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'Like the Drifting Grains of Sand': Vulnerability, Securityand Adjustment by Communities in the Charlands of theDamodar River, India

Online Publication Date: 01 August 2007To cite this Article: Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala and Samanta, Gopa (2007) ''Like the DriftingGrains of Sand': Vulnerability, Security and Adjustment by Communities in theCharlands of the Damodar River, India', South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies,

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Like the Drifting Grains of Sand:1 Vulnerability,

Security and Adjustment by Communities in the

Charlands of the Damodar River, India

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Australian National University

and

Gopa Samanta, Mankar College, Burdwan

AbstractCharlands are islands formed in major river systems particularly in the flat deltaic

plains such as those in the Bengal delta in eastern India and Bangladesh. The

charlands in the lower reaches of the Damodar River in India are prone to frequent

floods, shifting river channels and consequent riverbank erosion. In spite of these

risks posed by the environment, migrant communities from Bihar and Bangladeshsettle in the charlands because the soils are fertile, and because being untitled, they

are relatively cheaper than legal lands. This paper explores the mental maps or percep-

tions that the chourasthe charland inhabitantshave of their places of living. We

ask: How do the chouras see their fragile environment? Our findings are as follows:

first of all, we agree that the perceptions of vulnerability and insecurity are subjective,

and may differ widely between different communities or groups living in the char-

lands. Secondly, we note that adaptation might be too broad a term; the specific

process is more contingent than a long-term adaptation and best described as adjust-

ment. Finally, we note that in light of our study into the livelihoods that people keep

pursuing in marginal environments such as that of chars, a felt need has arisen toredefine categories such as resilience, vulnerability or security.

Where the Land Floats on Water: CharlandsNear their mouths many rivers do not follow the same course for more than a couple

of decades, and areas that are continually subject to water logging turn into a maze of

We would like to thank Dr. David Williams for his kind editorial work on the paper. Dr. Ruchira Ganguly-Scrases

and Dr. Kalpana Rams comments at the 2004 Women in Asia conference were helpful in crystallising some of our

thoughts. The review comments of anonymous referees were also helpful in improving the structure of the paper.1 Quote from our informant Naren Sarkar.

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies,

n.s., Vol.XXX, no.2, August 2007

ISSN 0085-6401 print; 1479-0270 online/07/020327-23# 2007 South Asian Studies Association of Australia

DOI: 10.1080/00856400701499268


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moribund channels criss-crossing each other as the delta-building moves on. The

rivers in such situations constantly create charlands. The charlands (called diara

in the upper reaches of the Gangetic plains) are virgin, low-lying river islands and

sand bars occurring in the plains, particularly the deltaic parts, of rivers. They are

exposed and repeatedly affected by frequent floods, shifting river channels and riv-

erbank erosion. Consequently they may get washed away overnight by the changing

river currents. This transitional, fragile nature of the physical environment makes

chars risky and disaster-prone as human habitats. And newly-formed charlands

are even more vulnerable than the older-established ones.

The silty and sandy chars are literally on the margins of land and water worlds,

edges where earth and water ecologies and cultures meet on the fringe of humanhabitation. The human use of these borderline lands throws up a rich reservoir of

metaphors (such as the edge effect of the bringing together of people, ideas and

institutions described by McCay2), unique questions of environmental dynamics

and management,3 and debates around resilience and adaptation. We are particu-

larly interested in the last of these, and intend to examine poor peoples resilience

to marginal and vulnerable environments. Poverty and lack of choice provides the

overall backdrop of our study; the fragility inherent in the physical characteristics

or the ecology of char formation leads to persistent poverty in these charlands

which in turn provide the opportunity to acquire deeper insights into what we

mean by the terms such as vulnerability, resilience and adaptation. Thestudies of Chambers and Conway,4 Wisner,5 and Ashley et al.6 conclude that,

although the nature and causes of poverty in the charlands are complex and inter-

linked, the root causes of poverty and vulnerability are often identical and usually

overlap. A large number of people live in chars all over the world, especially in

the flat plains of developing countries of Asia such as in eastern India and Ban-

gladesh.7 To live in this hostile environment, people are obliged to take risks and

2 B. McCay, Edges, Fields and Regions, in The Common Property Digest, Vol.54 (2000), pp.68.3 CEGIS (Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Service), Riverine Chars in Bangladesh:

Environment Dynamics and Management Issues (Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2000); and M.H. Sarker,Iffat Huque and M. Alam, Rivers, Chars and Char Dwellers of Bangladesh, in International Journal of River

Basin Management, Vol.1, no.1 (2003), pp.6180 [http://www.jrbm.net/pages/archives/JRBMn1/Sarker.PDF].4 R. Chambers and G. Conway, Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century, Discussion

Paper No. 296 (Brighton, Sussex: Institute of Development Studies, 1991).5 B. Wisner, Sustainable Suffering? Reflections on Development and Disaster Vulnerability in the Post-

Johannesburg World, in Regional Development Dialogue, Vol.24, no.1 (2003), pp.135 48.6 Steve Ashley, Kamal Kar, Abul Hossain and Shibabaata Nandi, The Chars Livelihood Assistance Scoping Study,

Documents of Chars Livelihoods Assistance Project (Dhaka: DFID (Department for International Development),

2003).7 Sarker et al. note that in Bangladesh alone, about 600,000 people live on chars. In India, no such major study has

been undertaken yet to give a reliable estimate of the numbers involved. However, the figure would be much higher

than in Bangladesh, especially if those people living within the embankments along the rivers are taken into account.

328 SOUTH ASI A


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have to develop their livelihoods in such ways as to be able to cope with the

rivers moods, a process evocatively described as dancing with the rivers.8

This continual adjustmentrising above the traumatic and difficult circumstances

posed by a hostile environmentbrings us to a rethinking of the concepts of adap-

tation and resilience of human communities.9 The ability ofchouras (the people

living on the chars) to adjust to what is commonly seen as an insecure environment

offers a problematic worth investigating. The enquiry reported in this paper began

with a set of questions about the perceptions people might have of the charland as a

secure place of residence. These questions are: why do peoples live in the marginal

environment of chars in spite of immense insecurity? How much choice do they

have in selecting a place to live? Do the chouras see the charlands as a permanent

location or do they use them as a stepping-stone to move on to other places?

What insights can we get on the perceptions ofcharland dwellers of their environment?

And above all, what lessons can we learn from the charlands and the communities

living on them? In attempting to seek answers to these questions, our local-level

case study helped us to redefine the concepts of vulnerability and resilience accord-

ing to the perceptions of, and meanings derived by, the local residents.

Many years ago, a geographer asked: Why do people live on flood plains?10 Even

now, we keep asking similar questions,11 though our theoretical standpoint has

changed over time with greater insights into human behaviour. How individualssort through a maze of environmental constraints and opportunities to make

decisions is now better understood through the lens of subjective perceptions and

choices, rather than within a framework of rigid group behaviour. Consequently,

our study examined the perceptions of environmental security through the looking

glass of individual life histories of some charlands dwellers in the Damodar River

in the lower part of deltaic Bengal. The specific and complex geography of the

However, one must remember that this is a floating population, and hence these numbers are no more than

(informed) guesstimates. See Sarker et al., Rivers, Chars and Char Dwellers of Bangladesh, p.61.8

Gilles Saussier, Living in the Fringe (Paris: Figura Association, 1998).9 These are catchwords of the day, often seen from the positivist angle, dealing with the issues of resilience and sus-

tainable development, and aiming to build adaptive capacity amongst human communities or even ecological

systems or a resilience framework linking social and ecological systems.10 R.W. Kates, Hazard and Choice Perception in Flood Plain Management(Chicago: Department of Geography,

Research Paper 78, University of Chicago, 1962).11 For example, the vulnerability and adaptation (V & A) guidelines formulated by the IPCC, UNEP & USCSP for ful-

filling the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes (UNFCCC) core focus, have highlighted the

need to know the autonomous adaptation mechanisms in the various sectors of a society such as different classes or

social groups. Another study by the U.S. Country Studies Program (USCSP), in collaboration with the Government

of Bangladesh, has located vulnerability and adaptation of humans to environmental changes in various sectors. See

J.B. Smith, S. Huq, S. Lenhart, L.J. Mata, I. Nemesova and S. Toure (eds), Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate

Change: Interim Results from the U.S. Country Studies Program(Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996).

LIKE THE DRIFTING GRAINS OF SAND 329


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place forming the context of livelihoods, and the specific cultural backgrounds of

two main communities living there, gave us new insights on popularly-debated

concepts such as adjustment, adaptation and resilience.12

Charlands are known by various technical names such as bars, river islands and

slough.13 The use of charlands or similar wetland habitats by people varies widely

from country to country. In the developed world, river islands provide areas

of unique and rare plants and wildlife and are ideal locations for environmental prot-

ection. Such areas are often used for public recreational activities like boating, fishing

and game hunting. Against this, the chars in the Pjang River on the border between

Afghanistan and Tajikistan provide shelter to the lost peoplestranded Afghan

refugees of many ethnic backgrounds who were rediscovered by the wider

humanitarian and media world.14 Awareness of the river islands and sandbars as

locations of human habitations has so far been restricted; however, millions of

people in low-lying parts of developing countries such as those in the Bengal delta

use the charlands as habitats.15

Perhaps the best-known example of charlands in South Asia is the Bengal delta,

created by river-borne silt from the Himalayas. Bhattacharyyas 1998 research

shows how in recent times decreased flooding has led to increasing colonisation

of the sandbars in the Lower Damodar River, one of the several major waterways

that feed the delta. Further east, the chars of Bangladesh have been at the epicentre ofresource management and policy debates because of the importance of the riparian

zones to the countrys life and economy.16 According to Baqee, the pioneer of

research into the human occupancy of Bangladeshi chars, they house some of the

most desperate people in the country17 who, in their risk-adopting activity, have

developed a distinct sub-culture different from the ways of the people living on

12 Please note that in this paper we do not deal with the reasons why Bangladeshi unauthorised migrants are here.13

For a geomorphological interpretation of these landmasses see M. Morisawa, Rivers: Form and Process(London: Longman, 1985); and R.J. Chorley, S.A. Schumm and D.E. Sugden, Geomorphology (London:

Methuen, 1984).14 See http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/eav100101.shtml#.15 Saussier elaborates on how char people in Bangladesh even retain property title deeds and pay taxes for lands

under water with the hope of cultivating it again, once the island re-emerges: Land is fresh and fertile on the

char. The harvest is better than on the mainland. . . . Apart from the cyclones, life is sweet on the chars. Saussier,

Living in the Fringe, p.20.16 Mahajabeen Chowdhury, Womens Technological Innovations and Adaptations for Disaster Mitigation: A Case

Study of Charlands in Bangladesh, Expert Group Meeting on Environmental Management and the Mitigation of

Natural Disasters: A Gender Perspective, Ankara, 69 November 2001.17 Abdul Baqee, Peopling in the Land of Allah Jaane: Power, Peopling and Environment, the Case of Charlands of

Bangladesh (Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 1998), p.1.

330 SOUTH ASI A


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the mainland.18 In the Lower Damodar Valley, an area with relatively high agricul-

tural prosperity and high urbanisation, the shifting charlands and their communities

remain largely invisible to the mainstream/mainland economy and society.19

Vulnerability and Its DimensionsLet us first clarify our understanding of vulnerability. Wisner defines it as the likeli-

hood of injury, death, loss, disruption of livelihood or other harm in an extreme

event, and/or unusual difficulties in recovering from such effects.20 The InternationalStrategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines it as a set of conditions and processes

resulting from physical, social and environmental factors, which increases the suscep-

tibility of a community to the impact of hazards.21 The United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) sees vulnerability as a human condition or process resulting

from physical, social and environmental factors, which determines the likelihood

and scale of damage from the impact of a given hazard.22 Schjolden defines vulner-

ability as the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with,

adverse effects of natural disasters.23 According to Blaikie et al., vulnerability can

be measured by the capacity of a person or group to anticipate, cope with, resist,

and recover from the impact of a particular natural hazard.24 Thus, vulnerability rep-

resents the interface between exposure to physical threats and the capacity of people

and communities to cope with those threats. Threats may arise from a combination of

social and physical processes. The most conspicuous and widely-reported manifes-tation of this vulnerability is when people are affectedsuddenly and violentlyby

natural hazards.

Vulnerability arising from natural hazards has multiple facets. Bohle introduced an

external (environmental) and internal (human) side of vulnerability in his

remarkable study on land degradation and human security. He clearly identified

vulnerability as a potentially detrimental social response to environmental events

18 M.Q. Zaman, The Social and Political Context of Adjustment to Riverbank Erosion Hazard and Population Reset-

tlement in Bangladesh, in Human Organization, Vol.48, no.3 (1989), p.197.19 Both of us did our Doctoral research on the regions urbanisation and rural-urban interactions.20 B. Wisner, Who? What? Where? When? in an Emergency: Notes on Possible Indicators of Vulnerability and

Resilience by Phase of the Disaster Management Cycle and Social Actor, in E. Plate (ed.), Environment and

Human Security: Contribution to a Workshop in Bonn(23 25 October 2002).21 ISDR/UN/WMO, Water and Disaster: Be Informed and Be Prepared(Geneva: WMO Publication No.971,2004).22 UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development

(New York: Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, 2004).23 Ane Schjolden, Are Vulnerability and Adaptability Two Sides of the Same Coin?, in IHDP Newsletter, No.4

(2003), pp.12 14.24 Piers Blaikie, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis and Ben Wisner, At Risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and

Disasters (London: Routledge, 1994), pp.89.



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and changes.25 Thus vulnerability covers a broad range of possible harms and con-

sequences; it implies, too, relatively long time periods, certainly exceeding the time-

frame of the extreme event that triggered it. This interpretation of vulnerability is

unavoidably related to resilience.26 Through this broad framework, the meaning

of vulnerability has expanded to include the notions of risk, impact, adaptability

and environmental justice.27 Yet following Kelly and Adger,28 OBrien et al. empha-

sise the subjectivity inherent in the interpretation of environmental elements:

In a field where scientists are simultaneously working to determine the

nature and extent of the problem, identify the consequences and address

it politically, vulnerability serves as a flexible and somewhat malleable

concept that can engage both research and policy communities.... On the

one hand, vulnerability is sometimes viewed as an end pointthat is, as

a residual of climate change impacts minus adaptation. Here vulnerability

represents the net impacts of climate change; it serves as a means of defin-

ing the extent of the climate problem and providing input into policy

decisions regarding the cost of climate change versus costs related to

greenhouse gas mitigation efforts. On the other hand, it is sometimes

viewed as a starting point, where vulnerability is a characteristic or a

state generated by multiple environmental and social processes, but

exacerbated by climate change. In this case, vulnerability provides a

means of understanding how the impacts of climate change will bedistributed primarily to identify how vulnerability can be reduced.29

Environmental security is about safeguarding human communities from critical

pervasive threats30 such as violent conflicts, water shortages, chronic destitution

or pollution. Many of these threats, if they occur as surprise events, can indeed be

destructive. The objective of human security is to guarantee a set of vital

25 H.G. Bohle, Land Degradation and Human Security, paper presented at an international workshop on Environ-

ment and Human Security, Bonn, 2002.26

J.J. Bogardi, Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability: A New Look on the Flood Plains, Proceedings, internationalworkshop on Water Hazards and Risk Management, Tsukuba, 2022 January 2004.27 See for example Heather A. Smith, Facing Environmental Security, in Journal of Military and Strategic Studies

(Winter 2000/Spring 2001) [http://www.jmss.org/2001/article3.html, accessed 1 Feb. 2007]; and J. Ikeme,Equity, Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Incomplete Approaches in Climatic Changes Politics, in

Global Environmental Change, Vol.13 (2003), pp.195 206.28 P.M. Kelly and W.N. Adger, Theory and Practice in Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change and Facilitating

Adaptation, in Climatic Change, Vol.47, no.4 (2000), pp.32552.29 Karen OBrien, Siri Eriksen, Ane Schjolden and Lynn Nygaard, Whats in a Word? Conflicting Interpretations of

Vulnerability in Climate Change Research, Working Paper No.2004:04 (Blinden, Norway: Centre for International

Climate and Environmental Research, 2004), p.1.30 Sabina Alkire, Conceptual Framework for Human Security, in Excerpt from Working Definition and Executive

Summary: Report of the Commission on Human Security (New York: CHS Secretariat, 2002).

332 SOUTH ASI A


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rights and freedoms for everyone in a way that is consistent with other life goals. 31

The human security approach, important since the 1990s, encourages the safeguard-

ing and protection of communities in the face of sudden and recurrent natural events

such as flooding and riverbank erosion. Pro-security measures are institutionalised,

not episodic; responsive, not rigid; and are preventative, not reactive. This implies

that the interface between people and environmental change does not necessarily

endanger human well-being; that groups are not wiped out completely, displaced

or dislocated from their livelihood bases. Environmental security usually neglects

to recognise the subjectivity factor,32 and tends to take human knowledge of the

environment as neutral, objective and absolute. However some social scientists

have highlighted the social constructions of the environment that reflect inherent

power differentials in society.33 We place our study in the context of this genre of

critical theory.34

Human exposure to environmental threats is not evenly distributed over the earths

surface. Many thousands of people live in places with inherent risk such as the riv-

erine islands and floodplains, slopes of volcanoes, earthquake zones, and low-lying

coastal areas. Sometimes people are forced to live in such highly vulnerable environ-

ments because of social, economic and political factors, including acute poverty,

development or war-related displacement. Again, people may also choose to live

in what might be seen by others as vulnerable and insecure environments. For

example, floodplains have always been favoured for settlement because of thefertility of the soil or the plentiful availability of flat land. As populations grow

and there is more competition for limited land and its resources, areas of increasing

vulnerability are settled by refugees, migrants and other displaced groups. Such

settlers expose themselves by occupying the areas of high risk and potential loss

of livelihoods.

With vulnerability is associated risk (the possibility of lives lost; persons injured;

damage to property and disruption of economic activity and livelihood).35 Thus

risk is a function of the probability of particular occurrences and the losses each

might cause. Some people are clearly more prone than others to damage, loss and

31 Amartya Sen, Why Human Security, Text of Presentation at the International Symposium on Human Security in

Tokyo, 28 July 2000 [http://www.humansecurity-chs.org/activities/outreach/Sen2000.pdf].32 Smith, Facing Environmental Security.33 See for example Arun Agrawal and K. Sivaramakrishnan, Social Nature: Resources, Representations and Rule in

India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001).34 For a detailed discussion of such concepts see Andrew Linklater, The Achievement of Critical Theory, in Steve

Smith, Ken Booth and Marysia Zalewski (eds), International Theory: Positivism and Beyond(Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press. 1996); and George C. Bond and Angela Gilliam, Social Reconstruction of the Past:

Representation as Power(London: Routledge, 1994).35 Blaikie et al., At Risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disasters.



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suffering. Economically better-off people are better protected, being often insured

against damage; and their homes are usually safely-sited, making the process of

recovery easier. The most vulnerable people are those who find it hardest to recon-

struct their livelihoods.

All over the world, but especially in poorer countries, vulnerable people often suffer

repeated, multiple, mutually-reinforcing shocks to their lives, their settlements and

their livelihoods. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) notes that developing countries, particularly the least developed, are more

vulnerable to environmental threats, and that this inability is most extreme among

the poorest people and disadvantaged groups such as women and children.36 Thus

the importance of the human and social context can never be ignored, as Blaikie

et al. note:

There is a general consensus in research on disasters that the number of

natural hazard events (earthquakes, eruptions, floods, or cyclones) has

not increased in recent decades. If this is valid, then we need to look

at social factors that increase vulnerability (including, but not only,

increasing population) to explain the apparent increases in the number

of disasters, in the value of losses and numbers of victims.37

Alternatively, experts such as Schjolden have seen increasing adaptive capacity isthe key strategy to cope with vulnerability.38 However, there are great semantic vari-

ations in this line of thinking; for example, Anderson and Woodrow prefer the term

capability, by which they mean a capability to protect ones community, home and

family and to re-establish ones livelihood. Anderson and Woodward also show that

people living in vulnerable environments can enhance their adaptive capacityor

capabilitythrough building infrastructure and improving social awareness and pre-

parednessan observation that implies that the ability to adjust and cope is not

necessarily related to economic status.39 Following Cutter et al., three specific

approaches can be outlined in environmental security and vulnerability studies:those dealing with the identification of conditions that make people or places vulner-

able to extreme natural events; those assuming that vulnerability is a social

condition, a measure of societal resistance or resilience to hazards; and those that

36 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Summary for Policy Makers, inThird Assessment Report

Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (Geneva: World Meteorological Organization and United Nations

Environment Programme ISDR, 2001) [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/].37 Blaikie et al., At Risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disasters, p.31.38 Schjolden, Are Vulnerability and Adaptability Two Sides of the Same Coin?, pp.1214.39 M.B. Anderson and P.J. Woodrow, Rising from the Ashes: Development Strategies in Times of Disaster(Colorado:

Westview Press, 1989).

334 SOUTH ASI A


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integrate potential exposures and societal resilience with a specific focus on

particular places or regions.40 The second approach has been followed by Blaikie

et al. and Hewitt, and in our research we choose to follow this line of argument to

understand the social conditions, perceptions and the adjustment processes in the

Damodar charlands.41 We note the absence of long-term measures amongst the

charland people, and following Haw et al. attempt to differentiate between adjust-

mentthat is, action on a contingent basis to cope with emergencies as they

occurand adaptationthat is, long-term strategies to reduce flood frequency

or other environmental risks.42

The Damodar River and its Chars

The Damodar is an important river of the Bengal delta that affects the well-being of a sizeable fraction of the Indian population. It flows through the

eastern Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal, across the coal and steel belt,

its basin comprising nearly 25,000 square kilometres. The 540 kilometre-long

river eventually meets the Hooghly, a distributary of the Ganga River, near

Falta point in Howrah district. The river has been notorious for changing

courses and has created an inland delta of sorts through its innumerable distri-

butaries.43 The upper and lower reaches of the Damodar have contrasting eco-

logical characteristics. The upper valley has a rugged relief with high slopes

covered with forests and scrub jungles, and terraced, cultivated fields. Thelower valley on the other hand is nearly flat, even bowl-like. Mukherjee in

his 1938 work on the Bengal delta noted that this particular deltaic stretch

had an unusual concentration of small farmers and settlements. This feature

has been enhanced in the recent decades.44

The physical environment of the Damodar delta has undergone considerable changes

since late colonial times when imported civil engineering techniques began to

replace traditional irrigation. The first phase saw the construction in 1881 of Ander-

son Weir at Rhondia (located some distance west of Burdwan), and the Eden Canal

to carry its water to the lower agricultural fields. Later, the Maharaja of Burdwanbuilt embankments along the course of the river to contain its floods, and then in

40 Susan L. Cutter, Bryan J. Boruff and W. Lynn Shirley, Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards, inSocial

Science Quarterly, Vol.84, no.2 (2003), pp.24261.41 Blaikie et al., At Risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disasters; and K. Hewitt, Regions of Risk: A

Geographical Introduction to Disasters (Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1997).42 Melissa Haw, Chris Cocklin and David Mercer, A Pinch of Salt: Landowner Perception and Adjustment to the

Salinity Hazard in Victoria, Australia, in Journal of Rural Studies, Vol.16 (2000), pp.155 69.43 Kanangopal Bagchi, The Ganges Delta (Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1994).44 R. Mukherjee, The Changing Face of Bengal: A Study in Riverine Economy(Calcutta: Calcutta University Press,

1938).



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the early 1950s the Damodar Valley Corporation or DVC constructed dams and

brought its canals through the region.45

The DVC dams were only partially successful in reducing the frequency of floods and

providing irrigation water through the canal network to agricultural fields.46 However,

the intervention brought several changes in the physical environment to the lower

reaches of the valley. The clearing of extensive natural forests in the upper catchments

areas for the construction of the reservoirs resulted in increased siltation rates and the

formation of more permanent chars on the riverbed. And while flooding in the lower

reaches of the Damodars valley has been reduced, low-intensity floods have become

longer in duration. Moreover, when they do occur in the Lower Damodar Valley,

floods now dump coarse sand, destroying the fertility of cultivated lands. Also, the

behaviour of the river has become more unpredictable: large chunks of fertile agricul-

tural land are eroded by its currents every year. The current physical character of the

Damodar chars, therefore, is somewhat different from other chars located in the active

delta areas of the GangaPadma and other rivers in deltaic Bengal. Being more per-

manent in nature, Damodar chars do not experience the regular and annual flooding

characteristic of the active delta chars of Bangladesh. However more devastating

and longer-duration floods can and do occursuch as in 1978 and 2000. As the

nature of floods have become variable in the Lower Damodar Valley, the ways in

which local people have traditionally dealt with them, too, have become ineffective

and have had to be modified.

Related closely to the history of river control is the story of how the Damodar chars

came to be occupied. This process began in the late nineteenth century when groups

of Muslim fishermen migrated from Bihar to these riverine locations. Bihari

Muslims were initially employed as village watchmen and gatekeepers by the

Burdwan rajas and were allotted land in the chars by way of payment. Besides

fishing, they reared some cattle. Yet, unused to farming, they did not try to cultivate

the chars which at that time were mostly covered by bush, plum trees and tall bena

grass. Small amounts of mesta (a variety of jute which is red in colour and growswithout much water and nourishment), maize (corn) and pulses were the only

crops. Population remained sparse, and floods were a regular visitor during the

monsoons.

After Partition, Bangladeshi (then East Pakistan) Hindus started to trickle into this

part of India in search of livelihoods and social security. Lacking legal owners,

45 Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Imagining Rivers, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.35, no.27 (2000), pp.2395400.46 Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, People, Power and Rivers: Experiences from the Damodar River, India, in Water Nepal,

Vols.9/10, nos.1 & 2 (2003), pp.251 67.

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the charlands were designated by the government as khaslands,47 and deemed

available for the resettlement of the refugees. Some (but not all) the grantees were

given patta (title deeds)48 to their new homes. However, the shifting river

courses made charlands highly insecure; considerable stretches of charlands

have since reverted to riverbed, whereas some new lands have emerged from

the riverbed, and again considerable stretches of the river channel have been con-

verted into seasonal croplands by the char people. The settlement process in char-

lands gained pace after the 1971 Bangladesh liberation movement, leading to a

significant increase in the flow of migrants into southern West Bengal across

the Bangladesh border. A large segment of these migrants are unauthorised and

have no citizenship papers.49

Presently Bangladeshi migrants form the dominant group in all charlands; the earlier

Bihari settlers are gradually being marginalised. For example, in Char Gaitanpur

there are 205 families of which 65 are Bihari fishermen-turned-labourers, whereas

140 families are from Bangladesh. The Bihari fishermen who are left make a

living either as wage labourers in the agricultural fields or work for contractors

lifting sand from the riverbed. Industrial waste pollution of the river water from

the expanding collieries and industries in the upper reaches of the Damodar have

added to this change in subsistence. Not only has there been a drastic reduction in

water levels but industrial and urban liquid wastes have reduced biotic life,

causing a loss of livelihood for the Bihari fishermen.

The relief variations in the chars dictate the pattern of land utilisation. Higher lands

are occupied by houses, and the more marginal lower lands are used for cultivation.

Reclamation is ongoing. Barren sand fields are steadily converted into croplands

through bio-manuring and hard labour. During our field survey, we saw over two

acres of sandy land reclaimed for crop production in a single char within a ten-

month period. But the sandy soil drains rapidly and requires large quantities of

water for the production of any crop; the water requirement is even higher for

paddy and only those owning shallow and submersible pumps can tap the47 Khaslands are new lands coming under government control. A piece of land has to be in existence for at least 20

years on a continuous basis before it can be legally designated as land. Thus, many charlands are non-lands, as the

Bangladeshi residents are non-people.48 Patta is legal right to land written in a paper that is given by the Land Revenue Department. It is most important for

a squatter to have a patta to establish ownership rights to the land. Getting a patta can be a bitterly-prolonged affair

taking many years.49 Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Gopa Samanta, Fleeting Land, Fleeting People: Bangladeshi Women in a Charland

Environment in Lower Bengal, India, in Asia Pacific Migration Journal, Vol.13, no.4 (2004), pp.47595; and

Gopa Samanta and Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Marginal Lives in Marginal Lands: Livelihood Strategies of Women-

Headed Households in Charlands of the Damodar, Lower Bengal, India, paper presented at XI National Conference

of the Indian Association for Womens Studies, Goa, 36 May 2005.



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urbanisation processes.51 The research reported here is part of an ongoing study,

based entirely on fieldwork methods. The surveys were carried out in several

chars located on a 48-kilometre stretch of the Damodar River where it divides the

Bankura and Burdwan districts of West Bengal. Some of these chars are attached

to the northern riverbank and are locally known as mana (such as Kasba Mana, Bha-

sapur Mana), whereas others are islands, locally known as char mana (for example,

Majher Char Mana, Kalimohanpur Char Mana).

To develop an intimate knowledge of the perceptions of the security of life in chars,

we built up personal contacts with individual women and men in Char Gaitanpur,

which is more accessible from the nearby town. We took the oral histories of 30

women and 30 men currently living in the charlands and recorded these conversa-

tions. The conversations (in Bengali) were transcribed later into English. The selec-tion process of these men and women was very subjective and did not follow any

scientific method of sampling since we had to be content with whoever had the

time or inclination to talk to us. Nevertheless despite time being a precious commod-

ity, the inhabitants of Gaitanpur were keen to talk to us about their lives. All the

names given in the paper are real, and have been used with the consent of the

informants.

Vulnerabilities in CharlandsVulnerability affects the poor households living in a charland environment in numer-

ous ways. They may be natural calamities such as floods and riverbank erosion, or

socio-economic ones such as an abrupt fall in the market price of agricultural pro-

ducts, or illness. In their study on the chars of Bangladesh, Brocklesby and

Hobley noted that multiple vulnerabilities experienced by the char dwellers are

the underlying cause of their chronic, persistent, and extreme poverty.52 In the

Damodar charlands the situation is not very different in respect of the vulner-

ability/poverty equation.

Physical vulnerability is rooted in the threat of seasonal flooding, the shifting of river

courses, and riverbank erosion.53 In 1990 Elahi and Rogge estimated that about one

million people were displaced every year by floods and riverbank erosion in

51 Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Urbanization in the Lower Damodar Valley: A Case Study in Urban Geography, unpub-

lished PhD thesis, University of Burdwan, 1985; and Gopa Samanta, Rural-Urban Interaction in Burdwan and

its Adjoining Areas, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Burdwan, 2002.52 Mary Ann Brocklesby and Mary Hobley, The Practice of Design: Developing the Chars Livelihoods Programme

in Bangladesh, in Journal of International Development, Vol.15, no.7 (2003), pp.893909.53 DFID (Department for International Development), Chars Livelihood Programme, in Project Memorandum

(Dhaka: Department for International Development, 2002).



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Bangladesh.54 No equivalent data are available for India, but in 2002 Rudra showed,

in his analysis of changes in the course of the Ganga in recent times, that in the dis-

trict of Murshidabad alone no less than 10,000 people had been displaced by

erosion.55 In turn, these physical vulnerabilities can make charland people socially

vulnerable and politically marginal. Often the land is not legally owned, its bound-

aries are in a constant flux, and the remoteness and lack of accessibility mean a total

lack of health care, sanitation, water and electricity supplies. Ghosh notes in his 2004

report:

Over 70,000 people living on no-mans-land on the fragile islands

along the Ganga are not too sure whether they belong to Jharkhand

or West Bengal. For over the past five years, the residents of

Pearpur, Kakri Bandha, Jhao Bona, Manikchak and Ratua in Malda

have had to reorient their lives with the changing river course, which

engulfed their homes and agricultural land. In the absence of any reha-

bilitation scheme, the villagers had to build their lives on the charlands

or islands along the Ganga. But living here on this uncertain terrain,

they are nobodys children. The state government has disowned these

river people with its functionaries remaining engaged in academic

discussions about demarcation of borders.56

The Damodar charlands, too, have their difficulties with bank erosion and the shiftsin river course. For example, the Damodar used to demarcate the boundary between

the Burdwan and Bankura districts of West Bengal, and with most of the stabilised

charlands closer to the south bank, they used to be under the administrative jurisdic-

tion of the Bankura district. However, as the river shifted towards the north bank,

that is, towards the Burdwan district, the physical distance of the charlands from

Bankura, where public services and government offices, panchayats, police stations

and health centres are located, has increased.

In terms of longer-term impacts on peoples lives, the vulnerability to erosion is

much higher than for floods. Erosion is a frequent but irregular danger and creates

fundamental and catastrophic livelihood shocks through which households lose

land, shelter, and other assets. Flooding, by contrast, is not a regular seasonal

phenomenon in the Damodar Valley and therefore not so traumatic. Moreover the

54 K. Maudood Elahi and John R. Rogge, Riverbank Erosion, Flood and Population Displacement in Bangladesh

(Dhaka: Jahangirnagar University, Riverbank Erosion Impact Study, 1990).55 K. Rudra, The Encroaching Ganga and Social Conflicts: The Case of West Bengal, India(Habra: Department of

Geography, Habra S.C. Mahavidyalaya, 2002) [http://www.ibaradio.org/India/ganga/resources/Rudra.pdf,accessed 17 Feb. 2006].56 Aditya Ghosh, Shifting River Erases Villages and Identities, The Times of India (Kolkata) (24 Nov. 2004).

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people of the chars now receive advance warnings from the DVC via radio about

releases of water from the barrage upstream at Durgapur. As well, elderly char

residents with experience of major floods are able to predict with some accuracy

the height floodwaters are likely to reach in specific charlands. Prior warnings and

local experience allow the local people to move themselves and their assets to the

safety of the higher ground of the north bank at short notice.

Ill-health, especially of earning members, brings vulnerability to charland people

because of their extreme poverty. It affects both the cost and income of households

in negative ways. Women who work outside of home cannot go to work if their

children fall ill. As a result the family income decreases and at the same time

daily expenses increase for treatment. Households with only one earning member

are especially at risk in these ways. We found that illness amongst children, frequentin poorer households, is one of the major factors determining their level of well-

being while illness was generally considered a worst-case scenario by our

informants.

Coping and Adjustment Strategies: Perceptions of Security andVulnerabilityHuman perceptions and behaviour under different environmental events, especially

those related to the natural environment, have been extensively analysed.57

Regarding the different behavioural patterns of people towards adjustment with

hazardous environments Sonnenfeld notes:

Individual and populations tend to differ in their responses to any

environment. Some achieve more in environment, some achieve less;

some adjust easily to environmental extremes, others adjust only

with difficulty. Different responses may be a function of different abil-

ities to respond to environment, or of different perceptions of environ-

ment. Understanding of the sources of variance in environmental57 See Ian Burton and Robert W. Kates, The Flood Plain and the Sea Shore: A Comparative Analysis of Hazard

Zone Occupance, in Geographical Review, Vol.64 (1964), pp.36685; Thomas Frederick Saarinen, Perception

of the Drought Hazard on the Great Plains (Chicago: Department of Geography, Research Paper 106, University

of Chicago, 1996); Ian Burton, Robert W. Kates and Rodman E. Snead, The Human Ecology of Coastal Flood

Hazard in Megalopolis (Chicago: Department of Geography, Research Paper 115, University of Chicago, 1969);

David Lowenthal (ed.), Environmental Perception and Behavior(Chicago: Department of Geography, Research

Paper 109, University of Chicago, 1967); James K. Mitchell, Community Response to Coastal Erosion: Individual

and Collective Adjustments to Hazard on the Atlantic Shore(Chicago: Department of Geography, Research Paper

156, University of Chicago, 1974); and Thomas Frederick Saarinen, David Seamon and James L. Sell (eds),Environ-

mental Perception and Behavior: An Inventory and Prospect(Chicago: Department of Geography, Research Paper

209, University of Chicago, 1984).



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perception is essential to an understanding of variation in mans

environmental behaviours.58

Our understanding is that perceptions of security in the charlands are closely linked

to flood events and associated bank erosion. But in the Damodar most of the settlers

have also experienced social insecurity in the form of political turmoil, religious per-

secution and cross-border migration. The vulnerability associated with these social

factors hasironicallyincreased their acceptance of natural calamities. Now let

us look in more detail at the security issues nominated as important by the people

we interviewed in Gaitanpur.

Physical Isolation

The migrants from Bangladesh who settle the charlands of the Damodar often arrive

without legal entry papers. But this in itself is not a great impediment to resettlement.

Away from the constant prying eyes of police or unfriendly neighbours, relatives find

places for the new migrants to live. And over the course of time valid papers, such as

a ration cards or voter identification cards, are obtained through an informal chain of

local political leaders, panchayat members, and community development block offi-

cials. The charlands, then, can be seen as an entry point to the mainland society and

economy, making vulnerability a temporary or transient phenomenon. The settler

Sadhan Mondal told us:

We are not planning to stay here for a long time. We are fully aware of

the vulnerability of these charlands. I have seen acres of land going to

the river each year due to bank erosion in the rainy season. Any day in

next flood the river can erode my house. I am here for four years and

have got the citizenship documents for my wife and me. Still I am

living here as I have yet to collect the citizenship documents for my

two sons.

The poverty and vulnerability of char residents like Sadhan Mondal are not simple

but complex and interlinked outcomes of (1) their illegal immigration to India, and

(2) their consequent exposure to floods and river erosion.

However, not every charresident is waiting for an opportunity to leave. Some resi-

dents, whether or not they get citizenship documents, prefer to live in the charlands

because they see them as a secure location. Isolation, usually avoided in choosing a

58 J. Sonnenfeld, Environmental Perception and Adaptation Levels in the Arctic, in D. Lowenthal (ed.) Environ-

mental Perception and Behavior(Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1967), p.42.

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place of living, in this case is often a major recommendation. Sandhya Mondal,

a 35-year-old woman, said of her charland environment:

We are much better here than we were in Bangladesh. Here we never

feel the pain of hunger. We can find work as labour in farming more

of less throughout the year. Even if one day we do not get work then

my husband and myself go to the river to catch fish. Sometimes we

can get up to five kilograms of fish a day (worth Rs250). We can sell

the fish to the neighbours. We have arranged our elder daughters mar-

riage with a boy who is also living here in the char. We have built a

house for them with our own labour. We are happily living here with

no dearth of food and we are not going anywhere as we dont have

any valid document of Indian citizenship.

Social Isolation

Curiously, the distance from social networks of relatives and friends is a factor that

sometimes disposes people to live in the charlands. We came across several

instances where people felt pleased about how little was known outside about

their past lives either in Bangladesh or elsewhere in West Bengal. Dhiren Mondal,

a 50-year-old single man, has lived in Char Gaitanpur since his wife left him.

He explained:

I have left my house and land property in South 24 Paraganas to avoid

the people who were known to me. My wife had left home with one of

my friends, taking my four children with her. I could not cope with the

way people taunted me and left my home to avoid those living there. At

that time I was in search of an isolated place where nobody knows my

past life. I felt that this charland could provide me with a new life.

Dhiren perceives life in the charas more secure because of its relative isolation. Here

he has a house and some farming land, which he farms or leases out. The physical toll

of doing all the work at home and in the field is quite heavy on him, yet he feels atpeace with himself and believes he is more secure living in the charland than he

would be living on the mainland.

Tukuranis story also helps us to understand the social isolation posed by the

charland environment. She is 32, and has been living in Char Gaitanpur for 10

years. But her husband still lives in Bangladesh. Why did she pick up and leave?

When I went to my husbands house after my marriage I did not spend a

single day without quarrelling with my husbands first wife. I did not



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get sufficient food; sometimes they used to beat me. I spent one year in

that house and later on, when my husband proposed for me to come

here, I accepted that proposal. We took shelter in a neighbours

house. Within ten days my husband constructed the hut where we

started living together. He purchased some land and a few goats and

cattle. With the help of these assets I can now run the household and

make arrangements for a minimum livelihood. I am happy and feel

secure, as there is nobody to quarrel with and to beat me. This is

quite enough for a woman like mepoor and ill-fated.

At present Tukurani has four children including a newborn baby. She owns jointly

with her absentee husband 0.6 hectares of agricultural land; a house with brick

walls and corrugated tin roof; five goats and one cow. Living and securing a liveli-hood alone is a heavy burden indeed for her, yet she feels that she has a more secure

life here than she would have had she remained in Bangladesh. However, Tukurani is

sharply aware of the vulnerability of living in the charlands, as demonstrated in her

response to our question What will you do if your land and house is lost to the river

by erosion? I do not want to think of it. I cant stop the shifting of the river and

erosion of land. In the case it happens, I would see what other arrangements for

us can be made. I trust my husband, he is a responsible man. This statement exem-

plifies the fatalistic attitude of many chouras: put oneself at the mercy of nature and

try to make the best of the present.

The security in the charlands as perceived by the people like Dhiren and Tukurani is

difficult to explain by neutral, objective and absolute human knowledge systems of the

environment. They require looking into personal histories that go beyond the general.

Usually chars pose difficulties for women in obtaining water, food and other supplies,

sanitation, and access to medical care. A charwoman of Bangladesh is quoted by

Sarkar et al. as saying: The worst thing about char life is women dying at childbirth

because they cannot get medical attention during floods.59 Yet for at least one migrant

woman in Damodar, living there is apparently preferable to living in Bangladesh. This

brings us to the question of subjective perceptions of humannature interactions. Theconstruction of ones own secure home in what is commonly seen as a highly-

vulnerable environment can also reflect the inherent power differentials in society.

Availability of Cheap Land

Down to the 1970s land was free in some of the Damodar charlands. Although this is

no longer the case, the land is still cheaper here due to its susceptibility to flooding

59 Sarker et al., Rivers, Chars and Char Dwellers of Bangladesh, p.76.

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and river erosion. The availability of cheap land attracts people like Narayan Biswas

who has expertise in farming and has experimented with the production of unusual

vegetables. Narayan came to the Damodar charlands after losing his small business

which he had set up after moving to a nearby town in India. He took land on lease and

produced marketable vegetables like capsicum and broccoli for select urban consu-

mers. He has chosen this char because of its nearness to the urban market of

Burdwan town where he can sell his produce at a fair price. However, his interest

is more in the several prizes he has won in the Burdwan Districts agricultural com-

petition, than on money. He is still poor but feels satisfied with his work: I am quite

happy here as I have been able to prove my skill in producing high-priced vegetables

in the sandy soil of the chars. My wife extends her help in my experiments as there is

no false sense of prestige, common amongst the middle classes about womens work

in the fields. Here, in all families, women can participate in farming their fields, ofgreat help in my experiments. Crops like capsicum or broccoli need constant care

which my wife does better than me or any other wage labour. Narayan says that

the vulnerability of the land is not a major issue as he has few permanent assets.

Lottery Against Nature

The influence of cultural adjustment over generations is evident in the different ways

the Bangladeshi and Bihari migrantsboth groups are from flood-prone areas

have adjusted to the charlands of the Damodar. Flood is an annual phenomenonof the northern part of Bihar, from where most of the Bihari settlers originated;

and so it is in Bangladesh. Therefore, one might expect the chouras of the Damodar

to be well-versed in coping with floodsto know how to utilise the flood plains

in order to get the maximum benefit out of them. However, as the regular flow of

water in the river decreased over the years, the Biharis have found it harder to

cope with the changing ecology, and have tended to move out of the chars;

whereas the Bangladeshis, arriving without legal papers, have flourished by expertly

manoeuvring their land- and water-based livelihoods. The benefits of good floods

(low-magnitude floods) outweigh the disadvantages of bad floods (devastatingfloods) in the chars. Low-magnitude floods are often welcomed by the charland

people as they replenish the natural fertility of the land by depositing fresh silt. In

1997 Leaf observed in a sample survey of rural peoples attitudes to flood in Bangla-

desh that 86 percent of households were satisfied with the way they adjusted to

normal inundation, and did not want any change to that situation.60 In our survey

of the charlands of Damodar, some respondents testified that they saw flooding as

a natural elementpart of the natural rhythm of things. More than floods, they

60 M. Leaf, Local Control Versus Technocracy: The Bangladesh Flood Response Study, in Journal of International

Affairs, Vol.51, no.1 (1997), pp.179200.



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are apprehensive of erosion of the scarce cultivable and liveable charlands by the

river. Bogardi observed that the intensifying use of the flood plains over many

decades has proved the willingness of societies to accept this lottery against

nature,61 having in mind (most likely unconsciously) the trade-off between potential

(but occasionally quite high) losses and fairly regular benefits. In these charlands

people are also aware of the potential damage to their property by flooding and

use the land for both agriculture and the grazing of animals to improve the odds

in the lottery that is nature.

Naren Sarkar of Char Bhasapur is one of such people. Originally from Dhaka, he

came to India with his parents in the late 1950s when he was only six years old.

First the family took shelter on a charon the Hooghly River where they had relatives.

After a few years they moved to Char Bhasapur (an attached char of the DamodarRiver), where they have lived ever since. Narens first house and landholding

were destroyed by the 1978 flood. Undeterred, Naren paid for some more land

and built another house further away from the main water channel and closer to

the northern embankment. Even so, because of the shift of the river channel

towards the northern bank, Narens new house remains on the margin so far as

secure settlement is concerned. Nevertheless in conversation he expressed satisfac-

tion with his situation, noting: We are like drifting grains of sand, rolling from one

place to another. In one place today, in another tomorrow, but always with the rivers

flow. We asked, Did you ever consider living away from this uncertain life in thechar? He replied:

I have no skills and no experience of any work other than agriculture.

My parents have taught how to till the land to make it yield more for our

families. I can only use my farming skills for living. Land is cheap in

charlands and we have no dearth of water for wetting our lands. See, we

were brought up in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh. In comparison, the

frequency and magnitude of floods are less on these charlands. We also

know how to cope with the natural calamities like flood and river

erosion. We do not want to move away from the river. If the river

does not let us stay here then we shall go somewhere else. However,

till the river destroys our entire property as well as this char we will

be here. We feel secure here as we have sufficient incomes to feed

our families.

61 J.J. Bogardi, Water Hazards, Risks and Vulnerabilities in a Changing Environment, paper presented at the Inter-

national Conference on Space and Water: Towards Sustainable Development and Human Security, Santiago de

Chile, 12 April 2004.

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We have noted that the frequency and intensity of floods in the Damodar chars have

decreased since the construction of the DVC dams. The reduced flow and frequency

of devastating floods have added to the char-dwellers sense of security, resulting in a

more intense use of the local resources at the same time. However with increasing

competition for scarce land, more intensive kinds of farming have been introduced.

This begs the question: has the steady inflow of people into this fragile environment

and the more intensive use of the charland increased or decreased vulnerability? This

is not a simple question, as we have noted that during recent decades the older-

established Bihari fishing communities have gradually left the charlands while

even more Bangladeshis have moved in. It is clear that old occupational or cultural

traditions and experiences can have a significant influence on the ways subjective per-

ceptions operate. We must also note that adjustment is also dependent upon income

levels. Those who can afford insurance can build their homes on relatively higherground or with higher foundations to lessen the impact of flood damage. The

poorer people in the charlands live in homes situated on lower-lying land near the riv-

erbanks or even in the dried-up river channels. Thus, it becomes clear that poverty

intensifies insecurity. However, there are generational differences, as the awareness

of the devastation that the Damodar floods can cause is relatively higher among the

older men and women who had personally experienced the massive 1978 flood.

Developing adaptive capacity is commonly seen as an important strategy to cope

with fragile environments. Indeed the char residents have developed an intimateunderstanding of the uncertain environment in which they live. Facing continuous

uncertainty, the chouras have honed their senses. They know more or less accurately

the level to which the river water will rise for different volumes of water released

from upstream reservoirs. They remain alert during the monsoons. Small boats are

kept ready to carry them away from the rising waters. It is not a simple matter of

semantics to describe this ability as resilience, as competency, or as capacity to

adapt. In our view, it is best to define this ability of the chouras in lower Bengal

as one of adjustmentas a day-to-day, continual but contingent, set of strategic

choices and decisions made by the individuals and the communities. The chouras

are in a continual gamble with nature, dancing with the changeable moods ofthe river, trying to make the best of their vulnerable situation in a marginal environ-

ment. Yet it would be foolhardy to generalise that all char people are either living

happily, peacefully and permanently, or alternatively are on their way out. As we

remarked earlier, many of them are acutely aware of the vulnerability of their river-

ine environment, but have no choice but to stay due to their problematic legal status.

The aspects of the physical environment they are particularly concerned about are

riverbank erosion and changing of the main course of the riverwhich changes

have the potential to destroy major parts of the char including their homes and cul-

tivated lands. However, even then, some char residents feel comfortable about

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