Sequential Damming Induced Winter Season Flash Flood in Uttarakhand Province of India

204 persons were killed while two hydropower projects located in close proximity at Rishiganga(13.2 MW),and Tapoban(520 MW)were damaged in Dhauliganga flood of February 7,2021 in the Indian Himalaya.This incidence occurred during the winter season when the discharge of the glacier fed rivers is minimal,and no rain was experienced in the region around the time of the flood.Despite discharge of the main river,Rishiganga,not involved in the flood due to damming upstream of its confluence with Raunthi Gadhera,based on field evidences massive volume of around 6 million cu m water involved in this flood is attributed to sequential intermittent damming at three different places;(i)Raunthi Gadhera was dammed first in its upper reaches,(ii)Rishiganga river was then dammed to the north of Murunna,and(iii)finally Dhauliganga river was dammed around Rini village to the upstream of its confluence with Rishiganga river.Lacking warning system only enhanced the flood-induced devastation.Legally binding disaster risk assessment regime,together with robust warning generation,and dissemination infrastructure are therefore recommended for all major infrastructure projects.

An indicator-based approach to assess village-level social and biophysical vulnerability of agriculture communities in Uttarakhand,India

With the growing recognition to myriad forms of current and future threats in the mountain agriculture systems,there is a pressing need to holistically understand the vulnerability of mountain agriculture communities.The study aims to assess the biophysical and social vulnerability of agriculture communities using an indicator-based approach for the state of Uttarakhand,India.A total of 14 indicators were used to capture biophysical vulnerability and 22 for social vulnerability profiles of15285 villages.Vulnerability analysis was done at village level with weights assigned to each indicator using Analytical Hierarchical Process(AHP).The results of the study highlight the presence of very high biophysical vulnerability(0.82 ± 0.10) and high social vulnerability(0.65 ± 0.15) within the state.Based on the results,it was found that incidences of high biophysical vulnerability coincide with presence of intensified agriculture land and absence of dense forest.Higher social vulnerability scores were found in villages with an absence of local institutions(like Self Helping Groups(SHGs)),negligible infrastructure facilities and higher occupational dependence on agriculture.A contrast was observed in the vulnerability scores of villages present in the three different altitudinal zones in the study area,indicating respective vulnerability generating conditions existing in these three zones.Biophysical vulnerability was recorded to be highest in the villages falling in the lower zone and lowest in the upper zone villages;whereas,social vulnerability was found to be highest in the middle zone villages and lowest in lower zone villages.Our study aids policy makers in identifying areas for intervention to expedite agriculture adaptation planning in the state.Additionally,the adaptation programmes in the region need to be more context-specific to accommodate the differential altitudinal vulnerability profiles.

A Survey of Fodder Plants in Mid-altitude Himalayan Rangelands of Uttarakhand,India

Himalayan rangelands, the crucial but by and large the neglected ecosystems, are an integral part of mountain farming systems. The present investigation is based on the extensive survey and collection of mid-altitude range plants from Almora and Champawat districts of Kumaun division in the Uttarakhand Himalaya in India, from September 2003 to June 2007. The rangelands studied were oak types, chirpine types, grass types and mixed ones. Some 300 species of grasses, other herbaceous plants, trees and shrubs were found in the mid-altitude rangelands. A sizeable number of species belonged to the family of Poaceae. The grass-dominated rangelands especially harboured a variety of grass species of good fodder value. The diversity of fodder plants is a proportion of the enormous biodiversity occurring in the parts of the Himalaya. A panorama of the biodiversity emerged in this study, which is of both intangible value and direct value for the livestock- and rangeland- dependent mountain communities, suggests a very high scope of the utilization of this natural and uncultivated biodiversity for supporting livestock- based livelihoods of the region. This biodiversity also has enormous bearing on the cultivated area of the region.

Distribution pattern and conservation of threatened medicinal and aromatic plants of Central Himalaya, India

A study was conducted to examine the distribution pattern of four rhizomatous medicinal and aromatic plant species （MAPs） viz., Angelica glauca, Pleurospermum angelicoides, Rheum emodi and Arne- bia benthamii in different forest stands in Central Himalaya. Results show that A. glauca and P. angelicoides had a higher （50%） frequency at Chipkoan, Garpak and Phagati forest, R. emodi had a higher （60%） frequency at Rishikund, Suki and Himtoli, and A. benthamii had a higher （70%） frequency at Suki and Khambdhar The densities of A. glauca （0.6 plants·m -2 ） and P. angelicoides （0.5 plants·m -2 ） were higher at Chipkoan and Garpak sites than at other micro-sites, while densities of R. emodi （0.8 plants·m -2 ） and A. benthamii （1.0 plants·m -2 ） were higher at Suki and Khambdhar sites. A. glauca had highest total basal covers （TBC） （1.2 cm 2 ·m -2 ） at Chipkoan, P. angelicoides had highest TBC （0.92 cm 2 ·m -2） at Lati kharak site, A. benthamii had the highest TBC （6.48 cm 2 ·m -2 ） atKhambdhar, and R. emodi had highest TBC （4.53 cm 2 ·m -2 ） at Rishikund. For the four studied species, A. glauca showed a contagious distribution, P. angelicoides and R. emodi showed the random and A. benthamii showed the regular type of distribution.

Living in a High Mountain Border Region:the Case of the'Bhotiyas'of the Indo-Chinese Border Region

This article introduces one of South Asia's most important border regions into academic discourse, namely, the Central Himalayan mountain rim separating India and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (People's Republic of China). What makes this border region so interesting is a tangled interplay of changing environmental, cultural, and political forms to which the local populations constantly have to adapt in order to make a living there. We focused on the so-called 'Bhotiyas' of Uttarakhand, former trans-Himalayan traders whose ethnicity and livelihood was traditionally associated with the Indo-Chinese border that was sealed as a result of the India-China war in 1962. Drawing on the work of borderland scholarship, we identified the key processes and developments that changed the perspective of this area. Competing political aspirations as well as the 'Bhotiyas' countervailing strategies were considered equally important for understanding local livelihoods and identities within the dynamics of a 'high mountain border region'. Through an exemplary analysis of historical differences of power in one 'Bhotiya' valley, we further explored the ways in which shifting socio-spatial constellations are creatively re-interpreted by the borderlanders.