Letter from the Editor-In-Chief

Dear friends,

July 2011

In this issue of Eastern Panorama, we draw attention to China’s plans to build dams which experts feel, will have dire consequences on the River Brahmaputra. China had announced that it has plans to build a dam on the river so as to divert some of the water to the parched Xinjiang region. China claims that this will not have an adverse effect on the people of India and Bangladesh but India is in for a rude awakening if it stands reassured by these claims.

China’s ambitious plan to divert water from the south to the arid north along three major routes is of real concern not only to India but also to Bangladesh. One of the routes is from the Brahmaputra and involves building a dam on the ‘great bend’ of the Brahmaputra and this will impact both India and Bangladesh and millions of people who depend on the waters of this river for their livelihood.

Even after India’s repeated accusations, China denied that it had plans to construct the dam. It was not until last year that China finally admitted that it actually had such plans. Now, one has to question, Why the secrecy? What is the hidden agenda here?
Once the construction of the dam is complete, the flow of the Brahmaputra will be in the hands of the Chinese. One needs to remember here that the Brahmaputra is the lifeline of the North East region. As such, control over the Brahmaputra translates into control over the North East. With this kind of power in its hands, China will be able to compel India to think twice before making any decision as it will have a strangle hold over the North East region of India. Should China actually block the flow of the Brahmaputra, it will lead to famine in the entire North East region.

One should also not forget China’s claim over a large portion of Arunachal Pradesh. What happens to that claim when China is armed with this negotiating power over India?

China, on its part has assured India that there will be no adverse effects on the flow of the river after the construction of this dam is completed. However, that is beside the point. India needs to look at the fine print of this move by China as there is much at stake. This needs to be taken into account before India accepts China’s reassurances. India needs to see the bigger picture lest it hands China a bargaining tool, the likes of which it will have no answer against.

In this issue, we have also featured the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and his love for the North East region of India, particularly Shillong the then capital of undivided Assam Rabindranath stood for human rights and in this issue, we speculate on what this great defender of human rights would have thought about the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Speaking of human rights, the recent fiasco in Guwahati was a gross violation of these rights. Protest is an integral part of democracy keeping in mind that such protests, when necessary should be conducted along democratic lines. What right do agitators have to torch public and government property? Mindless ‘mob fury’ is clearly the case here and quite understandably, it has been widely condemned.