Nikita Chatterjee

PARI Desk

Editor

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Moheshwar Samuah vividly
remembers the first time he had to relocate because of floods. He was just five
years old. “The water first swept away one of our houses. We got into our boats
and escaped to find shelter; relocating to land closest to the island,” Samuah,
now in his sixties, says. 



Like Samuah, the 1.6 Lakh
residents of Majuli – a river island in Assam – have been impacted by frequent
floods and shrinking land. The island’s land has shrunk from roughly 1,245
square kilometres in 1956 to 703 sq km in 2017, says this report by the <a href="https://majuli.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/public_utility/DDMA%20Plan_compressed.pdf">District Disaster Management Authority</a>. 



 “This is
not really Salmora,” Samuah says and adds, “Salmora was taken by the [river]
Brahmaputra nearly 43 years ago.” New Salmora was then formed by Brahmaputra
and its tributary, Subansiri where Samuah has been living with his wife, daughter and his son&#39;s family for the last 10 years.



His new home is a semi-permanent structure made
of cement and mud. The toilet, which is built outside, can only be accessed
with a ladder. “Every year, we are losing land to the Brahmaputra,” he says.

Frequent flooding has
impacted agriculture in the village. “We can’t grow rice, mati dal [black lentil] and vegetables like baingan [eggplant] or pattagobi
[cabbage]; now no one has land,” says Jiswar, Salmora’s sarpanch. Many
residents have taken up other work like boat-making, pottery and fishing. 



“Salmora’s boats are in
demand across the island,” says Samuah, who makes boats, because many people
from chaporis (smaller islands) need
to use boats to cross the river, ferry children to school, fishing and during
floods. 



Samuah taught himself the
craft of boat-making; they work in groups of three. The boats are made from hazal guri, an expensive wood which is
not easily available but is used because it is “strong and long-lasting,”
according to Samuah, which they get from vendors in Salmora and neighbouring
villages.



A big boat takes a week to complete, a smaller
one takes five days. With many hands pitching in, they can make 5-8 boats a
month. A big boat (carrying 10-12 people and three motorcycles) costs Rs. 70,000, a
smaller one Rs. 50,000; these earnings are split between two or three of them.

The income from boat-making
is unstable as orders for boats only come closer to the monsoon (and flooding
season). So, Samuah is without work for many months and doesn’t expect a
monthly income. 



When it floods, Rumi
Hazarika, now in her fifties and an expert oarswoman, rows out into the river
to collect firewood to sell at the village market; this fetches her a few
hundred rupees per quintal.  She also
sells the pots she makes out of koloh
mati  (black soil) at Garamur and
Kamlabari, which are at the island’s centre, for Rs 15 a piece, and earthen
lamps for Rs. 5 each. 



“Along with our land, we are losing our
traditional practices,” she says, “our koloh
mati is now being washed away by the Brahmaputra.” The reporter would like to thank Krishna Pegu for his help with the story.

‘We are losing land to the Brahmaputra’

‘బ్రహ్మపుత్ర వరదల్లో కొట్టుకుపోతోన్న భూమి’

‘பிரம்மபுத்திராவுக்கு எங்களின் நிலத்தை இழக்கிறோம்’

'ਬ੍ਰਹਮਪੁਤਰ ਸਾਡੀ ਜ਼ਮੀਨ ਨਿਗਲ਼ਦੀ ਜਾ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ'

‘ବ୍ରହ୍ମପୁତ୍ରରେ ହଜି ଯାଉଛି ଆମ ଜମି’

‘ब्रह्मपुत्रा आमच्या जमिनी गिळंकृत करतेय’

ഞങ്ങളുടെ ഭൂമിയെ ബ്രഹ്മപുത്ര കൊണ്ടുപോവുന്നു

'ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಪುತ್ರಾ ನದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಭೂಮಿ ಕೊಚ್ಚಿ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದೆ'

‘ब्रह्मपुत्र हमारी ज़मीनें निगलती जा रही है’

'બ્રહ્મપુત્રાને કારણે અમારી જમીનનું ધોવાણ થઈ રહ્યું છે'

‘ब्रह्मपुत्र लीलत हवय हमर माटी’

‘हमनी के जमीन ब्रह्मपुत्र के पेट में समा रहल बा’

‘ব্রহ্মপুত্রই শেষে জমি কাড়ছে আমাদের’

ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰৰ বুকুত জাহ যোৱা মাজুলীৰ মাটিবোৰ...

Majuli

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‘We are losing land to the Brahmaputra’

In this village in the island of Majuli, frequent floods over many decades have led to a loss of livelihoods around agriculture while other traditional occupations, such as boat-making, have been unstable sources of income.

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