Podcast Series

Northeast India Water Talks

Podcast Series by Unmilan Kalita

Welcome to the Northeast India Water Talks Podcast Series, hosted by Unmilan Kalita. This series shares stories and conversations about water from Northeast India.

Recorded at the Northeast India Water Talks Confluence 2023 on Majuli Island, these episodes feature voices from researchers, scholars, community members, environmentalists, and students, exploring how water is understood, used, and represented across cultures.

The series challenges conventional views of water as merely a resource, highlighting Indigenous knowledge and economies, and delving into the future of water security and ecological governance in Northeast India.

Know More about the North East India Water Talks initiative

Also available on Soundcloud

Episodes

Water in Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Podcast
The inaugural episode explores water's role in indigenous knowledge systems, questioning the naturalized distinctions between animate/inanimate and nature/society. The discussion features Prof. Uttam Bathari (Gauhati University), Prof. John Thomas (IIT Guwahati), and Prof. Sukhendu Debbarma (Tripura University).

Ecological crisis and coping in North-east India

Podcast
This episode addresses pressing water-related issues in parts of Northeast India. By weaving together conversations with scholars, students, and community representatives, it highlights stories of acute water scarcity in Tripura’s upland regions, the traditional governance of community forests and sacred groves in Meghalaya, and the sacred Dzongu biosphere in the Himalayan region of Sikkim.

Conserving water and imperatives of development in NE India

Podcast
Mrinal Gohain, head of Action Aid in Northeast India, addresses the ongoing challenge of conserving water amid growing anthropogenic pressures for development in the region. The discussion explores potential ways to ease and reconcile the often-strained relationship between water conservation efforts and developmental demands.

Water Dialogues: Navigating the Northeast's Waters

Podcast
This episode offers a glimpse into the journey of the Northeast India Water Talks initiative, from its inception to the need for creating discursive spaces centered on water to spark public conversations. It also highlights the initiative’s goal of archiving generational and community insights on water.

Podcast Host

Unmilan Kalita is a graduate student in Political Science from Ramjas College, University of Delhi. His work as a trainee at Heinrich Boell Stiftung South Asia Office focussed on the Project deSchool and the Northeast India Water Talks initiative - in the intersection of the ‘Ecology’ and ‘Democracy & Pluralities’ programme. He has also conceptualised and steered the production of the documentary, “Alternative Worldviews: Perspectives from Northeast India.” His academic interests include borderland and frontiers, vernacular politics, infrastructures, political philosophy, and social theory.

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