Mitul Baruah

Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam

This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.

Posted on 30 Oct, 2022 07:19 PM

The accumulation of capital and misery go hand in hand, concentrated in space.

― David Harvey, The Limits to Capital, 2006 [1982]: 418

Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)

Interspecies love in a flood-ravaged Assam village

Systems of co-existence can help in mitigating the human-elephant conflict in the region.

Posted on 08 Aug, 2020 03:51 PM

Salmora in Majuli river island in Assam is not any ordinary village. Located on the southeastern corner of the island, surrounded by the mighty Brahmaputra on three sides, this village is remarkable in many ways.

Potters' families belonging to Kumar community of the village make earthen pots (Image: Mitul Baruah)

Beyond the death toll: The everyday violence of Assam’s floods

Mitul Baruah from Ashoka University narrates personal experiences of people affected by floods in Majuli, Assam.

Posted on 19 Aug, 2019 12:53 PM

Floods are an annual phenomenon in Assam. They are as integral to the state as the Brahmaputra River is, and each monsoon, we are reminded that Assam exists (or is drowning). As I write this piece, Assam is slowly recovering from the first wave of flood this monsoon.

Floods in Majuli Assam. Photo credit: Mitul Baruah

Nal se Jal: hit or miss?

An analysis of the new Nal se Jal scheme, promising drinking water to every household in India by 2024.

Posted on 28 Jun, 2019 02:52 PM

Water scarcity has a history … and that history is nothing less than the history of government. – Alatout, 2008.

Image for representational purposes only. Image credit: India Water Portal on Flickr

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