imagining rivers

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Perspectives

Imagining Rivers

Humanbeings have often personified rivers. But the movefrom'mother'natureto 'obedientdaughter'riverhas been detrimentalto humanwelfare. Weneed to see rivers as a content we live in andnotas a resourcewe 'harness' and 'control'.

KUNTALA LAHIRI-DUTT

5W That is a river? Is it only what

we imagine it to be? Rivers do

exist - they are 'embodied en-

tities' that can be seen, felt, touched and

traced on a map. Their characteristics -differentandvisible though they undoubt-

edly are and have been - are lived out in

a physical body. Still we have a plethoraof images anddifferent discourses of 'the

river' reflecting a confusion about what

the river is, what it should be, and what

needs to be done if, as a 'resource' we

want to get the best out of the water it

carries. It is thus possible to see rivers in

different ways, and the fact attests to the

social and historical construction of

rivers. As a student of geography which

straddles the physical and social worlds,I have followed with much interest the

rising emotions over the Narmadaandthe

issue of water resource planning in India

and have wondered if there is a right wayof imagining rivers. I am not attemptingto corrector supplement a false or incom-

plete representation;there may not be an

ideal and right way of representingrivers. The focus of my discussion is on

how rivers have been conceptualised,and how the modernisation and develop-ment agenda of the government has cre-

ated binary oppositions such as tradi-

tional vs developmentalist, anti-dam vspro-dam, local vs global, biocentric vs

anthropocentric, and small vs large.Let me begin with an example. In his

article 'Problem of canal excavation in

DamodarValley Corporation' publishedin 1959 in Indian Journal of Power and

RiverValleyDevelopment, RamSarup,an

engineer of the Damodar Valley Corpo-ration(DVC) described how the constru-

ction work on canals progressed through

mighty problems,and how they were dealt

with. He elaborated how heavy bulldozers

were brought in to 'clean up land' since

thick jungles and ponds were hinderingthe survey of the area. Then 'heavy pumpswere used to 'dewater' the ponds, and the

ridges between the ponds were 'derooted'

to 'avoid damages to the tyres'. The soft,deltaic, alluvial soil was hardened this

way so that motor scraperscould be used.

Since the water table was very high,'borrow pits were left for drying up for

several days and machines had to fill the

embankments in patches here and there

adjacent to their respective borrow area'.

Even then, the use of machines proveddifficult as tractorscrapers got stuck and

'had to be towed out withgreatdifficulty'.Then a problem of soil shortage arose

whileconstructingthe embankmentsalongthe Damodar, and 'some more land was

acquired to meet the need for soil'. The

embankments, however, created another

problem in turn;they obstructedthetribu-

taries to meet and the distributariesto take

off from theDamodar.Thus, theSali river

'was closed by building embankments

along the course of the main river'. Ram

sarup's view must have been the 'right'

way to imagine rivers in an Indiaaspiringto capture the benefits of western science

and technology.Ram Sarup wrote his article 40 years

ago, at a time when environmental and

ecological effects of developmental ac-tivities did not receive adequate attention

in the world. But still, it reads as thoughall this was happening in a vacuum, a

space created for the first time by modern

science and technology, and to be shaped

by these very forces. As if suddenly the

water flowing through the river turned

into a 'resource', and any excess (or lack

of it) became a constraint. When thewater

of a river flowed into a sea, it was seen

as a 'waste'. The 'resource' as it was

viewed, was to be used in a certain wayfor the first time as if no one had lived

in the land and used the water before. As

if the river did not have a conscious past;

it was treated only as a figure in a land-

scape ratherthan an image relatedto time

and place. This is a kind of 'Newtonian

space' based on the predictable and or-

derly movements of objects over an un-

differentiated space made visible for the

first time. In this space, the river is justlike a 'thing' that can be modified, con-

trolled and given a desired shape as perhuman wish throughthe use of 'superior'scientific knowledge and techniques.This view of rivers believes in durability,

stability and continuity, and believes

that modern science alone can give aconsistent and systematic interpretationof all the phenomena that we see around

us.

RamSarup'sarticlealsoexcellently tells

us, albeit in an indirectmanner,somethingabout the ideological orientation of

development in the post-colonial state as

well as the political economy of water

resource planning in India. It tells us how

rivers were represented in the 'official'

perspective 40 years ago when the DVC

built the dams and embankments in a bid

to 'control' the river. If the environment

is a social construction, then that societymust be put in its time and place perspec-tive. Through the representationof rivers

in a certain way, the state also generatesa representationof itself as a controller of

all the elements of the natural environ-

ment and endows itself with performative

power in terms of river control.

Statements like 'floods cause tremen-

dous humansuffering and economic loss'

abound in government documents, then

and now. When a riverfloods, it is viewed

as a 'menace'; and the state is supposed

to have the responsibility of remedying it.The urban-based media too perceivesfloods as a 'disaster'. Floods in eastern

India and Bangladesh draw much atten-

tion in thenationalandinternationalmedia.

Since they make good stories of human

misery, the media plays up the 'disaster'

angle as it does not have readily available

information on the causes of floods. The

chain of events that follow a 'flood' -

representing it as an aberrant behaviour

of rivers- invariably leads to a high-level

Economic and Political Weekly July 1, 2000 2395



consensuson theneedfor some measureof rivercontrol.This is probablybecausethenotionof 'pervertedbehaviour'of therivermakesone feel uncomfortable,re-mindsof one's own morassof irrational-

ity, and thus invites attemptsto controlsuch behaviour.Terms like 'harnessing'and'taming'theriverarefrequentlyusedin thenow

flourishingliteratureon water

resourcemanagement.There is an in-herentarrogancein using anequestrianmetaphorfor a river,or in tryingto 'do-mesticate'a wildriverby 'taming'it. Asif theimaginedriversareuncivilandneedto be controlledthroughthe creationof

somethingof greatbeautyand magnifi-cence.

Theuseof suchtermsindescribingriverbehaviourexplains why the newly inde-

pendentstateof Indiatookuponitselfthe

rightsof controllingthe rivers.This wasdone in much the same fashionadopted

in thedevelopedcountriesof the west.Byimposinga structuralmodel of rivercon-troldevelopedinAmericaoneasternIndian

rivers,the statemadea statementof itsbeliefintheapplicationof universalprin-ciples anddenied the uniquenessof ourrivers.Moreover,this modeldeprivedthelocal communitiesliving in the riparianareasof theirrightsof managingtheirownresourcesin time-testedways.Aboveall,the technicalsolutionsadoptedto 'con-trol'riverscurtailedtherightsof riverstomove overspace,and this notonly gave

rise to a seriesof technicalproblemsbutimmensepoliticalproblemsas well. Whatthe riveranditschangingmoods meanttothosewholived in its basin,andto thosewho madetechnologychoices for them,must,therefore,be understoodas a first

step.Throughthisunderstanding,we canlookintotheknowledgebaseof thetechno-

logy adoptedby thestate.We can under-standthe political,social and economic

processesthat led to the adoptionof the

technology of large dams across andembankmentsalongrivercourses. Whattrue'objectivenecessities'laybehindthe

selectionof thistechnology? Did it leadto a furtheringof human knowledgedevelopedin the floodplainsover hun-dredsof years.Orwas ita productof howriversandtheirfloodshadmeaningsfixedon themby the westerneducated,urbanelite having access to decision-making

power?Sinceriversare the most criticalnaturalelementin deltaic Bengal, were

pluralityand heterogeneity of optionsconsidered before dealing in a certain

way with them?

Power relationsenvelopourlives at amultitudeof levels. To dominate is a

populargoal - has long been seen as a

primaryconcernof humans.The riverisneitheroutsidesociety,norisitjustathingout therein nature.Rather,riversinteract

constantlywithcultureso that how it isdealt with is largelydeterminedby the

tangleof

relationshipsandnarrativeswith

whichit is constantlynegotiating,beingaffectedby,orevenresisting.Definitionsof 'rivers'aremadeupof discoursesand

narratives,which in turn affect policiesandbehaviour,and becomeimplementedin ways thatdirectlyaffect thebodyof ariver. Much of the controversyover the'river'incontemporarytimesarisesbecause

symbols are confused with memory,memoryand symbol with actualrivers.

Consequently,ourideaof 'rivers'is basedon an oversimplifiednotion,a myththatcan be seen as a result of converging

historical developments in ideas, dis-courses,legislation,andourownpsycho-logical processesof memoryandprojec-tion.Themythisaliveandbelieved;it tellsus riversareobjectsthathave valueto usas a 'resource' and any discordantbehaviouron theirpartmustbecurbed.Weas citizens have a heavy investmentin

perpetuatingthe mythbecauseif we didnot do so, our own precariousideas of

havingcontrolovernaturearethreatened,and that can shakethe veryrootsof ourown sense of self andidentity.We,there-

fore,struggleto protectthe river'sdepen-dencyas well as projectwhatwe see asits 'correct'and'proper'behaviour.Thisaccordsus a greatdegreeof powerand

controlover rivers.Unknowingly,we are

using 'the river'as a symbol,confusingitonceagainwithrealriversandwhattheriver representsto different people indifferentcontexts.

Riversobviouslydonotexistina vacuum

exceptinRamSarup'sview.Theyarenot

separatefrom the rest of the societyand

culture,thoughthe mythis thatthey areandshould be. Sucha mythwas histori-

callyconstructedbytheurbanIndianmiddleclasses exposed to western scientific

thoughtand was, to a greatextent, en-forcedonourriversthroughtheseparationof localcommunitiesfromtheirriverwater

managementrights,andon othersthroughmeasuressuchas universaleducation.We

grew up believingwhat was taughtto usin ourschoolandcollege textbooks,thatall riversdo,andcan,flow in a controlledmanner.Wegrewupreadingandwatchingin documentariesthe success storiesof

DVC with its awe-inspiring high con-

crete dams spilling out water into the

canals.

Rivers and their floods, as they have

been socially createdinpost-colonial India,

reveal how western concepts can be trans-

planted lock, stock and barrel into an

altogether different context. In the context

of river'development'

thisknowledge

was

seen as autonomous and objective; 'val-

ues' such as reason and rationality had

been constructed as 'good' and co-termi-

nus with 'development'. This worldview

reveals an intoxicated arrogance of hu-

mans armed with 'scientific' knowledgeandtechnology, borrowed from the impe-rial rulers.What are the fundamentalchara-

cteristics of this knowledge? Its universal-

ism, its image of nature as an adversary,its assumption of replicability, and its

agenda of 'march of progress'. In other

words, the assumption is what is appli-

cable in the west would work perfectly inIndia(oranywhereelse forthatmatter)and

that would 'raise the standards of livingof the people' - another frequently used

term.

Water resource planners,as aresult,did

not appreciate the differences between

European/American rivers and those of

India, particularly the uniqueness of the

natural-social contexts of the latter. These

rivers have significant seasonal variations

in flow, they drain densely populated and

intensively cultivated areas, they do not

have stable courses, and above all, theybring down huge quantities of solids with

their waters in monsoon. The fury of the

rivers during the rainy season and the

resultant fear has propagated a 'disaster

syndrome' in the science of rivers. This

fearconceived floods asadeviantbehaviour

of therivers- something that is notnormal

- interfering with the welfare of those

living in the floodplains. The urban ex-

perts formed 'enquiry committees' and

called in western scientists and techno-

crats who eventually handed over the

responsibility of policing the rivers to the

state in ways chosen by them. 'Flood

mitigation' thus became partof selling the

fantasticdreamof multipurposerivervalley

projects in India - a simplified myth that

is now facing severe criticism after the

experience with these projects in the last

two decades. The various 'purposes'outlined in large river valley projects re-

veal systemic conflicts among each other:

'augmenting lean season flow' does not

go withhydropower generation,and'flood

control' conflicts with storing up water in

2396 Economic and Political Weekly July 1, 2000



the reservoirs, which must be kept emptyto be able to store the excess water of the

monsoons.

How did the state perform the duty of

policing the rivers? It set up multipleinstitutions and agencies for flood con-

trol, irrigation, and the rehabilitation of

displaced persons in river valley projects.These

representa

fragmentaryapproachin

dealing with a single entity like a river.

When floods do happen in spite of all the

technological and institutional interven-

tions to prevent them, there is inevitablyan emergency response from the state.

It is not surprising that there is no singu-lar agency for dealing with the conse-

quences of floods. This critical part- that

directlyinfluencesthewell-being andsafetyof human communities - is supposedly no

one's responsibility. Therefore, conflicts

of interestswithin the government and the

ensuing sense of guilt work behind the

provision of flood relief. In most post-flood situations, institutional failure has

beenshocking. Yearafteryear,one witnes-

ses the spectacle of the politics of flood

relief and inevitably the furore dies down

within a couple of months. Floods have

a human security dimension, through

they havealmostalways been viewed from

a technical angle. The real victims of a

flood areusually chosen by class; in most

cases thepoorare most affected by aflood.

One major flood can turn the poor more

vulnerable, marginalisethem further,and

may even uproot them from their land.The unease of the state with the tech-

nology of flood prevention adopted byitself is adequately spoken of by the lack

of anywell-conceived, fool-proof, popu-lar and well-publicised flood insurance

programme for the poor people living in

marginal environments in flood-proneareas.

When there is a flood, as it happened

year before last, several guesses are

floated. Take that 1998 flood in Bengalfor example. Was it because of abnor-

mal climate, related to the occurrence of

El Nino, caused by deforestation in the

Himalayas,submarineearthquakeandplatemovement in the Bay of Bengal, poorflood reliefora combinationof suchfactors,or was itjust anotherflood in aflood-prone

region? Several seminars and meetingslater, we are yet to reach a definite con-

clusion that will put all the responsibilityon some factor or the other. Floods are,

however, not unusual in deltaic Bengal.The land itself has been built up over

thousands of year with silt brought down

by theGanga-Brahmaputra-Meghna,andtheirinnumerabletributariesanddistribu-taries. One of the primarycauses of thefloods is that the rivers descendquicklyfromthe uplandscarryinghugeamountsof silt on totheflatland.Theexcess watersreachtheplainduringtherainsonlytofindthe lower reachesof the riversalready

inflated,and

invariablycause

widespreadfloodsinmonsoonmonths.Moreover,the

regionactsasa funnelfordrainingout thewatersof theentireNepal,Gangeticplains,the SikkimandDarjeelingranges,andthenorth-easternhills of theHimalayas.Theestuariesof Bengaldeltalie in an activetidalregion,which hindersthe outletofriverwater at high tide. Finally,if peakdischarges from the Ganga and

Brahmaputrasystems occur simulta-

neously,floodsareboundto occur.Floodsarethusnotonlyunavoidable,theyareaninherentfeatureof theprocessof how the

land in this deltaiclowlandwas formedover thousandsof years.

'Rivertraining' practicesadoptedbythe state have also ignoredthatduringthemonsoonsriversnotonlycarrywater;

they relocate enormousamountsof siltfromthehighlyerodibleHimalayasontothe floodplains.Onanaverage,about50

percent of the waterdescendingfromthe

NepalHimalayasduringtherainyseasonis in factsolidsof varioussize.The struc-turalcontrol of dams in hilly areas de-

signed to preventthe uplandflow from

reachingtheswollen riversof the plains,orhighembankmentsalongtherivercauses,viewedas 'theonly practicalremedy'offlood inundation,never adequatelyad-dressed the questionof solids in riverwaters.Wherewill thesego?Will it accu-mulatein thereservoirs,on thechannels,on the cultivatedfields when thereis abreachin the embankment?What is thenatureof the solids?Aretheysand,siltor

clay? The systemsof humanadjustmentto floods thathaddevelopedover centu-

ries, however,acknowledgedand evenwelcomedthisfactof solids

beingmixed

with monsoonflows of rivers.WilliamWillcocks wrote in his seminal essay'AncientSystemsof Irrigationin Bengal'thatatone timethefarmersofBengaldeltawelcomed the rains and the floods theybrought.As the rivers used to overtopthe banks, the clay-humus rich siltcontainedin theupperlayerwasdepos-ited on the soil, increasingits fertilitymany times. When an embankmentisbreachednowadays,the fertilityof agri-culturalplotsisdestroyedforseveralyears

becauseof thesanddeposition.It is truethat the floods have now become sig-nificantlylesser in volume and fewer in

frequency, but they occur more sud-

denly in unpredictableareas and are of

longerduration.As drainagechannelsarealteredor become siltedup,the extentofthe areafloodedalsochangesanderosive

activityalongtheriverbankbecomesmore

predominant.Themeasurestakenbythestatefor'flood

control' haveanotherdarkarea- thatofriskanalysis.Anytechnologymeasurehasan element of risk, the 'what if factorwhich seems to have been underplayedwhilejustifyingthe choice. Theextentof

uncertaintyinadoptinatechnologychoice- the risk factor - remained unknown.

Take,forexample,the amountof rainfalland its timingover the four months ofmonsoon. The Britishdid install some

raingaugesto measurerainfallin various

partsof thecountrybuttheirnumberwasnotadequatetoeliminatethisuncertainty.Beforea hugecapitalinvestmentis made- such as that in a large dam - there is

a need for collectingand analysingfar

greateramounts of quantitativeinfor-mation from a much largernumberof

raingaugestations.Insmallercatchmentsof streams thereare no rainguagesandhence no recordeddataexists on rainfallbehaviour.In muchof lowerBengal,thebehaviourofSeptemberrainfall- possiblythe most unpredictableof all - is the

critical factor in determiningflood in-tensity. Thus, the understanding onwhich this large-scale technologicalinterventionis foundedis shaky.It is likea blackbox and hence much assumingand extrapolatingare an essential partof the so-called scientific process. Letme elaboratethis further.We knowthatover50 percent of the raincomesinonlyfour monthsof the year in Bengal; the

rain, however, is not continuous andcomes in bursts. There are phases of

extremely intense rainfall activity andhence as much as 80

percent of the

rainfallcomesin 20 percentof the time.If thereis 400 mmrainfallin 24 hours-

as happenedin 1998- is that an aberra-tion?Ornormal?Oranextremeevent?We

simplydon't know.With all ourtechno-

logical means,we cannotpredictaccu-

ratelyhow much rain will fall over the

Chotanagpurplateauor deltaic Bengalin September.

A flood is a 'non-point'phenomenon,occurringoveralargearea,withitscausestoospreadoverextensiveareas.However,

Economic and Political Weekly July 1, 2000 2397



theimagined 'solution' to theproblem was

point-oriented such as the construction of

a dam at a single location. Thus, control

over that particular. location gives the

power to determine the well-being of a

much larger number of people living

upstreamor downstream. In several cases,if the rainfall was too heavy and the stor-

age capacitiesfailed to hold this addi-

tional water in the reservoirs, the projectadministrations are 'forced to' release

water into the already inflated rivers. This

action is usuallyjustified by another tech-

nical term - that of 'design flood' mean-

ing the degree of flood protection pro-vided in the solution is only for a certain

limit of flood. If the watergoes above that

specified level, there is no other way but

to let out the water leading to floods

downstream. In the absence of completedata on rainfalland otherparameters,what

goes on is actually a neglect of risks

involved in a technology choice. Thecontrol measures of modern river valley

development projects pursued keenly so

far in India can be best described as 'fair-

weather technology' - a kind of ad hoc

measure through which we can find how

power, authority, and constructions of

'truth'work together to produce a certain

kind of knowledge. This is a knowledgethat assumed superiority over other forms

andsystems of knowing things thatmatter

to us. In some parts of the country such

as in Bihar, the Kosi embankments have

created furtherpolitical tension as a spin-off of the technology choice. When

breaches occur somewhere along the em-

bankmentduring heavy monsoons, those

living outside insist that it has been ac-

tually cut off by those living within the

embankment area. Did the river plannersever visualise this kind of social and

political conflicts arising as offshoots of

their intervention?

Inpopularpsychology, especially amongthe city-breds, a 'fear-factor' operates in

terms of floods. The urbanmind is afraid

of therageof rivers. Inacountry like India

where wide gaps exist in almost all the

aspects of rural and urban sectors of the

economy, there is a distinct perception

gap with regardto rivers and their floods

too. Cities are where much of the capitalof a developing society is concentrated

and hence it becomes the primary task

of the state to protect them. For example,it was only after the 1943 flood when

Calcutta was detached from the rest of the

world that the Damodar floods first came

under serious scrutiny by the city elite.

Previoustothattherewerecommitteesand

inquiriestoo, buttheywere neveras sig-nificantas necessitatingthe formationofa wholenewsystemofrivercontrol.Mem-bers of a peasantfamily, havingspentalltheirlives besidea flood-proneriver,hadknownthatflood watersrecedeandwhen

theydo, the land turnsmoreproductive,enriched with the

clay-humusrich

toplayersof flood water.More than floodsas such, they fear unexpectederosionattacksof the riverswhichrob themoftheirlands,or sanddepositiononthelandwhenflood watersrushthroughbreachedembankmentsandrenderthe landsper-manentlyuncultivable.However,theurbanelitemakingthetechnologydecisionsarenot the same as those who bear the endresults of these decisions, and the first

group has since independence.viewedfloodsas themajor'problem'createdbyrivers.Manyof the miseriesof todayare

results of this attitudeand relateto howrivershavebeenproblematisedin the first

place in India.Ruralpeoplein Bengalhad forgenera-

tions livedharmoniouslywith the moodsof naturethroughintricatesystems of

adjustmentwith therhythmas the riversrose and fell. The floods used to be con-fined to the neighbouringareas of the

overflowing channels and, since theyoccurredmore or less regularly,were

negotiatedbylocalpeoplewithindigenousprecautionsdevelopedthroughthe expe-

riencedevelopedover hundredsof years.Such practicesdid not usurpeither the

rightsof a river,or those of the com-munitiesliving alongit of theirresource

managementrights.Evenindigenousar-chitecturerespectedtherightsof rivers-riversthatspreadbeyondtheirbanksduringmonsoons.Olderhousesinmanyvillagesalong the lower course of the Damodarhave high plinthlevels to protectthemfrom floods.

Let us indulge ourselves briefly andtravelfurtherbackwardsto Vedic times.River there is prettymuch like a human

being,each has its specific gender,moodand character.It is praised,loved, adu-latedand its fury appreciated.The riverdid lower itself to make way forVishwamitraalongwithhisarmyandthechariots.But it did so willingly, 'as themotherlowersherselfto feed the child onherbreastandtheyoungwomantoembraceherman'.InRigvedait is saidabout'thewaterswhoaregoddesses'that'theywhohave theoceanas theireldestflowingoutof the sea, purifyingthemselves,never

resting'wereclosed by Vritraand Ahis.Riversdescendtowardsthe sea like 'nest-

returningbirds'.Indrawith the thunder-

bolt,openedawayforthem;let the watersrunfreelyand meet the seas. By demol-

ishingVritra,Indraopened up the flood-

gates and with his weapon 'vajra' 're-leased the flow of Sapta Sindhu'. Theworld of humansand the world of riverswere never separatein this worldview.Eventhenot-so-oldfolktaleson Damodarsee it as typically'non-Aryan',thegiverand the taker,an entitywith a will andindomitablespirit. Somewherealongthe

way it all changed.To come backtothepresentonceagain,

we notethatover theyearstherehas beenagreateremphasisbythe stateonbuildingphysicalcapitalonriversratherthansocial

capital amongthe people living in their

floodplains.The state has perceivedthecontrolof riversas itsownresponsibility,

and since it possessedall the naturalre-sourcesfallingwithinits politicalbound-

aries,its ownershipof riverstoo was an-nouncedthrough'rivertraining'.Imagin-ingriversascausingthe'menaceof floods'

ignoresone vital dimensionof the rivers:

theyareessentiallychannelsof drainage.Theyare meantforthedrainageof waterfromalargeareatosea- theyarenotmeantto be areasforstoringwater.Anychannelthatis cutto letexcesswaterpassthrough,musthave aneasyoutletto the sea or intoanotherwater channel.The DVC canals

ignorethis basicfact anddraininto a low-lyingareawhichremainsunderwaterforoverfive monthsa year.LowerDamodar

valley is not an exception;drainagecon-

gestionhasbecomea seriousissueinseveral

partsof thecountry,anissue thatis rarelytakenup by the state.

We thusfindthatlargedams andhighembankmentswere theproductof objec-tificationofrivers,deprivingthemof their

righttospreadoverspace,andestablishingthe dominanceof humanson them.This

replacedthe views in which rivers were

perceivedas living beingsandeachriver

had its own, uniquecharacteristic.Thesense of oneness withrivers and attach-mentto themwasreplacedwith the sensethata river,like a wildhorse,needsto be

'harnessed','tamed' and 'controlled'.We needto askourselvescarefullywhy

we want rivers to remain innocentand

docile, andwhat this 'innocence'meansto us. It can meanfreedomfromdestruc-

tion,butalso.disempowermentfor riversand local communities.We need to con-siderhow we benefitfrom these. Fearof

EconomicandPoliticalWeekly July 1, 2000 2399



floods and safety may also relate to our

own fears of losing control over what we

see as 'resource' in rivers. Fear is a useful

and fertile ground for tyrannical gover-nance to flourish. Is this what we want for

the future?

A notable feature is that during the last

40 years since the publication of Ram

Sarup's article mentioned earlier, the

perceptions of even the rural peasant of

Bengal have changed significantly. There

has been a gradual erosion of indigenouswisdom and replication of intellectual

dependency perfected during the colonial

times. Inundation is no longer seen as an

unavoidable, natural process; ferocious

floods no longer occur with regularity at

least in the Gangetic plains of Bengal.However, when they do, they are greaterinmagnitude,longerin duration,andspreadover much larger areas than they used to

before. Revitalising the culture of 'living

with floods' is extremely difficult and im-practical in areas like the lower Damodar

valley where instead of one, farmers now

have become used to harvesting two or

threecrops in a year. Consequently, there

has been an attitudinalchange to rivers at

the village level too; local communities

now 'demand' spurs, weirs, barrages(andincase of theDamodar,theremaining four

damsplanned originally by W L Voorduin

of Tennessee Valley Authority, the tech-

nical expert of Damodar Valley plan). A

dominanteconomic form has become well

established,and

manyfarmers of

DVCcommand area now refuse to see them-

selves as peripheralto the formaldevelop-ment process of the country. If dams-

embankment-HYVseed-fertilisertechnol-

ogy is synonymous to mainstream

development, then the aspiration of the

farmer is quite understandably to get a

share of the cake too. Over the decades,theagrarianpopulations have been 'given'a particular notion of development, and

now they want more of it. It is the wayrivers have been thought that has made it

so difficult for people to now imagine its

supersession.Take boro rice for example. This crop

now provides the main source of cash

income to farmersof lower Damodar.Boro

ricecropisentirely dependentonthesupplyof irrigation water through the DVC

canals, which often are not enough or

reliable. Why do the farmersopt for canal

water?Simplybecause they paynegligibleamounts or none for it. Even groundwater

c.gsts more than water from rivers. To

preserve their self-interests, people have

to kill the river. However, the canal water

is not a singular offering; it comes in a

package andthatpackage is ratherexpen-sive. A poor peasant sells the last gold of

hiswife tobuythecapital-intensivetechno-

logy package - the entire process maps a

terrain that is structuraland governed byaglobalisation tendencywhichoffers them

only a few highly constrainedoptions. The

traditional mode of knowledge has col-

lapsed and human agency has become

reduced to a function of economic forces.

We therefore see that confusion exists

at several levels - the psychological, the

material and the symbolic - in terms of

imagining rivers. The relationshipsamong

subjectivity, power, authority, construc-

tions of 'truth', and the associated prod-uction of knowledge areexposed with re-

spect to rivers. The rivers are also some-

thing that we construct and to which we

give meaning;thisperspectival conception

of rivers can never be overlooked. Whilsta river is a naturalphenomenon, it is also

a constructedcategoryandhence theimages

vary as they are constantly produced and

reworked over time. As we begin to note

the ebb and flow of conflicting mean-

ings in the fluidity generated by various

discourses, we enable ourselves to

ponder over the contradictions, the use

of force, and the tragedies and ironies

of modern river valley development in

India. Under the distanced anddecentred

gaze of modern science the rivers ap-peared as objects - not a context within

which we live. The river lost its ad-

equacy as a metaphor that cannot be

conceived in a static form. We are now

living in a time of rapid changes, un-

certainty and major upheavals. The

future seems more frightening than ever

before and the world itself seems, like

rivers, both dangerous and threatened.

The river, in all senses, is at the centre

of this confusion. lM1

[I acknowledgethe immense debt of discussions

with Ramaswamy Iyer, Gail Omvedt, DeepakGiwali, Ajaya Dikshit, JayantaBandyopadhyayand KatherineGibson in writing this article.]

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2400 Economicand PoliticalWeekly July 1, 2000

imagining rivers

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