Whose river is it, anyway?

This chapter focuses on the two sets of issues that have been central to the controversy on mega dams in Assam over the past few years: dam safety and the impact on downstream livelihoods. It briefly introduces the Lower Subansiri Project and provides an overview of how the controversy has evolved. The chapter also focuses on the political economy of hydropower development in the region with particular emphasis on the Lower Subansiri project and the controversies surrounding it. One of the principal tributaries of the Brahmaputra, the Subansiri is Arunachal Pradesh's largest river system. Large hydropower dams on rivers of the Eastern Himalayas are sure to destroy the health of some of the world's most powerful rivers and their ecosystems. Geographers characterise Northeast India as a seismically active region where earthquakes impact the hydrologic characteristics and morphology of rivers and water bodies.