"I have lost my house 17 times to riverbank erosion," said Hussen, 47, a resident of Kharballi village in Assam's Barpeta district. "Wherever there are floods, there is erosion… When we try to find our footing, due to floods, our house gets washed away."
In villages like Kharballi, built along shifting riverbanks, floods routinely erase homes, farmland and livelihoods. Families move repeatedly, often rebuilding on borrowed land or narrow strips of earth left behind by the river.
For them, a flood means losing their homes and livestock but also documents and land records. This is especially risk for Muslim families in Assam. The state has been at the center of India's citizenship crackdown, where recent policies and verification drives have placed Muslims under closer scrutiny. Lost papers could mean legal troubles and even loss of citizenship.