The Brahmaputra River represents nearly 30% of India's water resources potential and 41% of its total hydropower. No sustainable future for this underdeveloped region can occur without a plan combining social, political, economic, cultural, and legal considerations with scientific paradigms. This book pools the talent, knowledge and experience of a wide range of water resource professionals to provide an exhaustive study of the Brahmaputra River basin, present and future.

The unruly Brahmaputra has always been an agent in shaping both the landscape of its valley and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. But how much do we know of this river’s rich past? Historian Arupjyoti Saikia’s biography of the Brahmaputra reimagines the layered history of Assam with the unquiet river at the centre. The book combines a range of disciplinary scholarship to unravel the geological forces as well as human endeavour which have shaped the river into what it is today. Wonderfully illuminated with archival detail and interwoven with narratives and striking connections, the book allows the reader to imagine the Brahmaputra’s course in history. This evocative and compelling book will be interesting reading for anyone trying to understand the past and the present of a river confronted by the twenty-first century’s ambitious infrastructural designs to further re-engineer the river and its landscape.

The Brahmaputra is by some margin the largest river in India. After its confluence with the Ganga in Bangladesh, it becomes the largest in Asia. In The Braided River, journalist Samrat Choudhury sets out to follow its braided course from the edge of Tibet where it enters India down to where it meets the Ganga at a spot marked by the biggest red light district in Bangladesh. Along the way, he meets suspicious Indian spies, gets packed off on the back of a cement truck by soldiers, visit a shelter home for baby rhino and elephant orphans in Kaziranga, and hops from river island to riverside town meeting the locals. The tales of these encounters spice up a story that weaves in the history of the emergence of the border between India and China in Arunachal Pradesh, the formation of the Assamese identity -- a matter of great contemporary relevance owing to the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act -- and the ecological challenges posed by proposed dams. This is a genre-bending book that touches upon several hot-button issues -- environmental, military and political -- as it blends travel, memoir and history with the present.

Birthplace of legends, embracing the great religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, the mighty Brahmaputra begins its journey as a tiny glacial stream high on the desolate plateau of western Tibet, and sweeps eighteen hundred miles through three countries, to end, as wide as a sea, in the Bay of Bengal. No one is known to have travelled its entire length, a challenge described by one explorer as the 'last great Asian adventure'.In River Dog, celebrated travel writer Mark Shand chronicles his attempt to complete this journey. Undeterred by seemingly insurmountable political and geographical logistics and bureaucratic tangles, using superhuman patience, persistence and the black art of persuasion, Mark is constantly manipulated by the power of the legendary river.

This is the first comprehensive book on the rivers of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta. This volume covers all aspects of this highly populated region including land conflicts and environmental impacts such as the Indo-Bangladesh conflict over sharing of trans-boundary water. This book addresses the topic from a highly interdisciplinary perspective covering areas of geography, geology, environment, history, archaeology, sociology and politics of the Bengal region. The book appeals to a wide range of audiences from India, Bangladesh and the international community. The style of presentation makes it easily suitable for students, researchers and interested laymen.

Once a prosperous region, the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basin—inhabited by about a tenth of the world’s population—is currently one of the poorest. Large-scale socioeconomic development is urgently needed to ensure the sustainability of the region, and the management of water resources is a crucial part of this. Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Waters: Advances in Development and Management discusses water resource development and management issues related to the GBM river basin, including interactions, institutional set ups, and future perspectives. It also proposes several novel technologies, developed by the author, to help revolutionize the development of India’s waters. Written by an authority in water resource management studies, the book addresses the need for a holistic, integrated, basin-wide approach to improve the quality of life for people living within the region. Pointing out that water does not recognize political boundaries, the text also discusses Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan as integral parts of the GBM basin. The author suggests that the unique geophysical and hydrologic characteristics of the basin present an opportunity for technologies that can increase the available water and hydroelectric potential in the region. The proposed advances can also help generate collaborative development between India and its neighboring countries. The book emphasizes the adoption of a societal-environmental systems management approach, which treats the physical and social-environmental systems as integral components, backed by participatory transparent modeling. It also argues that technology must be considered a key part of the system. A unique contribution to water resources engineering, this book provides readers with a case study of the development and management of the world’s largest water system. It offers new perspectives and useful advice for other countries and regions developing river and irrigation plans and for policy makers involved in large-scale water resources engineering.