Discourses From the East
How does one make sense of the continuous and multifarious environmental crisis in Assam and the wider northeastern region of India? This article attempts to bring together the different arenas of our natural world undergoing grotesque destruction. Our own concerns regarding this ongoing wreckage and the way we understand and take a stand on these issues as individuals, as citizens of this state, and as part of a women’s collective from Assam, have shaped the way we gauge the environmental catastrophe in the region.
Over the past two decades, there has been colossal environmental degradation across Assam, leading to increasing ecological disruptions, environmental pollution and disasters. The loss of biodiversity and natural resources has long-term repercussions for the social as well as ecological well-being of the state. Rapid industrial development at the cost of environmental degradation will create a vicious cycle; thereby threatening the existence of species of indigenous flora and fauna, as well as human lives.
This article highlights three critical aspects – namely loss of wetlands, felling of trees and encroachment of indigenous lands, and coal mining, to understand the trade-off between developmental aspirations and environmental degradation. To evaluate the aforementioned situations, we primarily focus on three major Protected Area Networks of Assam[i] – Dehing Patkai National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Deepor Beel – to foreground the discussion.
First, the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary, which was upgraded to the status of National Park by the Government of Assam in 2021, is one of the largest lowland rainforests in India covering an area of 231.65 km2. It has a rich yet delicate ecosystem that is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna, several of which are endangered, vulnerable and rare, including some species of extremely rare wild cats.
Secondly, the Kaziranga National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) covering 430 km2 area represents one of the last unmodified natural areas in the northeastern region of India. It harbours significant populations of threatened species including elephants, tigers, wild water buffalo and bears, as well as endangered aquatic species like the Ganges River dolphin. From rescuing the Indian one-horned rhinoceros from the brink of extinction a century ago to presently hosting its largest population, this National Park has achieved a remarkable conservation milestone.
Lastly, located to the southwest of Guwahati city in Kamrup District of Assam, the Deepor Beel, covering an area of 6.89 km2, is a permanent freshwater lake and the only RAMSAR site in Assam. This expansive natural wetland serves as a vital stormwater storage basin, besides holding immense biological and environmental significance. The Deepor Beel ecosystem hosts many migratory bird species every year, in addition to a large number of residential waterbirds.
Despite having several such natural ecosystems and rich biodiversity, Assam is now faced with a major crisis concerning conservation and protection measures for the environment. Over the past few years, Assam has witnessed alarming deforestation, increasing human-wildlife conflict and massive forest cover loss. Another pressing issue over the years is the illegitimate encroachment of indigenous lands in the name of developmental projects and the forceful displacement of the indigenous people from their ancestral lands. In view of such a large green cover facing the threat of depletion due to human activities and man-made environmental disasters, and the atrocities inflicted upon the indigenous people of this land, this paper delves into the complexities underlying the aforementioned situations and attempts to find the causes driving these crises.
The politics of environmental crisis
The environment is political and so are its issues. Globally, there has been a growing conscientiousness among people to look at the environment politically, consider both ecological and political implications of its degradation and organize for collective action. The Green Party, tracing its origins to environmental movements in the 1970s and 80s, is one instance of such collective consciousness.
However, in the Indian context, the political class seems to be extremely indifferent to the catastrophic effects of the ongoing environmental crises. The oblivious attitude of those in power is more a manufactured stand, carefully crafted to undermine, ignore, and trivialise the environmental issues and the resistance of the people against the state-led developmental projects. Such actions also appear to be taken in the interest of a certain capitalist-political nexus that benefits one section of society at the cost of the others. One glowing illustration of this callous attitude of the government towards environmental issues is seen in the changing definition of ‘forest cover’ by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). As per the press release by the MoEFCC on 3rd February 2022 (Ministry of Environment 2022), a forest is defined as ‘all land, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such land may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm’. In making such a sweeping definition, the MoEFCC has ensured that monoculture cash crop plantations (for products like rubber, palm oil, coffee, tea, etc.) and ornamental trees are also counted under ‘forest cover’. The felling of indigenous species of trees and clearing other indigenous species of vegetation for such cash crops could be catastrophic for the local ecosystem. It is also detrimental to both animal and human lives, and especially damaging for people who depend on the local forests for their livelihoods. But this definition allows for such loopholes without considering the plight of the indigenous people, flora or fauna species.
Furthermore, several state-sponsored developmental projects in recent years have been at the center of, and in many instances, the main causes of the environmental crisis in India, and in Assam. The Dehing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary (rainforest) in Assam has borne the brunt of drilling for oil and petroleum, and coal mining projects, which have destroyed large swathes of the natural ecosystem. Non-local capitalists and industrialists have acquired massive stretches of pristine forest lands with the help of local leaders and political connections, and converted these vast stretches of land into monoculture plantations (tea, palm oil), or are mining them for natural minerals, coal, petroleum reserves, etc. These illegal mining operations and deforestation at the foothills of Dehing Patkai have led to the displacement of several communities, including Singpho, Khamti, Tangsa, Syam, Sema-Nagas, Aitom and Nocte from the lands that traditionally belonged to them (Chakravartty 2020). In several instances, especially in the Dehing-Patkai forest area, these industrial endeavours have hired local youth, providing temporary employment to the very people who were previously protesting such corporate take-over of their land and resources (India Today 2020). As such, it caters to the more immediate concerns of the locals like generating employment opportunities for them, instead of a more planned, long-term, sustainable development approach. This kind of tactic for exploitation of the resources, local environment and the people, can prove disastrous for the region in the long run despite government afforestation projects[ii].
The Deepor Beel is another instance of Assam’s ever growing environmental concerns. As the sole RAMSAR site in Assam, it holds invaluable ecological significance (Nikita et al 2024). Despite receiving the status of a Wetland of International Importance, it faces enormous anthropogenic pressure, leading to rapid ecological degradation. A study on the ecological and economic aspects of Deepor Beel published in 2025, revealed that there are at least 93 species of macrophytes, and 110 varieties of fish, with high diversity indices (Deka et al 2025). But, silt deposits continue to raise the bed of the Beel as more sediment deposits flow in from the exponential deforestation and urban build-up in the surrounding hills, especially during the monsoons. Pollution from dumping of municipal solid waste in the nearby waste collection yard in Boragaon is likely to affect the health of the Beel. Single-use plastics, sewage and wastewater from the city flowing through the Bahini-Bharalu, Mora Bharalu and Basistha rivers end up in the Deepor Beel in varying degrees before flowing into the Brahmaputra. Furthermore, decreasing forest cover, increase in built-up areas on the periphery of the Beel and especially, encroachment along the banks of the lake, chemical pollutants from fertilisers and pesticides, overfishing, poaching of waterbirds, are some of the other concerns currently facing the Deepor Beel (Bhattacharyya and Kapil 2010).
Furthermore, the recent initiative by the Government of Assam and the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, for an infrastructure development project involving a 4.7 km elevated railway corridor along the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary, led to the felling of nearly 200 trees, including many matured teak trees. Such destruction will further weaken the already stressed ecosystem and increase habitat fragmentation. According to the government authorities, this project is a wildlife-friendly intervention which will pave the way for improved rail connectivity and reduced animal fatalities. However, the unprecedented environmental degradation along the Deepor Beel area over an extended period, desp ite public outrage and concerns raised by the Gauhati High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has made the claims and very intent of the authorities questionable. With such callous decisions, questions regarding who decides what development is, who pays the cost for such developmental projects, and most importantly, who benefits from these activities claimed as ‘development’, resurfaces.
Another recent environmental crisis unfolding in the vicinity of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam has brought to light ‘the illegal land acquisition for luxury tourism’ in a report titled ‘The Unfolding Crisis in Kaziranga’. It highlights how the proposed plan for developing a five-star hotel in close proximity (less than 1 km away) of Kaziranga National Park would lead to prioritising corporate interests over indigenous peoples’ fundamental rights and environmental sustainability, thereby challenging the normative principles of responsible tourism in ecologically sensitive areas (GKLHRPC 2025). The study also highlighted the impending displacement of 45 adivasi families at Inlay Pathar in the Hatikhuli Bagicha Village near Kohora range of the National Park, who are on the verge of losing their ancestral lands which they have cultivated on and been taxed for, for generations.
Development – terms, trajectories and values
If we try to gauge the impact of the claimed developmental projects through the lens of sustainable development, it reflects the negative impact of such a development model quite evidently. Sustainable development aims at creating a balance between aspirations for development and environmental conservation, which appears to be in contradiction to the current state of affairs in Assam.
While development is an expansive concept, in the case of Assam it has been limited primarily to infrastructural development. This is partly due to the long delay in bringing the new technological innovations to Assam and the wider northeastern region; technologies which have already transformed the infrastructure and connectivity in many cities, towns, and villages in the rest of India. Consequently, ‘development’ has become the touchstone for gaining people’s support and winning elections, sidelining other equally, if not more pressing issues. The problem, however, with these developmental projects is that they have begun to negatively impact the environment, thereby becoming extremely detrimental to any real growth and sustenance of the state and its people.
Deepor Beel, Dehing Patkai and Kaziranga National Park are a few out of several examples of development at the cost of environmental degradation. Civil society organisations and people in their own capacities have resisted these developmental projects from time to time. But in most of the cases, the government either does not pay any heed to this resistance or it uses unfair political tactics including physical force, to silence the people. For example, the report on the forceful land acquisition in Inlay Pathar[iii] has also revealed that the supporters of the luxury hotel project had mobilised a mob of over 150 people to physically attack members of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC). Furthermore, the police force from Kohora and Bokakhat colluded with this mob, refusing to intervene and subsequently wrongfully detaining the victims and filing false charges against the activists. Eventually, the Assam Government had invoked the National Security Act against indigenous land rights activist Pranab Doley, the convenor of the GKLHRPC, who is actively protesting against the luxury hotel project near Kaziranga National Park, just a day after the local sessions court had granted him bail. This not only reminds us of the questionable intentions of the authorities but also posits that people in power can move beyond the legitimate boundaries to suppress the voice of the people and distort the very idea of democracy (Hussain 2026; Perinchery 2026). An instance like this also raises concerns regarding the independence of the judicial process and sets a dangerous precedent where the state undermines court-granted bail to the citizens by misusing legal processes and invoking extraordinary and preventive detention laws (The Wire Staff 2026).
All Roads Lead to Capitalist Ventures
In this context, two questions emerge: first, how do these projects continue despite resistance from the public? Second, a wider question: why are environmental issues not yet perceived or viewed as political issues both by the government and the people? In responding to these questions, we must shift our focus to the trilateral nexus between big investors – state – local elites/leaders, which has been promoting the ongoing developmental projects. This nexus has also augmented inequalities in terms of accessibility to resources and who bears the brunt of environmental destruction caused by these projects.
For instance, in a rapidly expanding urban center like Guwahati that faces both extremes of water scarcity as well as seasonal waterlogging and flooding issues, wetlands like Deepor Beel are one of the most valuable natural resources that need protection and conservation. The terrain in and around Guwahati has historically been dotted with hills, hillocks, some plain areas and a lot of low-lying areas, waterbodies and wetlands. The urban expansion and increasing population density since the 1970s, after the capital of Assam was shifted to Dispur, and especially over the past two decades, have been extremely rapid and haphazard. The urban expansion plans were very poor, and the execution and implementation strategies have huge shortcomings, leading to an overall weak model.
Much of the low-lying areas that acted as reservoirs and helped in infiltration and retaining any seasonal excess in water levels, have been constructed over with concrete structures. As such, the amount of water that can percolate to recharge the underground reservoirs/aquifers has been reduced drastically. In addition, the demand for potable water to sustain the ever-increasing urban population has led to overextraction of groundwater because of inaccessibility or unavailability of enough surface water sources to meet demands. Meanwhile, large-scale residential and commercial establishments continue to overdraw groundwater without allowing for it to be replenished. Increasing surface temperature, urban heat islands, and deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) in Guwahati over the past decade can be understood partly as a result of the indiscriminate felling or uprooting of trees across the city and its surroundings and the general destruction of the natural environment to make way for infrastructure development (Goswami 2026).
With climate change and deforestation leading to extreme weather conditions and reduced clean water sources for human use, a dimension of socio-economic inequality with respect to accessibility to natural resources is arising. Moreover, different strata of society are affected differently by the lack of such resources, and the marginal communities are usually the first and most adversely affected. Overconsumption of groundwater by industries and large residential establishments within the urban area of Guwahati, and the lack of proper waste management systems have led to two severe contrasting effects. First, is the seasonal drying up of water reservoirs creating drought-like situations across parts of Guwahati, and the second is artificial flash floods in several areas of the city during the monsoons. These lingering issues have long been observed by the civil society and the public at large, but the authorities have not been able to resolve them yet.
Conclusion: Questions we must ask the ‘double-engine government’
Over many decades, the state-led governments in Assam have announced different schemes for mitigating these problems. However, no practical solutions have been devised yet, leading primarily the marginal and vulnerable communities to bear the brunt of environmental calamities. These situations in Assam have repeatedly led to loss of livelihoods and agricultural productivity (mainly for the marginalised communities), resulted in severe consequences like displacement of communities and the loss of numerous lives every year. From coal mining to felling of trees and destruction of the wetlands, it needs to be reiterated that Assam’s environmental landscape looks absolutely grim and extremely concerning. The recent deluge in Upper Assam (Eastern Assam) exemplifies the aftermath of the convergence of the three dimensions of environmental degradation – mining, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands. While the catastrophic consequences of this flood could have been minimised, had the district administration and the Assam State Disaster Management Authority acted efficiently and responsibly; we, as people of Assam, should ask what precipitated this catastrophe in the first place (Bora 2026).
As mentioned earlier, mining, deforestation, and vanishing wetlands, have all happened under the pretext of ‘development’, a buzzword that garners support and shields the failures. As Assam reels from the impacts of ecological damage and reckless and mindless ‘development’, we must firmly ask: who benefits from the hollowing of the hill slopes at the Assam-Nagaland border? Who gains the most when trees are felled without accountability or when indigenous people are displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for luxury? Who profits and at what cost, when railway tracks and roads are set to be constructed without any deliberation with or the consensus of the local people? Furthermore, the question emerges as to what extent can the obscurity between economic growth and economic development be sustained? The empirical evidence not only reflects the urgent need for a robust model that facilitates a balance between environmental sustainability and ‘development’, but also cautions the general public against a society dominated by extractive corporate interests. Finally, to foreground the same overarching thought with which this article began – how many more Deepor Beels, Dehing Patkais, and Kazirangas must we lose, how many more people must be put at risk of losing their homes, land, and livelihoods before the authorities take the looming threats to the region’s environment, biodiversity, and fragile ecology seriously?
End Notes
[i] According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a protected area is a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated, and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.
[ii] Afforestation projects by the government usually take place in community reserves or adjacent degraded forest pockets with fast-growing tree varieties like teak that is commercially viable for timber, rather than trying to regenerate the multi-layered native biodiversity.
[iii] Pathar refers to farmland or agricultural land in the Assamese language
References
Admin (2020): “Assam: In Dehing Patkai, coal mining is a way of life,” India Today.https://www.indiatodayne.in/assam/story/assam-dehing-patkai-coal-mining-way-life-405514-2020-05-27
Bora, Saurav Kumar (2026): “বছৰি ৬০০ কোটি টকাৰ বাজেট! বিৰ্পযয়ৰ সংকেত দিয়াতেই ব্যৰ্থ দুৰ্যোগ প্ৰশমন,” Amar Asom. https://www.glpublications.in/AmarAsom/Guwahati/29-Jul-2026/Page-1
Bhattacharyya, Krishna G. and Kapil, Nibedita (2010): “Impact of urbanization on the quality of water in a natural reservoir: a case study with the Deepor Beel in Guwahati city, India,” Water and Environment Journal, Vol 24, No 2, pp 83 96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2008.00157.x
Bhuyan et al. (2024): “Diversity and species richness of avian fauna in varied habitats of Soraipung range and vicinity in Dehing Patkai National Park, India”, Journal of Threatened Taxa, Vol 16, No 3, pp 24956-24966. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8775.16.3.24956-24966
Deka (2024): “The last stand: Assam’s forests face an environmental tipping point,” Down to Earth. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/forests/the-last-stand-assams-forests-face-an-environmental-tipping-point
Deka et al (2025): An empirical analysis of Deepor Beel: a Ramsar site of Assam, India, focusing on its ecological and economic aspects,” Vegetos. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42535-025-01532-3
Goswami (2026): “Guwahati: Southern corridor emerges as city’s hottest heat-stress zone,” EastMojo.
Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (2025): “The Unfolding Crisis in Kaziranga: A Report on Illegal Land Acquisition for Luxury Tourism,” A Report on Illegal Land Acquisition for Luxury Tourism.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (2022): “Definition under State of Forest Report,” New Delhi: PIB Delhi.
Nikita et al (2024): “Dataset of biological community structure in Deepor Beel using eDNA approach–A RAMSAR wetland of Assam, India,” Data in Brief, Vol 52.
South Asian Forum for Development (2014-2016): “Sustainable Agro-farming Intensification in Peri-urban Wetlands: A Pro-community Action Research in Deepor Beel Site,” Guwahati: NABARD.
Chakravartty (2020): Assam’s tribal communities lost land and forest to mining. https://india.mongabay.com/2020/11/assams-tribal-communities-lost-land-and-forest-to-mining/
Hussain (2026): Indigenous Rights Activist Pranab Doley Arrested Over Protests Against Hotel Project Near Kaziranga. https://thewire.in/rights/indigenous-rights-activist-pranab-doley-arrested-hyatt-project-ingle-pathar
Perinchery (2026): Assam Govt Invokes NSA Against Land Rights Activist Pranab Doley, a Day After Local Court Grants Bail. https://thewire.in/environment/pranab-doley-nsa-assam-government-land-rights-local-court-grants-bail
The Wire Staff (2026): ‘Vindictive’: Over 60 Rights Groups, Trade Unions Demand NSA Against Assam Activist Pranab Doley, Others be Revoked. https://thewire.in/rights/vindictive-over-60-rights-groups-trade-unions-demand-nsa-against-assam-activist-pranab-doley-others-be-revoked
All the authors are members of a women’s collective from Northeast India called SharedSpace
sharedspace841@gmail.com
It is a good piece. Congratulations to the authors. However, I am saddened by the fact though intellectual awareness about the destruction of forests, wetlands and hills in Assam are articulated often and crucial questions are asked yet, these do not seem to affect our government and so-called entrepreneurs. I wonder when will our able bodied conscious citizens will take the trouble of going to the people at a level in which common men and women can be inspired to agitate in an effective manner to force the govt. to change course. We need to challenge the very idea of development even the sustainable development to save the environment and ourselves. Even the GenZ in Assam disappoints me. What is the problem? Health permitting, I will try and think aloud about it. Had once (2010?) wrote a piece on politics of development. Will try to retrieve and update. But I believe intellectual pursuit minus action needs to be looked at critically. Please understand I am not trying to dissuade research and undermine intellectual activity. but I believe Marx was write when he talked of philosophers explaining the world and the need to change it. I apologize if I hurt any one. Old fossils do not change easily.