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This thesis investigates the environmental and socioeconomic effects of infrastructure development in fragile mountainous ecosystems, focusing on Karnaprayag in the Indian Himalayas. Rapid infrastructure development, like the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway and the Char Dham All-weather Road, has raised trepidations about environmental degradation, increased disaster risk, and disparities in livelihood results. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) directs the study, which aims to better understand how development affects community resilience, access to livelihood assets, and disaster preparedness.
The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, wherein household surveys are used to construct indices, and further correlation analysis. A tri-index system, consisting of the Livelihood Opportunity Index (LOI), Livelihood Index (LI), and Disaster Preparedness Index (DPI), was created to evaluate relations across five capital types: natural, financial, physical, human, and social. The fieldwork was carried out in six villages in Karnaprayag, and secondary data was used for Rishikesh, serving as a comparison location.
The findings show a moderate LOI score (0.5213) but a lower LI (0.4487), indicating that potential opportunities are not resulting in actual livelihood improvements. The DPI score (0.4304) indicates fragmented disaster preparedness caused by unequal access to knowledge and resources. Correlation analysis finds weak links between capitals, indicating structural fragmentation in development planning.
The thesis finds that, while Karnaprayag has the potential for equitable development, current top-down, ecologically insensitive policies pose long-term risks. Policy recommendations include investing in ecosystem services, decentralizing governance, and including disaster risk reduction into infrastructure planning. These findings contribute to the larger discussion of sustainable and climate-resilient development in Himalayan regions.
