Skip to content Skip to navigation

China interventions on Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra


Absence of exchange in summer time data continues to be a major concern in managing natural disasters in the Brahmaputra basin. In a media workshop on Climate Change effects in the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra Basin organised by the Third Pole Project and Internews Earth Journalism network in Kathmandu last week, Chinese scientist Dr Yang Yong said that a major disaster could have been averted ten years back had there been proper exchange of data in place. The scientist from the Hengduan Mountain Research Institute said that scientists from China predicted flash flood on the basis of rising of water level in Yigong Zangbo river (a large tributary of Tsangpo in the east of Tibet) and accordingly informed the Indian authorities of a possible disaster in April 2000. Indian authorities however ignored the warning. Some 300 m cubic meters of displaced debris, soil and snow dammed the Yigong Zangbo river. The impact caused disaster downstream. On June 10, 2000, the Yigong disaster caused havoc of flash flood in the river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh with an estimated property loss of a billion rupees, 30 deaths, 100 missing and about 50,000 rendered homeless in five Arunachal districts.


In Assam, Jonai in Dhemaji district was adversely affected.


The Yigong flood remained a watershed in Sino-Indian hydro diplomacy.


The Northeast region of India alongwith Bangladesh share a major water connectivity with China in the form of the river Brahmaputra known as Yarlung Zangbo/Tsangpo upstream and Jamuna when it leaves for the Bay of Bengal. The states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh which are on the immediate downstream stretch bear the brunt of the adverse impacts of interventions (natural or manmade) upstream. It may be mentioned here that China's reported move to divert the Brahmaputra westward to benefit its dry Xinjiang area remain a grave concern with people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in India as well as neighbouring Bangladesh because it is assumed that the intervention besides affecting the low-water regime of the Brahmaputra will also have serious implications on the fragile as well as unique ecosystem in the downstrem region. There has been constant fear that drastic changes will occur in the socio-economic scenerio of the region as the diversion will impact the rich, diverse ethnic and cultural resources. Dr Yong, however, denied such interventions. He assured that the diversion at the Great Bend, which is still in its proposal state, will have no serious implications downstream. Even if the plan is carried out the downstream countries will not face water shortage. Dr Yong claimed that the water storage in the downstream part of the river is more than its upper stretch. The river is fed by glaciers which is merely 12 percent upstream while the source of water for the other 88 percent is from rain. It is notworthy to mention here that while India expressed possible cooperation opportunities with China in building dams last year (the then environment minister Jairam Ramesh wanted to bring Chinese experts to construct dams in India according to reports available in the Chinese media) the issue of the proposed Chinese projects on Brahmaputra/Tsangpo continues to be a formidable challenge in Assam. The Assam Government even constituted a committee sometime back to study the impacts of the Chinese projects. However, it is interesting to note that the Water Resources Department of Assam did not receive any vital scientific and technical data on the Chinese side of the river from the Government of India which are available with the Central Government as part of a protocol agreed upon by India and China in 2008. Without such data no assesment can be made of the impacts of such projects in the downstrem areas.


Crucial Issue:


Whether diversion or damming, projects on the river Brahmaputra/Yarlung Zangbo continue to be a crucial issue for the riparian countries of the Brahmaputra basin. While scientists from India have suggested time and again that the Government of India should engage China proactively in a serious dialouge over the issue of the intervention with the system of the Brahmaputra river, scientists from China and Bangladesh call for regional cooperation and firm policies and programme at home. Dr Yang Yong while stressing on a transparent mutual side communication of disaster information with effective alerting mechanism as well as earthquake and geological points study also called for a scientific foundation among the countries of the Brahmaputra basin to monitor the events and work closely.


The Chinese scientist's contradictions would definitely ease some of the growing apprehensions in the northeastern states of India. However, it lies largely with the policymakers in the Chinese side as to how they contradict the "diversion" and "damming" claims.


Add new comment

Random Stories

PhD on child health and welfare

14 May 2014 - 11:23am | Lalremlien Neitham
Lalneizo Darngawn d/o Lalneithang Ruolngul, Principal, Renglai Govt High School, Manipur has been awarded a doctorate degree by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi on May 11, 2014. She...

Tripura tops in MGENREGA implementation

28 Apr 2013 - 9:55pm | Daya Nath Singh
Tripura state government has put the state on top in implementation of MGENREGA scheme for the fourth time during the financial year 2012-13. The state has kept itself on the top by providing 86...

Police cracks City blast case

3 Sep 2007 - 4:25pm | luitneildon
GUWAHATI: The ULFA was able to drive the IED-laden autovan from Nalbari to Guwahati to trigger the blast at Bamunimaidam area in which one person was killed on September 1.Addl. SP (City) Rajen Singh...

Project management workshop

9 Oct 2015 - 9:29am | CM Paul
An ongoing cycle management workshop gathers no less response in the outskirt of Guwahati. Organized by Assam Don Bosco University at Azara the 5 days workshop is being attended by the...

Other Contents by Author

That the Brahmaputra is drying up is no more a hype. The water line of the river is fast receding throughout its course in the entire Brahmaputra valley. According to information available from the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level of the mighty river, known to be the lifeline of Assam, has reduced in an unprecedented manner this winter. “The water level of the Brahmaputra has reduced to 101.78 metres in the last week of December (2014), which is the lowest water level of the river so far. This decreasing trend is likely to continue till March,” an official of the commission said. As per information available from the commission, the water level of Brahmaputra in...
The debate how to allocate natural resources still raging, the northeastern states face more challenges—challenges posed by big dams and river linking. While the Union Government has turned its eyes to this most resource-rich landscape but largely untapped region in the country, communities now find themselves in a quandary. Communities want recognition of their ownership over coal, forests and oil--the three ‘nationalized’ resources. Now there is another entrant---water. Tribal communities in Nagaland and Meghalaya are approaching courts to protect their rights over oil and coal and those in Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh are struggling to retain control over their forests. In...
The Dibang movement fell silent as the Union Minstry of Environment and Forests granted clearance to the project last September after a reduction in the dam height by10 metres. After the Dibang it is now the Demwe Lower that is gathering storm in Northeast India.The 1,750-MW Demwe Lower mega hydel project—a 124-metre high dam proposed on the Lohit, a major tributary of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh, has almost being pushed through had it not been for the Union Tourism and Culture Ministry’s objection that was the spanner at the last moment.Interestingly, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests did not make any mention of the Central Tourism Ministry’s objection to the project...
Contrary to the popular belief that house sparrows are declining around the globe, the species seem to have adjusted to the changing environment. In Guwahati, the numbers of house sparrows have been growing by the day. Sparrow roost are now a common sight  in different neighborhoods of the city. It is no more the Assam-type roofs or mud and thatch structures, the sparrows are now adaptating to the concrete structures in the urban areas.The documentary, I Spy Sparrows, tries to explores the reasons behind the increasing numbers of sparrows. 
Known for its rich and unique biological diversity, Northeast India forms the core of the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot and is a World Wildlife Fund Global 200 Priority Ecoregion. Assam, one of the seven northeastern states, presents a landscape of lush evergreen forests and grasslands that is home to a great diversity of species including many of the rare cat species ranging from the magnificient tiger to the queen of the high mountains-- the snow leopard; the clouded leopard and the slinky common leopard--Panthera pardus. Of the magnificient felines--while the tiger enjoys the lion share of all conservation efforts, the leopard remains India's neglected big cat. Like all other...
The Great One Horned Rhinoceros is one of the rare and precious wildlife in the world and a state symbol of Assam. The poaching of this heritage species in the recent years in record numbers in its natural habitats, especially in Kaziranga, not only brought the animal to the edge but also created confusion among the public on the efficacy of the protection measures adopted by the forest  department.A World Heritage Site and an ideal habitat for the breeding of rhinos, Kaziranga has seen a rise in the number of the species. The animal shrugged off  its ‘endangered’ tag as soon as its population crossed the 2000 mark. This fuelled a overweening strategy--the much hyped Indian Rhino...
Erratic weather, floods and drought in the Himalayan foothills and a change in course of the river after the great earthquake of 1950, forced a group of people in the Murkongchelek area-- bordering Arunachal Pradesh-- to seek their fortune elsewhere. These agrarian people, belonging to the Mishing community, prefer to live by riverside as their occupations are directly related to the river. They crossed the Brahmaputra to settle on its southern bank and came upon an abode of nature surrounded by six rivers--Lohit, Dibang and Disang on the north and Anantanala, Dangori and Dibru on the south. A refuge for some rare and endagered wildlife, Dibru Saikhowa, on the Brahmaputra flood plain soon...
It was a joy ride from Darjeeling to Ghum. My co-passenger, a Mexican in his late sixties, was nodding playfully to the chug-chug of the doughty engine as the tom thumb coaches struggled uphill. His next destination, he said, would be Kaziranga. “Kaziranga! So you are visiting Assam?” — I was all ears to what he had to say about my home state. “Assam! Where is it?” One need not have to go through the geography of the land when it comes to Kaziranga--- I quickly tried to draw a conclusion.Kaziranga, or more precisely the Great One-horned Rhino, made the map of Assam more prominent in the World’s atlas. The pre historic pachyderm taking its trudge under...
The recent waves of floods have left a trail of devastation in the entire Brahmaputra valley. More than a week of heavy rains in Assam has caused the massive Brahmaputra to exceed dangerous levels. Smaller rivers have also over burst their banks. Twenty-six of the 27 districts in the state have been hit by floods since June 24 as a result of the unprecedented torrential rains while the Brahmaputra river has breached its banks in at least nine places. Nearly 200 people lost their life and millions affected. The agriculture sector suffered huge losses with 254,935 hectares of cropland damaged and 50% of crops destroyed. The Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site and the Dibru-...
While policy makers, experts , activists are converging on Rio for the UN conference Rio + 20 thousands of miles away in Assam (India)—22 farmers are languishing in the Lakhimpur jail for taking up cudgels to protect the environment. These poor farmers, supporters of the anti mega dam movement of Lakhimpur district, were arrested on the night of May 11, 2012 from the temporary camp of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (the organization spearheading the anti big dam movement in northeast India) from Ghagarmukh nearing the dam site. While the traumatized families of these activists await their early release, the bail process seem complicated as they are being implicated on various false...