Capturing Siang

As India pushes for a mega-dam on the Siang river to counter China's upstream projects, the Adi tribal community of Arunachal Pradesh fears losing ancestral land

- ANUPAM CHAKRAVARTTY AND JYOTIRMOY SAHARIA

ANTHONY PABIN sits by the Siang river, peeling an orange with practiced ease. “We sell a dozen oranges for ₹20 and make a hefty profit,” he says. “But we have to think about our children. We do not want them to grow up as refugees, separated from their land.” Pabin, a farmer from Parong village in the Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, echoes the anxiety felt by the residents of several villages along the Siang river, where a proposed mega-dam has stirred a complex web of geopolitics, development and human rights concerns.

The river, known as Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, flows from China into Arunachal Pradesh before joining the Brah-maputra in Assam. For centuries, it has been the lifeline for the region’s Adi tribal community, providing water for their farms and enabling a cultural connection to their ancestors. But now, the river has become the centre of a contentious tug-of-war between two powerful neighbours—India and China.

The 11.2-gigawatt (GW) Siang Upper Multipurpose Pro- The project (SUMP) is planned near Geku village in Upper Siang district. The project has faced opposition ever since it was proposed by government think tank NITI Aayog in 2017. In April 2022, the Centre directed the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to carry out a pre-feasibility survey to understand the technical, economic, social and environmental feasibility of the project. Such surveys are done in phases and involve several tasks such as drilling of the area's rocks to check for strength and ear-marking villages for relocation. A September 2024 report from NHPC estimated the cost of the dam at US $13.2 billion. Across the McMahon Line, China has unveiled plans to build an even more massive 66-GW hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, the upper course of the Siang. It will cost $137 billion.