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Heritage tourism offers authentic value-addition to homogenized experiences providing authentic, one-of-a-kind take-away. Apart from popular world heritage sites there are little-exposed gems which can offer novelty and hedonics together. Chandernagore, located on the western bank of river Hugli, 40 km north of Kolkata, India, germinated during the medieval period, later became a thriving French Colony in Bengal displays brilliant prospect for urban heritage tourism. A detailed spatio-temporal inventory of shared heritage legacies both tangible and intangible is prepared using old literatures, oral interviews, GPS plotting and GIS mapping which offers a great platform for promoting urban heritage tourism. Chandernagore is at interesting cross-roads – bridging the infrastructural gaps and garnering involvement of the locals, for ascertaining true potentiality – the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) are identified to prepare a blueprint for heritage tourism revival strategy for the shared Indo-French melange. Empirical study is conducted for tourist profiling along with usage of descriptive statistics and to carry out perception analysis of locals and tourists. The SWOT analysis leads to a comprehensive strategy formulation which aims to act as base for the revival of Indo-French cultural melange through sustainable, robust tourism emphasizing the core and innovation capitals, tourism development strategies and management, tourism outcomes and resource sustainability.

Located at the base of the Chhota Nagpur Plateau’s fringe fan system, the Ghatal region in the Indian state of West Bengal is highly vulnerable to recurring floods. The region typically becomes flooded 3–5 times in a year; usually floodwaters remain stagnant for a long period of time owing to the typical basin-shaped topography of the area. A complex drainage system has evolved due to, on the one hand, the low gradient of the Shilabati–Dwarkeshwar–Rupnarayan Rivers and their numerous tributaries and distributaries and, on the other hand, to man-made irrigation channels. These rivers struggle to carry surplus run-off water during high discharge events. In addition, these rivers receive significant run-off from the upstream reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Kangsabati Project (KP). These factors combine into a disastrous flood scenario. In October 2013, due to the cyclone ‘Phailin’, both the Chhota Nagpur Plateau region of Jharkhand and the western part of West Bengal received extremely high levels of rainfall within a short amount of time, which caused much flooding in the Ghatal region. Almost 75% of the Ghatal Community Development (CD) Block was inundated; some areas remained flooded for a month thereafter. This study attempts to figure out the characteristics of the post-Phailin flood crisis through a field survey combined with satellite images and a digital elevation model (DEM) analysis, as well as secondary information acquired from various sources. The physiographic setting and drainage characteristics are analysed with the help of said DEM as well as multi-dated satellite images, various hydro-geomorphic techniques, spatial overlay and ground truth verification (GTV). Information on geology, rainfall, flood history, tidal character, demography, etc. was obtained from administrative departments and from various reports and literatures. Oral interviews with administrative personnel and local citizens helped understand the floodwater flow pattern—most especially the role of circuit embankments of Ghatal erected in the nineteenth century under British Raj in obstructing the natural drainage of this region. The present drainage system does not follow the natural slopes—ill-thought-out construction of embankments led to the formation of potential flood valleys cutting through the Shilabati and Dwarkeshwar courses a number of times. This results in breaches within the embankments and recurring floods. The region’s low gradient and the routine reversal of river flows due to upstream tidal flows are responsible for prolonged inundations. The 1980s Ghatal Master Plan (GMP) and the 2009–2011 WAPCOS Project prioritized the construction of a continuous, high-level embankment on the Shilabati’s left bank and the artificial resuscitation of the river’s lower areas. However, the implementation of these plans can lead to a variety of unintended consequences.

Avulsions involve switching of fluvial discharge through a new channel from an existing course and occur over varied timeframes ranging from hours to decades. With a peak discharge above 100,000 m3/s, the Brahmaputra (2900 km) is one of the largest rivers in the world. Its lower course through the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) Delta of Bangladesh was first mapped in 1764–73 as a broad eastward-swinging curvature skirting the subsiding Sylhet Wetlands and falling into the Meghna River. Beginning from the late eighteenth century, the river started to avulse into a linear, more direct, southward passage into the Ganga called the Jamuna and decreased its length by 46 km (14.2%) from its former course to the Bay of Bengal. Examination of the established timeline and procedure of the avulsion event using maps and images from 1764–73, 1830–34, 1854–60, 1907–24, and 2014, in addition to evidence from contemporary literature and tree-ring reconstructed long-term discharge data, connoted certain discrepancies. Our re-evaluation indicated that the Brahmaputra shifted westward and was captured by a parallel distributary of the neighbouring Tista system initiating the switch. This was probably aided by exceptionally high monsoonal discharge between 1786 and 1790 as well as the 1787 break-in of the Tista into the Brahmaputra. Because of its high width:depth ratio and braided planform that prevented fast escape of the discharge, abandonment of the eastern channel—the ‘Old’ Brahmaputra—progressed gradually; well into the next century with the new channel taking over almost completely by 1855–60. Comparable switchings of the Brahmaputra occurred six times in the last 11 kyr and significantly influenced development of the GBM Delta. The century-scale timeline of the last avulsion event described here refines its current understanding by proposing river capture as the mechanism of avulsion, possibly triggered by clustering of high-flood years.

Using the Namkhana region of West Bengal (21° 30′–21° 50′N, 88° 10′–88° 22′E; 670 km2) as a proxy for the Indian Sundarban, a standard False Colour Composite (FCC) generated from Resourcesat-2 LISS-3 data of 1st January 2014 is used for Ground Truth Verification (GTV) and preparing an inventory of land use, land cover and landform of the region. Photo and spectral characteristics of the land use and land cover types are recorded for eight classes: cropland, fallow, mangroves, orchards, clear water, turbid water, muds and sands. Similarly, photo characteristics of thirteen landform types were also brought out. These include: alluvial plain, channel bar, coastal dune, coastal bar, mangrove swamp, meander, mudflat, palaeochannel, sandy beach, sea, shore zone, swamp and tidal channel. The study should benefit similar works carried out in other areas of Sundarban.

Rudra (2014, Geomorphology, 227, 87-100) presented a review of geomorphic changes of the Indian part of the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta (GBD) during the last ~ 240 years, emphasising deterioration of distributary channels, effects of discharge augmentation from the Farakka barrage project into the Bhagirathi–Hugli river and the patterns of coastal erosion. The work contained many inconsistencies, improper understanding, and misrepresentation of facts. The principal of these involved (1) usage of nomenclature like GBD, Bengal basin, and their delineation; (2) discussions made on evolution and current status of the deltaic distributaries; and (3) generation and presentation of data on discharge, tides, and sea level. Besides this, most figures of the work contained positional inaccuracies and/or errors in survey years. We systematically addressed all these issues in the present discussion and offered corrected and up-to-date information wherever applicable.

Kedarnath (3,533 m, 30°44′05″N, 79°04′02″E) is situated within a kilometre of the termini of the Chorabari and Companion glaciers in the Indian Himalaya. An outburst flood from a lake (3,845 m) formed by right lateral moraine of the former caused severe damage to the village on 17 June 2013. We determined various physical parameters of the lake from three digital elevation datasets (CartoDEM, SRTM and ASTER) and selected the SRTM-derived data as they appeared to portray the region more accurately. The obtained parameters were used in predictive equations suggested by different authors to estimate peak discharge of the flood. We also compared high-resolution images of 10 December 1965 (Corona), June 2011 (Bing) and 25 June 2013 (Catrosat-1 Pan + LISS-4mx) to assess the damage caused to the village besides other geomorphic changes. The results showed that at least 149 mm of rainfall in its 291-ha catchment was required to fill up the lake, without considering the presence of antecedent water and loss from seepage and evaporation. At the point of breaching, the lake released 0.43 × 106 m3 of water with a peak discharge of 1,352 cumecs. The north-western section of Kedarnath village was on the direct path of the debris flow triggered by the flood and was almost completely destroyed. The southern and south-eastern sections were least affected. Out of 37,299 m2 of pre-event roof area of Kedarnath (259 structures), 44.2 % were obliterated and 26.7 % were partly damaged, representing 138 and 56 structures, respectively. Only one-quarter of the structures of the village emerged intact or slightly affected after the event.

Located 4 km NW of Bishnupur town in the Sinhati area of Bankura district, a localized badland has developed in a north–south orientation over the Pleistocene lateritic sediments on the left bank of the River Birai, a tributary of the Dwarakeshwar River. The climatic condition of this region is ideal for development of lateritic badlands by water erosion. Three gully networks have been identified over this 50.8 ha area with dominance of lower-order streams indicating high erosional rates by overland flow and surface runoff. The mean bifurcation ratio is 4.1. A four-facet slope profile is developed here with a lateritic duricrust and mottled layer clearly representing deep weathering. The western section of the badland is more erosive than the eastern section. Typical micro- and mesoscale landforms were recognized, such as escarpment, cliff, duricrust, rills and gullies, gully fans, and so on. The traditional fish breeding practice by embanking gullies makes this badland the most revenue-earning site of the area, which marks it an exception against the general perception of nonproductive badlands. The indigenous technique of fish breeding also acts as an effective measure of restricting soil erosion which can be followed elsewhere. But increasing numbers of commercial fish-breeding farms, resulting from growing market demand, pose a threat of accelerated soil erosion at Sinhati.

Locatedin Garhwal Himalayas, Kedarnath (3,583 m) is one of the holiest sites of Hindu pilgrimage. In the morning of 17 June 2013. Kedarnath village got devastated by a debris flow resulting from bursting of a marine-dammed lake called Chorabari Tal, which is located 300 m above the settlement, in the northwest. In this study estimations are made to measure the breach parameters of the lake viz. lake volume, peak flow, peak flow velocity and momentum. They were estimated from SRTM, ASTER and CartoDEM elevation models: The 9-10 m-high lateral moraine ridge of the Chorabari Glacier was breached along a 60-m wide stretch due to high water pressure in the lake after a high intensity rainfall received in its 2.7 km2 catchment The amount of water released was estimated at 0.43X106 m3(SRTM), 0.25X106 m3 (ASTER), and 0.63X106 m3 (CartoDEM). Using predictive equations,the peak flow was calculated for SRTM,ASTER and CartoDEM as 1352.2 m3S-1,850.2 m3S-1and 2280.3 m3S-1, respectively. Within less than one minute of the bursting of the Chorabari Tal, the flow devastated the. Kedarnath settlement. The 12.42° slope of the Mandakini along the 1.41 km Chorabari-Kedarnath stretch was steep enough for the initial flow of debris to attain the required momentum ranging between 21-25 x 106kg m3S-1, which obliterated the northern and western parts of the settlement. Since the lake boundary and the lake watershed derived from SRTM DEM fit much better to the topographic character of the area, asnoticed on the satellite images, the SRTM-derived results are considered to be the best estimate.

West Bengal (88,752 km 2 ) is the only Indian state that extends from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. It can be divided into nine physiographic provinces of which the Himalayas, the western plateaus, the northern and western alluvial fans and the Ganga delta are the most important. The development of the river system of the state was largely governed by tectonic evolution of the eastern Himalaya and western edges of the Bengal basin. The characteristics of the rivers as well as a number of aspects of water resources of the state can be linked to its physiographic regions. The principal issues associated with water in West Bengal include river degeneration, channel shifting, flood, urban waterlogging, drought, pollution, groundwater depletion and inland navigation. The management of water is practised by river impoundment projects in various scales and by drainage schemes. It is estimated that the western and eastern parts of the state are the most water stressed regions due to climatic and human factors respectively. The solutions for many of the water-related problems of West Bengal, progressive or cyclic, can be achieved by putting emphasis on participatory management besides organisational intervention.