Pranab Jyoti Sarma

River Bank Erosion in Brahmaputra Valley: a Geographical Study in Morigaon District of Assam Pranab Jyoti Sarma

The North Eastern Region of India is one of the most hazard prone regions in India, with various natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, landslides and cyclonic storms occurring at regular intervals. The Brahmaputra is a major river system of the world characterized by exceedingly high rates of basin erosion causing immense long-term destruction every year. The continuous retirements and unabated erosion causes heavy loss to the valuable homestead and fertile agricultural lands, besides evacuation of thickly populated riverine dwellers. Thus there is need to have a proper understanding of the problems and consequences of bank erosion, the changing social and economic characteristics due to rehabilitation so as to undertake meaningful mitigation measures for the benefit of the displaced people in particular and the society as a whole. The present work basically embodies the detailed geographical treatment of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of erosion affected people in the Morigaon district of Assam.