Poll special: How caste trumps ravages of floods in Bihar

KATAIYA ( Supaul): Jagdish Sada lost 10 goats, five cows and his 70-year-old mother Bhurdi Devi when tempestuous Kosi flowed through his densely-populated village after breaching its mud embankment at Kusaha in Nepal in August 2008. All the utensils kept inside the thatched hut were also carried away by the swirling Kosi as the family took shelter along the river embankment.
“I survived but lost everything.Even my farmland was covered with two-three-feet sand, robbing off my livelihood,” says 60-year-old Sada, rubbing Khaini on his palms, with horror of the Kosi disaster still writ large on his face. While he himself works as a farm labourer earning a paltry Rs300 a day, both his sons have migrated to Delhi and Punjab to work as labourers to run their family of 10.

48-year-old Patanu Sada has a similar story to tell. Patanu lost some 7-8 goats along with the one-room house, leaving his family on the road for months. Luckily, his family survived but the loss of goats caused him severe monetary loss. Goats are the main source of income for the poor villagers in the countryside, and are called “poor man’s ATM” as a single goat instantly fetches them a minimum of Rs4,000.

According to govt records, the floods killed more than 250 people and displaced over three million population settled in five districts of Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Araria and Purnia. Supaul district was the worst-hit as the surging waters swamped 1,000 square kilometres (250,000 acres) of farmlands, destroying crops.
More than 300,000 houses were also destroyed and at least 340,000 hectares of crops were damaged as hunger and disease dealt a blow to the hapless humanity. The disaster caused massive resentment among the villagers with the flooding exposing the Nitish Kumar-led NDA govt’s preparedness to deal with such a situation in Bihar and also for the poor handling of flood relief works that left villagers in relief camps for months.

Strangely, when the Lok Sabha elections were held the very next year—in April/May 2009, barely eight months later, it was the NDA candidates who emerged victorious from all these flood-ravaged districts. The reason why flood disasters have failed to become an issue is the caste which has been a dominating factor in every election.
People facing flood disasters almost every year flee their homes and migrate to other states in search of livelihood but when they come back to vote, fury of Kosi or other rivers are not in their minds as caste dominates Bihar politics.
“ (It’s true castes matter more than anything else during elections),” Nunulal Sada, 40 said. “,” says a youth from Chapin village under Chhatapur block who works as a migrant labourer.

But Girija Devis of Basantpur block is very angry this time and has decided to drive the leaders away from their areas if seen begging for votes. “They seek votes saying they belong to your caste and will take care of you but have not shown their faces after winning elections. They visit us only during election time,” Devi, 47, says sitting on the ground with other women from her village under the tree shade . “Right now, my family has been living in a hut atop a river embankment,” she says, adding both her sons are employed as labourers in Punjab to support their family.
Supaul which borders Nepal on the north has significant populations of backward/Dalit and extremely backward voters who are the deciding factor in the election. As per a rough estimate, this LS constituency has a total of more than 19 lakh voters. Out of them, Kevat, Dhanuk, Mallah, Rishideo, Musahar, Paswan and Chamar castes have significant populations.
“The problem with the areas is that floods have never become an issue in any election although it is an annual feature claiming many lives. The reason is that the people have taken floods as ‘natural disasters’, rather than man-made disasters,” river activist Bhagwan Pathak told the TOI.

Pathak, who has constantly raised the issue of floods, said the poor villagers are so much busy arranging for two-square meals that they have not paid any attention to the issue that hits him hard each year. “It is very sad that the people have considered the leaders’ issue as their own,” Pathak said the situation would continue until there is political awareness among the people.
Sitting MP and JD(U) candidate Dileshwar Kamait said floods caused by Kosi were a major issue and they have prepared Kosi-Mechi interlinking project under which the excess water of the river will be diverted to several districts for irrigation purposes. “I have already written a letter to the Centre and the latter has agreed. The project is under process,” Kamait told the TOI adding the state govt will give 40 per cent while the Centre will give 60 per cent share to complete the project.