Siang Upper Multipurpose Project: Protests, Arrests and the Question of Community Consent
A political party's state unit in Arunachal Pradesh demanded that the proposed 11,200 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) on the Siang river be scrapped. It also demanded the release of people arrested for protesting against the dam.
The statement said that prior consent of the people likely to be affected is essential before any such project goes ahead, and that development should not come at the cost of indigenous people's ancestral land, identity, culture and livelihood.
It sought withdrawal of cases filed under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014 (APUAPA), a state law that allows preventive detention, along with withdrawal of suspension orders against government employees and cases against gaon buras (traditional village headmen) who opposed the project.
Other demands included pulling back extra security forces from the project-affected areas, compensation for losses, medical help for injured protesters, and dialogue between the State and the Centre to restore peace in the Siang region.
The opposition to the project comes mainly from sections of the indigenous Adi community. Their fears are submergence of ancestral villages, displacement, loss of farmland and forests, and disruption of their traditional way of life. According to reports, 27 villages could be submerged and several dozen others affected.
The Centre sees the project as strategically important because China is building a giant hydropower project upstream on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, which enters India as the Siang.
Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP): India's Storage Dam on the Siang
The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is a very large dam proposed by NHPC on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The Siang is the name of the Brahmaputra when it first enters India from Tibet. The project is "multipurpose" because it is meant to produce electricity, control floods and store water as a buffer against sudden changes in flow from upstream.
The demand to scrap the project, and the arrests of protesters, show the sharp conflict between the Centre's strategic and water-security goals and local fears of losing land and homes. Whether the project can move to its next approval stages depends heavily on how this conflict is settled.
Adi Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh
The Adi are one of the largest tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh. They live mainly in the valleys of the Siang river and its tributaries, in East Siang, Upper Siang, Siang and nearby districts. They speak Tani languages, part of the Tibeto-Burman family, and are known for their village councils called Kebang and their nature-based faith, Donyi-Polo (worship of the Sun and the Moon).
Because the Adi hold their land by custom and treat the river valley as their ancestral and sacred home, a dam that could submerge 27 villages strikes at the heart of their identity. Action against gaon buras, their traditional headmen, has made the issue even more sensitive.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Free, Prior and Informed Consent, or FPIC, is the idea that indigenous and tribal communities have the right to say "yes" or "no" to a project that affects their land, forests, water or way of life. The consent must be free (given without pressure), prior (given before the project starts), and informed (given after the people fully understand what the project will do). It is now a key principle in international law on indigenous peoples and in many Indian laws on tribal land and forests.
The core demand against the Siang project is that the affected Adi communities must give their prior consent before it moves ahead. This is the FPIC principle. The debate over SUMP shows the classic FPIC conflict: a project seen as strategically vital for the nation, against the right of a local community to decide what happens to its ancestral land.
- Project: Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), about 11,200 MW, Upper Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh
- Developer: NHPC Limited
- Villages that could be submerged: 27 (as per reports), with several dozen more affected
- Main affected community: Adi tribe
- Law used against some protesters: Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014
- Gaon bura: traditional village headman in Arunachal Pradesh
- Upstream Chinese project: Yarlung Tsangpo lower reaches (Medog) project, about 60,000 MW, construction began 19 July 2025
- River names: Yarlung Tsangpo (Tibet) → Siang/Dihang (Arunachal Pradesh) → Brahmaputra (Assam, after meeting the Dibang and Lohit)