India plans a mega dam to counter China. Why is Arunachal Gen Z protesting?

India's proposed 11,200-MW Siang dam is being pitched as a strategic buffer against China's mega-project on the Brahmaputra. But the indigenous Adi communities of Arunachal Pradesh are protesting against the project. The opposition took an ugly turn on Friday, October 23, when protests turned violent. Incidents of vandalism and arson at the residences of local politicians, a police station, and the office of the dam's implementing authority, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), have been reported from the region. The situation in Arunachal Pradesh's East Siang district remains tense and personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed, days after incidents of violence.

The Siang River originates in Tibet, flows through Arunachal Pradesh as a lifeline for indigenous communities before joining other rivers to form the Brahmaputra, before it enters Assam and flows into Bangladesh. This is where, in eastern Arunachal Pradesh's East Siang district, India plans to build a dam to protect its water security against China. The Adi Banne Kebang, the community-led apex body, spearheading the protests, has demanded that SUMP be scrapped and the Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) rejected.

So, what's driving the protests against the proposed 11,200-MW Siang dam in Arunachal Pradesh? Why Gen Z and locals are against the 11,200-megawatt multipurpose project?

The protests and incidents of violence and arson follow the CM Pema Khandu-led Arunachal Pradesh government saying that it stood firm in its call that it would conduct a feasibility test of the river for the dam construction by the NHPC.

The NHPC is a state-run public sector enterprise tasked with executing the pre-feasibility surveys, technical assessments, and construction of the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

Following the violence, the Centre has deployed two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) Rapid Action Force (RAF), comprising around 250 personnel, to Arunachal Pradesh, reported PTI on Sunday, October 25.

The Centre says that the proposed dam is a strategic safeguard against China's growing control over the Brahmaputra's upstream waters. On the other hand, the protesting members of the Adi community say, the dam plan on the "sacred river" threatens their ancestral lands, livelihoods, cultural identity and an entire landscape they have inhabited for generations.

"The opposition to any project in the Siang has been going on for nearly 40 years. The recent dam project has triggered massive protests, and they intensified in the last three years," Itanagar-based journalist Tongam Rina told India Today Digital. "Mainly, Gen Z got angry with the police crackdown with tear gas on women protesters in Arunachal Pradesh," Rina, who works with the Arunachal Times newspaper said.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu has repeatedly said that a final decision on the construction of the dam had not been taken. He added that the government won't proceed beyond the feasibility stage if experts found the project unsuitable. Any viable proposal, Khandu said, would still require environmental and social impact assessments, a detailed project report, statutory clearances and consultations with affected communities. "Misinformation and misconceptions surrounding the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project are creating apprehensions among our people," he said on Sunday.

According to experts, the proposed Siang dam is not just for harnessing hydroelectricity. It is about the dam's strategic importance. The dam is also about who controls a river and who bears the risks of development.

WHY INDIA WANTS A DAM ON THE SIANG

To understand the government's urgency, we need to understand what's happening upstream, across the border into Tibet. The Brahmaputra is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. It flows eastwards before turning south towards India, entering Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang or Dihang. So, a major intervention in the river's upper reaches in the high-seismic zone with sharp gradients would inevitably raise concerns downstream.

In July 2025, China launched construction of a massive hydropower dam in its Tibet Autonomous Region's (TAR) Medong county. This is a zone that is prone to earthquakes, and the construction of the massive dam has been called a "water bomb" by experts.

Beijing has estimated an investment of 1.2 trillion yuan. The project is expected to have a generation capacity of around 60,000 MW, and is set to become the world's largest hydropower project upon its completion.

For India and Bangladesh, the concern is that an upstream country could influence the timing and volume of water reaching communities downstream. Last year, Pakistan had invoked the possibility of China controlling the flow of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra system after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Changes in water releases, potential diversion and sudden discharges by China could have implications for flood management and water security for India. Meanwhile, India's strategic concern is that it does not want to remain unprepared for changes in the river's flow.

This is where SUMP, which is currently under massive protest, enters the picture.

The Centre sees the Siang project as a potential buffer, capable of storing water and moderating sudden fluctuations in downstream flows. CM Pema Khandu has cited estimated live storage of approximately 9.2 billion cubic metres for SUMP, compared with around 5.5 billion cubic metres for China's Medong project.

According to the government's version, if the dam is built and operated as intended, SUMP could potentially help regulate water flows, support flood management and strengthen India's water security. The reservoir would also help in storing any erratic flow of water in the river. It would supply renewable electricity, help stabilise power shortages in northeastern and eastern India, improve infrastructure and create economic opportunities in Arunachal Pradesh.

A November 2025 paper by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses described the project as more than "an energy initiative, placing it within India's broader water-security and hydro-diplomacy strategy."

WHY ARUNACHAL LOCALS ARE RESISTING THE SIANG DAM

But the local Adi community, which is at the forefront of the protests against the SUMP, sees the national security argument differently.

Speaking to India Today Digital, Itanagar-based journalist Tongam Rina said people across the five districts through which the Siang flows have a different perspective on the government's China-centric justification for the project. She says that the locals are worried about the immediate consequences of constructing the massive reservoir, which they say could submerge their ancestral land, destroy livelihoods, environment and cultural identity.

"Locals say we know the river much better than the government," Rina said. "The anti-national labelling of protesters who are against the dam has triggered more upheaval," she added.

Arunachal CM Khandu has also offered to visit affected villages and meet community representatives. When Khandu visited Yingkiong, the Upper Siang district on September 30, his convoy was stopped midway by anti-dam protesters.

The immediate reason for the anger against the dam on Sang is the proposed PFR of the SUMP. The proposed survey is expected to run for three months, from November 2026 to January 2027.

The government has maintained that the exercise is intended to establish whether the project is technically and geologically viable, including possible locations, seismic risks and its potential to moderate downstream flooding.

"The protesters on the ground look like they are ready for anything that is coming," senior journalist Rina told India Today Digital. "People believe a dam cannot stop the 'water bomb' that China might use," she added.

The Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum (SIFF), which has led the resistance, said the locals fear that permitting surveys now could establish the groundwork for a project that becomes increasingly difficult to oppose later. The SIFF has also challenged the government's claims of local support, arguing that signatures from individual households cannot be a substitute for wider discussions with village communities and traditional institutions.

The All Adi Youth Association has called for engagement through traditional kebang (traditional village council) institutions, withdrawal of cases against protesters and the restoration of trust between communities and the administration. The Adi Banne Kebang has demanded that SUMP be scrapped and the PFR rejected.

Even as locals in Arunachal Pradesh are opposing the Siang dam project, the threat of the Chinese mega dam is real. Through the proposed Siang dam, the Indian government aims to create a buffer against sudden changes in river flow and mitigate the impact of any disruptions caused by China's upstream activities.

WHY CHINA'S DAM CALLED A TICKING BOMB

The concern surrounding Medog is not limited to geopolitics. It also involves geology. A July report in the South China Morning Post, citing a Mandarin-language study published in Sedimentary Geology and Tethyan Geology, highlighted a potentially serious geological problem at the Medong dam site.

Researchers associated with China's Chengdu University of Technology, the Civil-Military Integration Centre of the China Geological Survey and the Middle Yarlung Zangbo River Natural Resources Observation and Research Station identified the active Paizhen Fault beneath the Medog project area. The Paizhen Fault is a seismically active geological fault in Tibet. It's near China's proposed mega-dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo.

This study does not establish that the Medog dam will fail. It does, however, highlight geological risks that require careful assessment.

The devastating floods in Nepal in August have brought renewed attention to the dangers of building large infrastructure in fragile Himalayan environments. Strategic expert Brahma Chellaney had warned that the Nepal disaster would renew scrutiny of China's plans to construct the world's largest dam in the Himalayan seismic zone.

So, the Siang debate ultimately brings two kinds of security into conflict. One is India's need to prepare for a changing strategic relationship with China and the risks of upstream water management. The other is the security of communities whose homes, livelihoods and heritage are tied to the river.

- Ends