2. Introduction

The Damodar River, a subsystem of the Ganga River in India, exhibits most of the characteristics of a seasonal tropical river with a fluctuating regime. In this chapter, the author examines the Damodar valley region, focusing on the various factors that led her to select the applied geomorphological perspective as the most appropriate perspective for the study. In the absence of an a priori model to examine applied geomorphological and human environmental issues in a controlled riverbed, several concepts from inter-connected disciplines will be utilized to verify empirical facts. One of the objectives of this study is to explain land use characteristics and human perception, adaptability and resource evaluation on the riverbed in relation to human adjustment to floods and dams of the Lower Damodar. Therefore, a brief discussion of the concept of land, land resources and land use has been provided. Some concepts such as social space, perception, culture, refugee, human ecology, hazard, and empiricism, borrowed from sociology, anthropology, ecology, philosophy and similar disciplines, have been considered in explaining a human-modified fluvial environment.