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³ Raiyatwari was a system of land ownership where individual farmers paid revenue directly to the government during the colonial period.

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¹¹ Government of Assam, Note by Chief Commissioner of Assam on the Extension of Cultivation in Assam and Colonization of Wastelands in Assam, 1898, p. 35.

¹² Government of India, Census of India, Bengal, Vol. 5, Part 1, 1931, Chapter III, pp. 147–49.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Government of Assam, Note by Chief Commissioner of Assam, p. 44.

¹⁵ The other issue was the nature of tenure in these tracts. As for the last question, there was a strong sentiment against the raiyatwari system. It was argued that with raiyatwari it would be difficult to convert Assam's wastelands into rich crop-producing areas. One reason for the opposition could be that raiyatwari foreclosed the possibility of earning zamindari rent. In a memorandum submitted to the Assam government against any move to eliminate the middlemen between the state and peasant, the Jorhat Sorbojanik Sabha, powerful conglomeration of Assamese landlords argued that ‘middleman is not only politically important, but also necessary for the extension of cultivation’. However, this did not find favour with the government. Although petitioning by the local elite proved to be of no avail, it became clear that the interests of the Assamese landed class and colonial state converged on the reclamation endeavour, for each stood to gain from the resultant surplus. See Das, D. and Saikia, A., ‘Early Twentieth Century Agrarian Assam: A Brief and Preliminary Overview’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 46, No. 41, 2011, pp. 73–80.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Bose, S., Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal Since 1770, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993, p. 27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹⁹ Sachse, F. A., Bengal District Gazetteers, Mymensingh, Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, Calcutta, 1917, p. 51Google Scholar. Also see, W. W. Hunter, The Indian Empire: Its History, People and Products, W. H. Allen, London, 1893, p. 391.

²⁰ Government of India, Review of Agricultural Operations in India, 1904–1913, p. 26.

²¹ Hunter, The Indian Empire, p. 391.

²² Hunter, The Imperial Gazetteer of India, p. 391.

²³ A recent study estimates that of a culturable area of 3.4 million hectares in Assam, 3.1 million hectares are flood-prone. Only 270,000 hectares are protected. Verghese, B. G., Waters of Hope, Integrated Water Resource Development and Regional Cooperation within the Himalayan-Ganga-Brahmaputra-Barak Basin, Oxford & IBH Publishing, Delhi, 1990, p. 126.Google Scholar

²⁴ Allen, B. C., Assam District Gazetteers, Vol. 4, Pioneer Press, Allahabad, 1905, p. 124.Google Scholar

²⁵ The zamindars of Bengal continued to resist the colonial government's attempt to bring newly formed chars under taxation. In Bengal, such lands were administered under the Bengal Alluvion and Diluvion Regulation of 1825. See, for instance, Secretary Of State for India vs Bijoy Chand Mahatap, 22 May 1918, Calcutta High Court: indiankanoon.org/doc/205099/, [accessed 13 January, 2015]. For further discussion, see I. Iqbal, The Bengal Delta, Palgrave, London, 2010. Newly formed char lands in the valley continue to be a site of intense competition even in the twenty-first century. The widespread communal violence in the north bank of Assam in October 2008 was a result of similar contests over char land.

²⁶ Allen, Assam District Gazetteers, Vol. 4, p. 124.

²⁷ Hoernle, A. F. R., ‘The Gauhati Copper-plate Grant of Indrapala of Pragjyotiisa on Asam’, The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Part, 1, No. 2, 1897, p. 131–132.Google Scholar

²⁸ D’Souza, Drowned and Dammed.

²⁹ A series of official reports confirming silt's contribution to increased crops yield were published in The Agrarian Ledger. Such experiments dealt with both river silt and canal silt. For instance, see Leather, J. W., ‘Indian Manures: Their Composition, Conservation and Application’, The Agricultural Ledger, Vol. 4, No. 8, 1897, pp. 34–36.Google Scholar

³⁰ Report on the Land Revenue Administration in Assam, 1881–1882, Assam Secretariat Press, Shillong, 1882.

³¹ F. C. Henniker, Officiating Director, Department of Land Records and Agriculture, Assam, to The Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, No. 2374, Shillong, 18 May 1898, Assam Secretariat Proceedings, May 1898, Assam State Archives [hereafter ASA].

³² Allen, Assam District Gazetteers.

³³ Chowdhury, A. A., A History of Coochbehar (in Bengali), Vol. 1, Government Press, Coochbehar, 1936.Google Scholar

³⁴ Misra, S., Becoming a Borderland: The Politics of Space and Identity in Colonial Northeastern India, Routledge, Delhi, 2011.Google Scholar

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³⁶ Kerr, Hem Chunder, Report on the Cultivation of, and Trade in, Jute in Bengal, and on Indian Fibres Available for the Manufacture of Paper, Bengal Secretariat Press, Calcutta, 1874, p. 20.Google Scholar

³⁷ The cost of production of jute in Nowgaon was double that of the Mymmensing or Rongpur districts of East Bengal in 1872.

³⁸ Government of Assam, The Colonization of Waste-lands in Assam.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ For Bengal cyclones, see Sachse, Bengal District Gazetteers, p. 58.

⁴¹ Iqbal has discussed in detail the critical ecological deterioration in the East Bengal villages by the late nineteenth century as well as early decades of the twentieth century. Iqbal, The Bengal Delta, Chapter 8.

⁴² Oldham, R. D., Report on the Great Earthquake of 1897, Geological Survey of India, Calcutta, 1899Google Scholar; Ward, F., ‘The Assam Earthquake of 1950’, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 119, No. 2, June 1953, pp. 169–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴³ Bose, Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital, p. 86.

⁴⁴ Iqbal, The Bengal Delta; Bose, Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital.

⁴⁵ Government of India, Census, pp. 147–49.

⁴⁶ Ibid.

⁴⁷ In 1897–1898, an estimated 4,362 acres of land were under jute crop in the valley districts; this increased to 130,000 acres in 1919–1920. This estimate is based on Statistical Abstract Relating to British India from 1910–1911 to 1919–1920, His Majesty's Stationary Office, London, 1922; and Government of India, Agricultural Statistics of British India for the Years 1897–1898 to 1901–1902, Part-II, 1904.

⁴⁸ Imperial Institute, Indian Trade Enquiry. Reports on Jute and Silk, J. Murray, London, 1921.

⁴⁹ The growth of the Indian jute industry in the second half of the nineteenth century has been carefully explained in Gordon Thomas Stewart, Jute and Empire: The Calcutta Jute Wallahs and the Landscapes of Empire, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1998.

⁵⁰ Government of Assam, Report on the Survey Conducted in the Jute Growing Areas of Assam: For the Study of Indebtedness among the Cultivators, 1963.

⁵¹ For further details, see A. Saikia, A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900, Routledge, Delhi, 2013, Chapter 1.

⁵² Based on Jute statistics provided from the Indian government sources at: http://www.indiastat.com/default.aspx, [accessed, 13 January 2015].

⁵³ R. Ahmed, The Progress of the Jute Industry and Trade (1855–1966), Pakistan Central Jute Committee, Dacca, 1966.

⁵⁴ As East Bengal settlers had settled down in the riverine tracts, the government became aware of the actual physical space. Erosion was regularly reported by the revenue officials.

⁵⁵ ‘Embankment in Agriculture’, The Agricultural Ledger, No. 2, 1897; Darrah noted, ‘The Deputy Commissioners of Goalpara, Darrang, Nowgong, Naga Hills, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, and Garo Hills report that no action has been taken in recent years to promote the construction of dams and bunds in their districts for purposes other than that of irrigation.’

⁵⁶ Sikka, D. R., ‘Climate, Climate Variability and Climate Change for North-East India’, in Biodiversity and its Significance, Tandon, Pramod, Abrol, Y. P., and Kumaria, Suman (eds), I. K. International Pvt. Ltd, Delhi, 2007, pp. 110–118, Table 7.4.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Antrobus, H. A., A History of the Assam Company, 1839–1953, T. and A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1957, p. 306.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ F. O. Lechmere-Oertel, Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Shillong, Note on Floods in the Surma Valley, Assam, their Causes and Remedies, 6 November 1917, Assam Secretariat Proceedings, Nos. 1–62, Rev.-A, June 1918, ASA.

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁶⁰ In 1929, due to the sudden fury of the flood, which caused serious damage to crops and property, the Assam Legislative council constituted a commission to enquire into the causes of floods in Assam and their remedies.

⁶¹ Tinidiniya Asomiya, 11 January 1930.

⁶² Report of the Flood Enquiry Committee, Government Press, Assam, 1930, p. 5, para. 32.

⁶³ In rivers of Orissa, gauges had already been reading water levels since 1868. See P. C. Mahalanobis, ‘Rain Storms and River Floods in Orissa’, Sankhya, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1940, p. 3.

⁶⁴ Report of the Flood Enquiry Committee, p. 5, para. 32.

⁶⁵ Blackbourn, D., The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany, W. W. Norton, New York, 2007Google Scholar. Also see, Thomas, B. F. and Watt, David Alexander, The Improvement of Rivers: A Treatise on the Methods Employed for Improving Streams for Open Navigation, and for Navigation by Means of Locks and Dams, Vol. 1, J. Wiley & sons, New York, 1913.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ A couple of year later, revenue remission became a major nationalist plank in the flood of council debates. Guha, ‘A Big Push without a Take-off’.

⁶⁷ In 1962 the Assam government criticized the Indian central government, stating that monetary considerations should not hinder the dredging of the Brahmaputra to save it from perennial flood. ‘Saving Assam from frequent floods: Ministers to hold talks with Nehru’, The Times of India, 1 September 1962.

⁶⁸ ‘Brahmaputra to be dredged’, The Times of India, 2 June 1968.

⁶⁹ Ibid.

⁷⁰ For instance, a stretch of seven kilometres at Chimmna in western Assam was dredged. The width of this section was 30 metres. A second round of dredging was carried out at a place called Alikash to reduce erosion.

⁷¹ S. N. Phukan, a retired senior administator of the Brahmaputra Board was quoted saying that dredging could hardly be of help in taming the Brahmaputra. ‘Brahmaputra dredging not pragmatic’, The Sentinel, 28 February 2005.

⁷² In 2009 in Dhaka a human chain was formed to seek an immediate dredging of the Brahmaputra to make the river navigable during the winter. ‘Human chain formed on Brahmaputra river demanding dredging’, The New Nation, 28 April 2009.

⁷³ Misra, D., ‘The Bihar Flood Story’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32, No. 35, 1997.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Government of Assam, A Note on the Flood in Assam Submitted to the Union Minister of Flood and Irrigation, 1954.

⁷⁵ The tributaries used to flood their independent basins. When the Brahmaputra overflows simultaneously along with its tributaries, the flood becomes a major problem.

⁷⁶ Kingdon-Ward, F., ‘Aftermath of the Great Assam Earthquake of 1950’, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 121, No. 3, September 1955, pp. 290–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁷⁸ Government of India, Ministerial Committee on Flood Control, 1964.

⁷⁹ Speech of Gopinath Bordoloi, Assam Legislative Assembly Debates, September 1947.

⁸⁰ Hem Barua, The Red River and Blue Hills, Lawyers Book Stall, Guwahati, 1962.

⁸¹ Assam Governor, Budget Speech to the Assam Legislative Assembly, Government of Assam, Shillong, March 1952.

⁸² Phukan, Girin, Assam's Attitude towards Federalism, Sterling Publications, New Delhi, 1984.Google Scholar

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⁸⁴ Government of India, Report of the National Flood Commission, Vol. 1, 1976.

⁸⁵ Government of Assam, Protection of Dibrugarh Town from Erosion by the Brahmaputra 1955–1956, 1956.

⁸⁶ Ibid.

⁸⁷ Kotoky, P., Bezbaruah, D., Baruah, J., and Sarma, J. N., ‘Nature of Bank Erosion along the Brahmaputra River Channel, Assam, India’, Current Science, Vol. 88, No. 4, 2005, pp. 634–641.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Although the flood problem has been controlled a great extent by the construction of a dyke system on either bank, nevertheless there exist certain gaps in this system where flooding occurs year after year.

⁸⁹ This table is prepared from Agarwal and Narain, Floods, Flood Plains and Environmental Myths, p. 73.

⁹⁰ Most embankments followed guidelines prepared by the Embankment Manual of Central Water Commission, Government of India. This was also largely based on Harrison, Henry L., The Bengal Embankment Manual: Containing an account of the action of the government in dealing with the embankments and water-courses since the permanent settlement—A discussion of the principles of the Act of 1873, The Bengal Secretariat Press, Calcutta, 1875Google Scholar.

⁹¹ K. B. Roy, a technocrat associated with embankment construction during the early days in the valley wrote that the ‘embankments cost large sums of money, are unremunerative and do not provide protection against major floods’. K. B. Roy, ‘Flood Prevention in the Rivers of Bihar, North Bengal and Assam’, The Economic Weekly, 9 October 1954, pp.1121–1126.

⁹² Government of India, National Commission on Flood, Report, Vol. 1, Department of Irrigation, Ministry of Energy and Irrigation, New Delhi, 1980, pp. 83–84.

⁹³ Anon, Report of the Expert Committee on 1986 Floods in Assam, Government of Assam, Guwahati, 1987.

⁹⁴ Government of Assam, Documentation on Past Disasters, their Impact, Measures Taken, Vulnerable Areas in Assam, Centre for Natural Disaster Management, Assam Administrative Staff College, n.d.

⁹⁵ During 1985–1986, 1986–1987, 1987–1988, and 1988–1989, more than 20, 18, 96, and 97 per cent respectively, of the total area under embankment protection was breached, leading to unexpected crop and other damages, Agarwal and Narain, Floods, Floodplains and Environmental Myths, p. 85. This is true across the Brahmaputra. The flood-induced losses inside the embankments are much higher than outside the embankments in Bangladesh. Thompson, M. and Sultana, P., ‘Distributional and Social Impacts of Flood Control in Bangladesh’, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 162, No. 1, March 1996, pp. 1–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁹⁶ Agarwal and Narain, Floods, Floodplains and Environmental Myths, p. 87.

⁹⁷ Annual Flood Report, Assam, Government of Assam, Shillong, 1961, p. 1.

⁹⁸ Singh, R. B., ‘Flood Mitigation and Flood Plain Management in the Brahmaputra Plain: A Case Study’ in Ugo Maione, Lehto, Beatrice Majone, and Monti, Rossella (eds), New Trends in Water and Environmental Engineering for Safety and Life, Balkema, Rotterdam, 2000.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ Annual Flood Report, Assam, 1961, p. 4.

¹⁰⁰ Government of Assam, Documentation on Past Disasters.

¹⁰¹ Rangasami, Amrita, ‘The Paupers of Kholisabhita Hindupara: Report on a Famine’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 10, No. 5/7, Annual Number, February 1975, pp. 267–282Google Scholar.

¹⁰² The Matmora embankment in Lakhimpur in eastern Assam invited strong resistance from the fishing communities, requiring sustained political negotiation. The story of Puthimari river embankment was similar, and the government admitted that the work could not be completed due to the strong opposition of villagers. Annual Flood Report, Assam, p. 5.

¹⁰³ In 1961 the newly constructed Puthimari river embankment in western Assam could only be protected by ‘vigilant patrolling’ and additional defence supported by sandbags. Ibid.

¹⁰⁴ Government of India, River Flooding and Erosion in Northeast India, Background Paper No. 4, Ministry of North East Development, 2006.

¹⁰⁵ In 2010–2013 there were widespread reports of jute farmers burning the sacks of jute fibres as jute prices continued to fall.

¹⁰⁶ http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/4-jute-farmers-killed-in-police-firing-in-assam/858188/, [accessed 13 January 2015]; Arupjyoti Saikia, ‘Morpat Krishakar Durdasa Suniba Kune’, Asamiya Pratidin, 11 October 2011.

¹⁰⁷ The valley's floodplain remained as one of India's most flooded places. In India during 1953–1987 the average total area affected by annual flooding was 7.66 million hectares; 31.84 million people were affected; and Rs. 7,680 million was the total damage to crops, houses, and other public utilities. Agarwal and Narain, Floods, Floodplains and Environmental Myths, p. 2.

¹⁰⁸ A 2009 Assam government policy defended the idea of multi-purpose dams as a key to flood control. Framed by the larger background of India's increasing shift to neoliberal economic policies, the government guidelines emphasized that where flood control is one of the key uses of multi-purpose dams, it will be ensured that the dam significantly intercepted the catchment/drainage above the affected area. Wherever dams and reservoirs exist or are contemplated for multi-purpose benefits, flood management is included among their purposes. In highly flood-prone areas, flood management is to be given overriding consideration in reservoir policy, even at the cost of some irrigation or power benefits. Government of Assam, Assam State Water Policy, 2009, Section 8.9.4.