Majuli Going Under

From the ferryboat, the water seems to stretch unendingly towards the horizon – the Brahmaputra looks like a calm sea, its flow so steady that it is barely perceptible. As it proceeds on its quiet course, it is hard to believe the river can actually ruin lives and livelihoods. Having started the journey at Nemati Ghat near the tea town of Jorhat in Assam, we float peacefully for two-and-a half hours to reach Majuli, the world's largest river island. Or perhaps not. That epithet probably belongs to an island in Brazil. Some sources hasten to clarify that Majuli is the largest mid-river island in the world. The title may be under dispute; but what is incontrovertible is that the mighty river's depredations are rapidly eroding the island's soft, silty soil, and soon Majuli may cease to exist.

The island's troubles are believed to have started with the Assam earthquake of 1950. This wrought major topographical changes in the Brahmaputra, bringing the island directly in collision with its ravaging power – resulting in devastating floods almost every year and even more-pernicious erosion. Disturbances in the monsoon cycle and possibly larger volumes of glacial melt, generally attributed to climate change, added to factors such as increasing upland deforestation, has further aggravated the situation. At less than 500 sq km, the island is today a pale shadow of the more than 1200 sq km it occupied 60 years ago. The great river continues to eat away at the island, with the rate of erosion said to be nearly seven and a half sq km annually.