From The Marginlands
From The Marginlands
Podcast Description
In From The Marginlands, we -- Prem Panicker and Arati Kumar Rao-- explore storytelling and making sense of the elemental connections between us and the world around us. We converse with carefully curated guests on the art of telling stories about the environment and on climate change as it manifests around the world.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast centers around themes of storytelling, environmental awareness, and the impacts of climate change, with episodes covering a range of topics such as the effects of pollution on water bodies like the Yamuna, the ecological studies involving fishing cats, and the exploration of narratives through the works of acclaimed journalists like Paul Salopek. Each episode delves into personal and collective stories that connect listeners to pressing global environmental challenges.
From The Marginlands with Prem and Arati takes unabashed deep-dives into uncomfortable environmental issues. We converse with carefully curated guests on the art of telling stories about the environment and on climate change as it manifests around the world.
Assam’s July floods were explained as a consequence of heavy rainfall. That is true, but incomplete. Historian Arupjyoti Saikia joins us to uncover the much longer history behind the catastrophe: the earthquakes that transformed the Brahmaputra, the failed embankment experiment, changing sediment, dams and extraction in the highlands, erased wetlands, and a political economy built around flood control and relief. We discuss why a single river basin is governed in fragments; whether climate change is becoming an alibi for destructive decisions, and what farmers, graziers and fisherwomen understand about the river that technocratic planning does not.
ABOUT US:
Arati Kumar Rao on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aratikumarrao/
Arati on Substack: https://aratikumarrao.substack.com/
Prem Panicker on X: https://x.com/prempanicker
Prem on Substack: https://prempanicker.substack.com/
Our email: marginlands @gmail.com
ARUPJYOTI SAIKIA'S BOOKS:
1. The Unquiet River: A biography of the Brahmaputra: https://www.amazon.in/UNQUIET-RIVER-C-Arupjyoti-Saikia/dp/0199468117/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1
2. The Quest for Modern Assam: A History (1942-2000): https://www.amazon.in/Quest-Modern-Assam-History-1942-2000-ebook/dp/B0CD824NQB/?_encoding=UTF8
3. Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826–2000: https://www.amazon.in/Forests-Ecological-History-Assam-1826-2000-ebook/dp/B0746LGL51/?_encoding=UTF8
4. India’s Forests: Revisiting Nature and History (with Mahesh Rangarajan): https://www.amazon.in/Indias-Forests-Revisiting-Nature-History-ebook/dp/B0GMH7F4QZ/?_encoding=UTF8
5. A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam Since 1900: https://www.amazon.in/Century-Protests-Peasant-Politics-Assam/dp/0415811945/ref=sr_1_1?nsdOptOutParam=true&sr=8-1
6. Jungles, Reserves, Wildlife: A history of forests in Assam: https://www.ovid.com/jnls/coas/fulltext/01370234-200503020-00014~jungles-reserves-wildlife-a-history-of-forests-in-assam
SELECTED WRITINGS
Making sense of Assam floods: Why rivers turned violent in the 20th century — Arupjyoti Saikia and Jagdish Krishnaswamy: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/making-sense-of-assam-floods-why-rivers-turned-violent-in-the-20th-century-8010362/
Jute in the Brahmaputra Valley: The Making of Flood Control in Twentieth-Century Assam: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/abs/jute-in-the-brahmaputra-valley-the-making-of-flood-control-in-twentiethcentury-assam/4AF82003858518B8FBDE6E7C9CBEAB5F
Flood Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation and Technological Lock-In in Assam: https://ecoinsee.org/journal/ojs/index.php/ees/article/view/150
Nature and Assam’s Present: https://www.india-seminar.com/2017/690/690_arupjyoti_saikia.htm
Ecology, Floods and the Political Economy of Hydropower: https://pmml.nic.in/downloadSeries/121
Assam floods aren't just about Brahmaputra: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/assam-floods-arent-just-about-the-brahmaputra-10834633/
Making sense of Assam floods (with Jagdish Krishnaswamy): https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/making-sense-of-assam-floods-why-rivers-turned-violent-in-the-20th-century-8010362/
WATCH AND LISTEN
The Unquiet River: Brahmaputra: https://bengaluru.sciencegallery.com/submerge/confluence/arupjyoti-saikia
Gold Washers, Fishermen and Boatmen: Was There a Pre-modern Life of the Brahmaputra?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Ib1Tgtm8A
The Quest for Modern Assam (Asian Review of Books): https://megaphone.link/NSR3351490911
RELATED READING
Engineering a season of floods (Amitangshu Acharya, LiveMint): https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/engineering-a-season-of-floods-11573832077930.html
India Today: How disruption in the surrounding highlands intensifies flooding in Assam: https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/assam-floods-nagaland-arunachal-hill-erosion-experts-solutions-2969082-2026-08-12
Assam floods: Engineering alone cannot help (SANDRP): https://sandrp.in/2026/08/17/drp-170826-assam-floods-engineering-alone-cannot-help/
Mongabay India: Assam’s floods expose a crisis beyond heavy rain: https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/assam-floods-expose-a-crisis-beyond-heavy-rain/
Upper Assam’s flood catastrophe a direct result of river and mountain grabbing (Scroll): https://scroll.in/article/1095046/upper-assams-flood-catastrophe-is-a-direct-result-of-river-and-mountain-grabbing
Newslaundry: The making of Assam’s annual “unprecedented” flood: https://www.newslaundry.com/2026/07/30/at-least-75-dead-7-lakh-displaced-the-making-of-assams-annual-unprecedented-flood
EOM
Contact us:
Email the Podcast
Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram
Prem Panicker on X (Twitter)
Prem on Substack
From The Marginlands on Instagram
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