibly on using water from transboundary rivers. However, from India’s perspective, China’s control poses a risk and a threat, and it could only respond by accelerating construction of the dam, thereby prompting a defensive move.
China and India’s race for water resources mirrors the state of geopolitics: Those on the top make decisions, and those below them are forced to adjust their tactics and their way of life. India has attempted to grasp such uncertainty by calculating water flows during dry seasons, protecting cities down river and preventing floods.
Rivers shape landscapes, power hierarchies and the mentalities of a society. For India, dams symbolize sovereign control of life-saving resources; they are also a reflection of its security concerns near the border. The Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage Dam must be completed, even if it creates building and social costs.
The events surrounding the Brahmaputra are more than a race to construct dams; they also test how countries assert sovereign control, handle border issues and safeguard the survival of their citizens. The prospective dam at Upper Siang shows that India has chosen to defend its water resources and respond to changes in international water politics.
Liu Che-ting is a writer.
Translated by Cayce Pan
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