How recurring floods fuel migration in Assam

Indigenous communities like the Misings, living near the river banks for centuries, are particularly vulnerable. 

Sanskrita Bharadwaj

Residents use boats to move through flooded areas after heavy rains submerged homes and roads during this year's floods in the first week of June in  Sukati Puta village of Morigaon district in Assam.

Picture Credit: Gaurab Talukdar. 

GUWAHATI, Assam: Pranjit Kaman, a farmer and a daily wage worker from Majorsapori village in Jorhat district of Assam has experienced floods for as long as he can remember. 

About 15 years ago, most of Kaman’s village and crops were washed away due to floods. Ever since, his family and several others from the village, with no land of their own, live on an embankment nearby - the embankment their home now. 

“We have been struggling with floods for a long time now, and since 2005, we have been living on an embankment,” said 40-year-old Kaman, who belongs to the indigenous Mising tribe, and has been migrating for work every year. 

In late May and early June, more than 40 people died due to heavy rainfall in northeast India, news reports said. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh were the worst hit states, with Assam’s Brahmaputra river and its tributaries overflowing and affecting over 8 lakh people. 

Kaman is among the many villagers of Majorsapori who migrate with job options scarce in the village. In the past, Kaman has worked in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Assam taking up various jobs including one at a tea estate in Assam. 

This year, when his village was flooded once again, he was around. The floods submerged parts of the embankment, Kaman said. “A few days ago, there was massive flooding. This was just the pre-monsoon – another wave is perhaps yet to come,” he said. He wants to stay with his family and doesn’t want to leave, but with no land and no local work, he has little choice.

“Struggle has become synonymous with our lives,” he said.

India’s northeastern states have been battered with incessant rainfall, resulting in flooding and landslides this year.

Locals use makeshift rafts to move through flooded areas during this year's floods in the first week of June in  Durula Dubi village of Morigaon district in Assam. Picture Credit: Gaurab Talukdar. 

In the first week of June, the other northeastern states, too, reported extreme rainfall-induced floods and landslides across various parts of the region. 

In the Himalayan state of Sikkim, a landslide hit a military post near Lachen town, claiming the lives of three soldiers, while six other soldiers went missing. Reports said that one tourist vehicle plunged nearly 1,000 feet into the Teesta River between Chungthang and Munshithang in North Sikkim where one was killed. 

Arunachal Pradesh was severely hit by heavy rainfall and landslides where over 61,000 people were impacted. A cloudburst caused flooding in the state capital, Itanagar, which disrupted water supply and road infrastructure. Locals from Itanagar said that it was one of the worst cases of flooding they had witnessed in the city. 

Manipur also experienced floods and landslides, which prompted some districts to set up evacuation camps. About 1,65,000 people were affected by the flood situation in the Imphal Valley of Manipur particularly in Imphal’s eastern part.

Landslides and floods also caused disruptions in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Tripura. 

Amongst those impacted the most are communities like the Misings who reside in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, living near the river banks for centuries, experts said.

“When there is a crisis like flood or erosion or siltation in the agricultural fields, people lose the hope to continue with agricultural activity because the soil quality gets damaged,” said Tirtha Prasad Saikia, director at the North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a non-profit based in Jorhat town of Assam. 

Saikia said their non-profit which works with marginalised communities of Assam on the ground has noticed agriculture-based families giving up farming and engaging in daily wage earning activities in metros, cities, and towns. “We have seen examples of people migrating to different cities in search of work in places like Majuli island (of Assam), which again is prone to extreme erosion and flooding.”

‘WE MOVE OUT’

Farmers attempt to save submerged crops after floods and water release from a nearby dam damaged fields in early June in Nikori village of Golaghat district in Assam. Picture credit: Umanada Pathori

The paddy that Umanada Pathori cultivates tends to get washed away every year during the annual floods. He usually ends up growing boro rice – a type of paddy grown in Assam – twice or sometimes even thrice. The 42-year-old Pathori from Nikori village in Golaghat district of Assam said this year has been much worse.

While floods are a regular phenomenon in Assam, Pathori said the release of water from the Doyang Hydro Electric Project in the neighbouring Wokha district of Nagaland, had increased the volume and intensity of water that entered his village.  

Three bighas – about 1.8 acres of his land – got destroyed in the floods that occurred in the first week of June. 

It is difficult for Pathori to make ends meet who lives with his wife and two daughters. So, he regularly travels to the nearby towns like Golaghat and Jorhat for daily wage work as a labourer. Pathori, too, belongs to the indigenous Mising community. “If I had the option of leaving my family behind, I would have preferred to go to a bigger city,” Pathori said.

In 2024, Assam experienced severe floods, leading to 25 lakh internal displacements. Dhubri was the most affected district, accounting for 22% of the total movements.

“A lot of us from our village move out and work as pucca mistry (skilled workers or craftsmen) in other places,” Pathori said. 

EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

Assam has lost more than 4,000 square kilometres of area due to floods and river erosion. Over 20,000 families have been identified that have either lost agricultural land or their homes or both, according to official data. 

The 15th Finance Commission recommended an allocation of ₹1,000 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) specifically for the resettlement of people displaced by river and coastal erosion in Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. “The Assam government’s ask is about ₹500 crore. We are preparing a detailed project report (DPR) where the idea is to build cluster homes for those affected by erosion,” said Gyanendra Tripathi, Principal Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department and CEO of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).

The Assam state government is in the process of installing early warning systems at villages downstream so that people are not impacted when water is released from dams upstream, Tripathi said.

“We are also conducting a study on how it’s (dams opening their gates) affecting people in villages located downstream,” he said.  

Tripathi said a system is in place for flood preparedness where priority is given to people who take shelter in relief camps, women and children. “A review is undertaken in each district and we ensure that relief camps are set up in all flood affected areas.”

Those families that do not take shelter in relief camps are provided with dry ration but those that stay at the camps get all around care including health and education facilities for the children. “Many people are forced to take shelter in non relief camps such as embankments. Once they come to the organised relief camps they are in a better place,” Tripathi said.

He added that immediate and urgent rescue operations are carried out with the help of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the army and the Indian air force. “Our rescue operations preparedness is growing and is improving in all districts.”

“We will submit a detailed project report (DPR) for the construction of cluster homes and ask for around ₹500 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), that has been created specifically by the Ministry of Home Affairs for resettlement of people displaced by river and coastal erosion in Assam,” said Tripathi.

Until then, for those like Kaman and Pathori, migration for a living will remain the only survival option.

 “We have been living on the embankment for years. A lot of young people have left the village to work at factories outside. We want to appeal to the government so that they look into our plights,” Kaman said.

WHY DOES NORTHEAST INDIA FLOOD EVERY YEAR

Assam and Mizoram are the most climate-vulnerable states in the Indian Himalayan Region, studies show. 

A vulnerability assessment by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology, led by IIT Guwahati, IIT Mandi, and IISc Bangalore under the Swiss-supported Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP) initiative, highlighted the urgent need for tailored adaptation and ecosystem strategies across the eastern Himalayas.

Steep topography, changing rainfall patterns, heavy sedimentation in rivers, deforestation, unplanned development and expanding human footprint are among the many factors leading to floods in India’s northeastern region, according to experts.

The Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) data shows overall monsoon rainfall in the northeastern region has declined over the past 30 years, but there's been a rise in short, intense downpours. IMD’s head of climate in Pune in a media interaction has explained that although total rainfall may drop, extreme events are expected to increase in the region. 

Originating in steep, elevated regions, rivers such as the Brahmaputra meander through Assam. Rainfall in the uplands funnels quickly into the plains, carrying vast amounts of silt. This silt raises riverbeds, reducing channel capacity and increasing flood risk, Dr Sanjay O’Neill Shaw, senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre of the IMD in Guwahati told The Migration Story.

Embankments in Assam, though originally built to control flooding, have in many cases increased the frequency and severity of floods, said Rahul Mahanta, climate scientist and Associate Professor at Cotton University in Guwahati. Many embankments in Assam are decades old and poorly maintained. Heavy rains and rising water levels lead to frequent breaches. These breaches result in sudden flash floods, often more destructive than slow natural overflows, Mahanta said.

Sanskrita Bharadwaj is a Guwahati-based independent journalist covering stories at the intersection of human rights, gender, environment, governance, health and culture.