ABSTRACT
Over recent decades, dam construction for hydropower generation has emerged as a major bone of contention in Northeast India's development agenda. The large-scale mission to exploit the massive hydropower potential of Eastern Himalayan rivers is fuelled on the one hand by national and state-level aspirations for economic and energy security, socio-economic development and capitalist expansion, and contested on the other hand for its unevenly distributed socio-ecological impacts and risks. This entry provides an overview of multiple drivers of Northeast India's hydropower boom and shines light on diverse factors motivating social resistance and acceptance among affected communities and activists. It shows that persistent concerns about the governance and suitability of large-scale hydropower as an energy solution for the Himalayan region give reason to decision-makers for greater scrutiny of hydropower plans and related policy frameworks, to ascertain a more informed, truly democratic and socio-ecologically sustainable governance of local environmental futures.
