Half the blocks in Bihar reeling under water scarcity

At a casual glance, it would be difficult to say that most parts of Bihar are experiencing a drought. Anyone moving around the areas, which were declared drought-hit by the State government, can see these areas sporting a tad of green.

“If you move around the State, it would be difficult to identify the areas that are hit by drought as most parts of the State received some rains in the recent weeks due to a depression. As a result, you would not see any patch of parched soil anywhere. But the water scarcity is real and groundwater table has gone down significantly in most of these areas because of excessive withdrawal of water,” said a senior official with Bihar State Disaster Management Authority. “Water levels have dropped by 10- 12 feet in most parts of the State,” he said.

Most districts in the State received poor rains during the previous southwest monsoon season, prompting the State government to declare agricultural drought in 280 blocks of 25 districts. Bihar has a total of 534 blocks in 38 districts. Equally hit are many adjoining districts such as Koderma in neighbouring Jharkhand .

“Normally, during summer months, water is available at a depth of 20 feet. This year, it has dropped to almost 40 feet,” said 27-year-old Chandan Kumar, a farmer from Dehuni village in Jahanabad district. The kharif harvest was so bad that Kumar managed to get less than 10 quintal of rice from his 2.5 hectare plot. “The crop was so bad, I did not get back the money invested in the crop,” said Kumar, who is worried about repaying a crop loan of ₹25,000 he has taken from local Allahabad Bank branch at an interest rate of 10 per cent. “Don’t even ask me about by rabi wheat,” he said.

In the neighbouring Ghoshi village, 30-year-old Sudhir Kumar said the village received hardly 2-3 days of good rains during the monsoon season. “This village of 250 families is predominantly a farmer village. We all have to spend a lot of money on diesel for irrigating the fields. Though the government has promised to give a diesel subsidy, I am yet to get it,” he said. Sudhir Kumar, together with his brothers, owns a plot of 4 hectares.

The State government has set aside a total of ₹1,430 crore for drought relief this year. A compensation of ₹913.92 crore has been given to 13.91 lakh farmers. According to officials in the State agricultural department, while farmers with irrigated land is given ₹13,500 per hectare, rain fed farmers would get ₹6,500 per hectare. The coverage is limited to a maximum of two hectares, they said. Apart from having a poor harvest, Kumar said, the farmers in the village are also suffering from crop destruction by wild animals. “The river Falgu is not very far from here. Many herds of Nilgai move around the area as they come to drink water from the river. Nilgais destroy the crops in the village. We cannot do anything as shooting them is prohibited,” he said. “The menace of wild animals is so much that we have stopped growing crops like maize,” said Vikas Kumar, another farmer from Ghoshi village. “They don’t spare even chillis,” he said. As per the compensation paid by the state government, the most affected districts are Madhubani in North Bihar and Nalanda and Gaya in south Bihar. Rameshwar Yadav, a farmer in Chero village of Nalanda district, said there was a widespread damage to his kesari and masoor dal crops this year because of poor rainfall. The crop was so bad that he would not get anything for four months of labour.

Mahesh Manjhi, 70-year-old mahadalit farmer in Kalyan Bigha village, the native village of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said he got a harvest of only three quintals of masoor from his one-acre plot, while the average in a normal year is around five quintals. His rabi crop of rapeseed was completely destroyed because of drought, he said. Many districts of neighbouring Jharkhand are also reeling under severe drought. Farmers in Lakshmipur-Kosmai villages in Domchanch block of Koderma district said there is only one public well in these villages. To address water scarcity that they experience year after year, the villagers, with the help of the Koderma-based Savera Foundation, are developing a watershed in the twin villages, surrounded by a denuded forest. Once completed, the project would tap the run-off from the adjoining hilly areas, with the help of three interconnected ponds that they are building, said Mahadev Singh, the village Mukhia of Kosmai village.

According to India Meteorological Department, Bihar gets 1,027.6 mm rainfall in a normal monsoon year. But this year, the State received 25 per cent less rainfall than normal monsoon.

This is the fourth part in the Drought series. The previous reports appeared on April 9

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