Dams in the Discourse of Development: Vulnerabilities and Systematic Barriers to Communities-Inclusive Policies in Arunachal Pradesh

In mid-2025, reports appeared about the resumption of stalled hydroelectric projects, including the controversial 3,097 MW Etalin hydroelectric project (HEP), in the Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh. On July 30, 2025, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydroelectric Power Projects, Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, recommended the environmental clearance for the Etalin HEP. The project is a run-of-river scheme, which aims to construct two dams on the Dri and Talo (Tangon) tributaries of the Dibang river on an area of 1175.03 hectares and an underground powerhouse complex near Etalin village in the sub-districts of Anini and Etalin in the Upper Dibang valley district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Etalin HEP was initially conceived by the Central Electric Authority. In 2008, the government of Arunachal Pradesh had allotted the project to Etalin Hydroelectric Power Company Ltd. and Jindal Power Ltd. However, the project was significantly delayed because local communities and environmentalists, conservationists, and social activists raised serious environmental and social concerns regarding the project. Anti-dam protests against the Etalin HEP peaked between 2008 and 2013. These anti-dam discourses were grounded on severe dam-related adversities that people could face, such as the adverse impacts on people’s livelihood, cultivable land, forest products, traditional lifestyles, aquatic ecosystem, forced displacement, and resettlement.

In 2020, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) conducted a biodiversity assessment of the Etalin HEP in response to the Forest Advisory Committee’s (FAC), a statutory body under MoEFCC, recommendation. Scientists and researchers from 14 institutions who reviewed the technical report prepared by WII based on the assessment raised several concerns. They argued that there “appeared to be an underplay of the negative impacts of the Etalin HEP throughout the (WII) report.” However, based on the WII report, the FAC only raised questions regarding the project’s economic viability and neither “recommended” nor “deferred” the project. Furthermore, the FAC dismissed the concerns raised by experts regarding threats to biodiversity.

Meanwhile, as the government pushed for the projects and assured the communities that the projects would not be rolled out without addressing the concerns of the local people, the dissenting voices gradually dissipated. As per reports, the consent for the dams in Dibang valley were “manufactured by terrorising the people of Arunachal Pradesh.” In 2022, two activists—one from Arunachal Pradesh and another from Assam—were arrested for displaying resistance against the Etalin HEP through “graffiti” in Itanagar, but they were released on bail after two days. In 2023, the FAC’s decision to reject the Stage II or final forest clearance of the Etalin HEP, which would require felling more than 278,038 trees, brought a ray of hope and temporary relief to those concerned about the negative environmental impacts of the project.

However, despite the protests and concerns, in 2023, the government of Arunachal Pradesh entrusted the work of constructing the Etalin HEP to Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SVJNL), a public-sector enterprise. Following this, the Project Affected People Forum (PAPF) of Arunachal Pradesh demanded immediate disbursement of compensation to the people facing involuntary displacement, urged the governments at the centre and the state to resolve the pending cases of “compensatory afforestation,” and warned that if their demands were not met they would resort to democratic resistance. In April 2025, the SVJNL, which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Arunachal Pradesh to construct the Etalin HEP and other projects, released ₹269.98 crores as land compensation. After releasing the compensation, SJVNL chairman and managing director Raj Kumar Chaudhary noted that SJVNL is committed to “responsible and inclusive development,” that the compensation was a major step towards “honouring the rights of the local communities.” Such statements raise important questions regarding the complex relationship between dam-related development and indigenous people’s rights to land, water, and forests in India’s Northeast.

Fast forward to June 2025, the Etalin HEP received Stage-1 clearance from the MoEFCC. Around the same time, protests mounted against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) to be constructed on the Siang River, which is revered as “Ane (mother) Siang” by the Adi tribe, in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Although the idea of SUMP was conceived in the early 2000s, it had remained on paper until China announced the construction of a mega dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet. India re-prioritized SUMP, along with Etalin HEP, fearing “weaponised water releases” by China in the future. Although civil society groups and students’ bodies kept voicing their concerns, the government proceeded with its decision to conduct feasibility tests in mid 2025. Consequently, protests erupted in Siang and Upper Siang districts, with “No Dam, Go Away” refrain echoing in the air. In response to the protests, the government deployed military personnel near the site of the proposed dam to ensure that the pre-feasibility assessments could be carried out without any obstruction. 

The protesting people raised several concerns regarding the SUMP, such as displacement from ancestral lands, perpetual loss of traditional livelihoods, inundation of downstream villages, and ecological risks as the proposed site falls in a seismically active zone. It is clear that ecological, cultural, and social concerns raised by environmentalists, civil society organizations, and local people are grounded in cumulative assessments. The Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) of the Dibang river basin highlighted the ramifications of HEPs in the Dibang valley.

The official position on low-carbon energy and national security concerns considering Arunachal Pradesh’s strategic location bordering China perhaps provides the justification for the implementation of mega HEPs in the Dibang valley. However, these projects also threaten to aggravate the social and environmental costs. Mega dam projects reflect a model of development, which marginalize indigenous and subaltern groups and exacerbate disparities in countries of the Global South, as post-development critiques by those like Arturo Escobar would argue. The push for fast-track clearances for the Etalin HEP and SUMP can be understood in this context.

As per recent reports, although there have been vehement protests against the SUMP, some communities in the Siang Valley have begun to sign MoUs with the government of Arunachal Pradesh supporting pre-feasibility studies for SUMP. According to officials, the local people have become optimistic about the benefits that the HEP could bring to the region, such as employment and economic growth. However, the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), which spearheaded the protests in May 2025, alleges that the MoUs were signed without community consent. The SIFF  believes that the Indian Prime Minister should visit Arunachal Pradesh and talk to the people before taking any decision regarding the SUMP.

The above complexities, therefore, raise serious questions about what is at the centre of development in Arunachal Pradesh—national security, economic development, or indigenous people’s rights? In a nutshell, the ongoing HEPs reinforce questions about building mega infrastructure at the cost of the environment, indigenous peoples’ rights, binding norms on social protection, substantive justice, and communities-inclusive policies to govern the environment.

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About the Author: Dr. Amrita Saikia is an Assistant Professor at the School of Liberal Arts & Humanities, Woxsen University, Hyderabad, and an Associate at the German Institute for Global and Area (GIGA) Studies, Hamburg, Germany. In 2023-2024, she was a Fritz Thyssen Foundation Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Asian Studies, GIGA. Dr. Saikia earned her Ph.D. in Disaster Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is the author of the monograph Gender, Nation, and Nationalism: Perspectives of Tibetan Women in Exile, published by Routledge (2025).