Updated: October 29, 2020 8:13:45 am
In his field in Siswan village, Thakur says he received no aid funds. (Express photo: Dipankar Ghose)
Behind Ram Pukar Thakur, there is what appears to be a pond, with some green shoots poking out. Around, as far as the eye can see, are similar pools, interspersed with sewers used by villagers as walking paths. This water has been here for four months, Thakur says, since the floods, with Muzaffarpur district being one of the hardest hit. “It is not a pond, it is my field.”
In the immediate aftermath of the floods, which affected about 17 lakh people in 16 districts, with rivers such as Gandak and Budhi Gandak, and canals overflowing and flooding fields and homes, the Nitish Kumar government had said it had disbursed Rs 1 billion for 20 lakh bank accounts of people across the state: Rs 6,000 per family was given to help them get through the crisis.
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With the polls close by, the government would have hoped this would also help it overcome public anger. Only not everyone got the money.
Standing next to his field in the village of Siswan in the Korigama block, Thakur says that in May, he had spent money on hybrid seeds, fertilizers and a tractor. “Sat nasht ho gaya (I lost everything). The water entered the fields and it hasn’t receded, so I can’t even plant anything new. “
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The officers came, he said, a “vikas mitra” as the representatives of the village are called, and photos were taken. “But they did not declare the area affected by the floods, unlike other villages,” says Thakur.
While the Nitish government withheld the transfer of money directly to accounts as a corruption-free delivery mechanism, eliminating intermediaries, the seemingly arbitrary nature of the selection of flood-affected areas, villagers say, was due to “afsarshahi (officiality): a word that is repeated in Bihar to describe the third term of Nitish Kumar. “What is it if not the officers? They declared a part affected by the floods, and they are not. Can’t you see our fields? They must have taken some money, ”Thakur said.
But even those who received the money ask how much Rs 6,000 is enough. Narayan Sah says that in any case, no one in the area receives a fair price for their rice. “The tariff should be 1,500 rupees per quintal, but since no one buys from MSP, we only get 1,100 rupees. That doesn’t even cover the cost of inputs, even when there is no flooding. A farmer has to pay for seeds, fertilizers, tractor, labor, one cycle per acre can mean 20,000 rupees, ”says Sah.
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While flooding is not new to Muzaffarpur or Bihar, and images of submerged villages are now an annual phenomenon, what is different this year is the additional distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Usually the young Ramesh Sah traveled to nearby areas to find work as a laborer. But this year, that job hasn’t been available either. “There is no work in Muzaffarpur. In our families, there were many people who lived in cities and sent money home. But in the confinement, that stopped. So many have taken out loans, we don’t know how we’ll repay them, ”says Ramesh.
On the ground, disenchantment may not yet mean a vote for Mahagathbandhan, although villagers say they are now considering that option when it was unthinkable that they would not vote for Nitish again. The CM also appears to be bearing most of the anger, although the closure was imposed by the Center. Siswan falls under the seat of the Baruraj Assembly, where the RJD takes on the BJP.
Opinion: NDA has a slight edge in Bihar polls, despite Nitish Kumar’s dwindling popularity
Ram Pukar Thakur, who is in his 60s, says: “Sochenge abhi (we are still weighing our options). Previously, I gave my vote to Nitish Kumar, when RJD and JD (U) were together (the RJD candidate had won in 2015). Modi shouldn’t have blockaded the country, but we don’t want Nitish. I don’t like Lalu Prasad either, ”he said.
Chandan Kumar, 19, is clearer in his choice of change. “I don’t like this Prime Minister. Now we want a young leader. They will understand the unemployment problems that exacerbate even these flood situations, ”he says.
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