UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF SAND MINING AND THEIR IMPACT ON KULSI RIVER, ASSAM, INDIASamar MedhiAbstract River in developing countries are tremendous pressure because of increasing dependence of human communities on sand, gravel, hydro electricity etc. River act as a basic source of livelihood and in many cases river has been exploited to such action that its replenishment is not possible. In terms of globalization and to achieve it development is the prior concern. That development ultimately exploit the natural resource base like river, forest etc and their various byproducts such as sand, gravel, timber and other raw materials. Such a noticeable example is Kulsi river originating from Meghalaya and finally merge with Brahmaputra as a southern most tributary. The main importance of the Kulsi river is that it is the shelter of endangered Gangetic Dolphin as well as rich source of pre-Cambrian quality sand. Under such circumstances this paper seeks to access the socio-economic life driving by the sand mining in the Kulsi river. It also identifies various ecological stress lead by sand mining in the river. The study also tries to pinnacle the future environmental problems related to the rampant sand mining with necessary suggestion. |