Beijing’s plan for the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Brahmaputra River has rattled New Delhi, raising fears of water scarcity, strategic vulnerability, and forced displacement in India’s northeast.
A looming hydropower giant in the high reaches of Tibet has cast a long shadow over India’s northeast. China’s announcement of plans to build the world’s largest dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River—just before it crosses into Arunachal Pradesh—has sparked urgent concerns in New Delhi, reported by Daily Times.
Indian officials warn the project could reduce the Brahmaputra’s dry-season flow by as much as 85 percent, potentially crippling water supplies downstream. An internal analysis suggests Beijing’s structure may divert up to 40 billion cubic meters annually, a volume India fears could one day be wielded as leverage in moments of tension.
In response, India has hastened its own countermeasure: the Upper Siang dam project. Designed with a storage capacity of 14 billion cubic meters, it promises a controlled water release to shield cities like Guwahati from shortages that experts predict could reach 25 percent without intervention. Survey teams, escorted by heavy security, are already scouting sites.
But the plan comes at a human cost. The Adi tribe and other local communities have voiced fierce resistance, citing fears of mass displacement and the loss of ancestral farmland. More than 100,000 people could be indirectly affected.
Beijing insists its mega project is safe and environmentally sound, yet experts caution that massive dams in this seismically active region heighten risks of landslides and floods.
For India, the choice is stark: safeguard water security in an era of deepening rivalry, or heed the voices of its own people resisting the price of protection.
