Q. “Natural disasters are the main causes of poverty in Bihar”. Do you agree with this statement? Comment your views. [47 BPSC/2007]

Q. “Natural disasters are the main causes of poverty in Bihar”. Do you agree with this statement? Comment your views. [47 BPSC/2007] ©crackingcivilservices.com
Ans:

Bihar faces multiple natural disasters, for example, floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, heat waves, cold waves, landslides etc.
Bihar has a long history of disaster. e.g. a very severe earthquake occured in Bihar in 1934 devastated a major part of Bihar, Frequent annual flood takes a huge toll on life and property. These disasters are considered one of the main reason behind the poverty in Bihar. However, there are other reasons of the current economic condition of Bihar which include policy shortcoming, state of educate and skill, geographical position (away from coastal area), social issues etc. ©crackingcivilservices.com

Natural disasters in Bihar:

• Floods:
  • The south-west monsoon brings the maximum rainfall in the state, lasting from June to September, and often causes flood-like situation, especially in the northern districts.
  • Bihar is India’s most flood-prone state, with 76% population in the North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation.
  • Bihar makes up 16.5% of India’s flood affected area and 22.1% of India’s flood affected population.
  • About 73.06% of Bihar’s geographical area, ie 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 sq mi) out of 94,160 square kilometres (36,360 sq mi), is flood affected.
  • Bihar faced floods during July 2020, resulting from heavy downpour from the south-west monsoon in the nonhem districts and neighbouring Nepal.
  • On an annual basis, they destroy thousands of human lives apart from livestock and assets worth millions.
  • North Bihar districts are vulnerable to at least five major flood-causing rivers during monsoon – Mahananda River, Koshi River, Bagmati River , Burhi Gandak River and Gandak – which originate in Nepal.
  • Some south Bihar districts have also become vulnerable to floods from Son, Punpun and Phalgu rivers.
• Earthquake:
  • Bihar is located in high seismic zone. that falls on the boundary of the tectonic plate joining Himalayan tectonic plate near Nepal-Bihar border.
  • Of 38 district of Bihar, 8 districts fall in seismic zone V while 24 district fall in seismic zone IV and 6 district in seismic zone III with most district falling under multiple seismic zones.
  • The worst earthquake was the 1934 earthquake in which more than 10,000 people lost their lives and city of Munger was totally devastated, followed by 1988 earthquake and recent one include sikkim earthquake in 2011 and Nepal earthquake 2015.
• Drought:
  • Irregularity and shortage of rainfall is the main cause behind the drought condition in Bihar.
  • It affect agriculture the most, on which more than 80% of Bihar population is dependent.
  • In 2019, Bihar experienced both drought and flood simultaneously.
    • A drought-like situation prevails in 22 districts, while 12 districts are affected by floods. North Bihar is engulfed in a flood, while south Bihar is experiencing severe drought with deficient rainfall.
• Heat wave:
  • During summer season, Bihar usually face problem of heat wave in several regions e.g. Gaya. It is further aggravated by the delayed monsoon.
  • In 2019, due to heat wave 142 persons were dead in four days and has led to the hospitalisation of 1,195 people. The Bihar government has issued prohibitory orders to keep people from stepping outside in the searing heat, particularly between 11 am and 4 pm.
  • This disaster not only leads to loss of precious lives but also affect the normal communication and business activities.
• Cold wave:
  • The cold waves locally known Sheet-lahar brings in the sharpness in winter and drastically drops the temperature in Bihar disrupting lives of millions of poor people and also causes several deaths.
  • Districts like Gaya, Patna, Bagalpur generally comes under the influence of cold wave.
• Thunderstorms:
  • Bihar experienced heavy rainfall during the south-west monsoons in 2019 leading to localised cyclonic circulations resulting in occurrence of lightning and thunderstorms.
  • In 2020, there were 459 reported cases of death due to thunderstorms in the state. The districts Of Gaya, Saran, Jamui, Rohtas, Aurangabad and Banka had 25 and more deaths each due to thunderstorms.
• Cyclone:
  • Though Bihar is not a coastal state, sometime cyclones originated in Bay of Bengal impact Bihar as well. e.g. Cyclone Amphan, Cyclone Fani etc had caused strong wind and heavy rain across Bihar.

These disasters affect the lives and livelihood of people and immensely contribute to the bad economic condition of Bihar.

• The damage to crop due to drought has been widespread in the state.
• According to Bihar economic survey 2021-22, Flood-induced damage affected a total of 19 districts in the state, with loss in crop production amounting to Rs. 727.88 crore, and damage to public property at Rs. 3281.87 crore. Nearly 100.23 lakh people were affected in total.
• Because of the cold wave in the state, about I5.61 lakh people were affected during 2020-21.
• The financial burden for management of disasters was substantially high in Bihar at Rs. 3227.79 crore in 2020-21. The highest expenditure was incurred for cash dole assistance at Rs.1355.50 crore, followed by subsidy for agricultural inputs (Rs. 999.60 crore), and repair of embankments and irrigation system (Rs. 557.95 crore).
• Excessive rainfall in the kharif season and overflowing rivers have resulted in substantial crop damage. As per the estimates of the Department of Agriculture, more than 5 lakh hectares of the state could not be sown.
• State government has to make provisions for the relieve which drive away already scarce economic resources. e.g. providing financial assistance to the farmers in case of damage to the crops due to natural calamities under the Bihar Rajya Fasal Sahayata Scheme.

Steps being taken to deal with disaster: (It is not the main demand of question. Mention only briefly.)

• The 15-year Disaster Risk Reduction roadmap of Bihar envisages to follow a community-centric approach for disaster reduction in priority sectors, such as agriculture.
• The State Disaster Management Plan points to the need to establish ‘Sankalp Kendra’ to enable community-based disaster management.
• There are measures being taken to revive the ponds and reservoirs in north Bihar and Ahar-Pynes in the southern part to enable water conservation measures to meet the flood and drought-like situations
• The Disaster Management Cell is overseeing the measures for better preparedness for tackling natural and man-made disasters in the state.
• The State Disaster Management Plan emphasizes the importance of putting the ‘Sankalp Kendra’ plan into action in order to enable community-based disaster management.
• Further, efforts are being made towards capacity building, strengthening the functioning of the District Disaster Management Authorities, organising public awareness campaigns, and investing more in the management of disasters in the state.

There are multiple factors responsible for poverty of Bihar:

• Historical:
  • British exploitation to this area started right after battle of Plassey in 1757. Thus, Bihar had comparatively larger period of exploitation than other parts of India.
  • The causes of poor economic performance of Bihar can be traced back to British colonial policy that not only created an intermediary exploitative class through Permanent Settlement, but also destroyed local knowledge-based industries that provided livelihoods to many urban and rural artisans.
  • De-industrialization ruined indigenous company: Bihar was famous for textile handloom and spinning. During the early 19th century, about 20% of the state’s population was involved in spinning and other industrial work.
    • However, due to the British policy of discouraging cottage industries and the promotion of indigo cultivation, these industries employed only 8.5% of the state’s working population.
    • This declining trend continued even after independence.
  • The economic marginalization that started during the colonial period continued even after independence.
• Structural factors:
  • High population and low skill:
    • While skilled human resources are a driving force for economic growth, a balance between population and economic growth is essential for the manpower to be absorbed by the productive sector.
    • As per the 2011 Census, Bihar was also India’s most densely populated state, with 1,106 persons per square kilometre. (compared to 382 per square kilometre in India)
    • People are an asset when they are skilled enough to take the existing opportunities or create new opportunities through innovation and entrepreneurship. However, a large section of the population in Bihar has remained unskilled and poorly educated.
    • Due to the absence of a dynamic non-farm or industrial sector in Bihar, the growing low-skilled population has created tremendous pressure on the agriculture sector.
      • More than 70% of Bihar’s workforce is dependent on agriculture.
      • Agriculture sector employs more than required number of people. It results disguised unemployment.
  • Due to high poverty, inequality and a poor education system resulting from low investment and poor governance, the education and health condition of Bihar is poor.
    • Vocational training has also been inadequate leaving the vast majority of the rural workforce unskilled and engaged mostly in agriculture.
    • Many have been forced to migrate to other states for seasonal or long-term work.
  • Thus, the large population could not contribute to economic growth due to an absence of social and economic conditions to absorb the additional population and support innovative technologies.
• Economic:
  • Low capital resulting from low savings rate due to low productivity and high propensity to consumption reinforces the ‘vicious circle’ of poverty and the ‘low level equilibrium trap’.
  • per capita income of Bihar is 43000 rs. ( per capita income of India is 135000 rs.)
  • Weak agrarian structure:
    • As per 2011 census, of the total population of Bihar state, around 88.71 percent live in the villages of rural areas, depending on agriculture directly or indirectly.
    • Land fragmentation: Land, the primary basis of agriculture, and social and political power have remained in the hands of the elite class.
      • According to Bihar economic survey 2021-22, The small and marginal landholdings which are less than two hectares, account for nearly 97 percent of the landholdings in Bihar, operating about 76 percent of the total area of operational holdings in the state.
    • Backwardness of agricultural technology,
    • Low investment in private sector,
  • Poor physical and economic infrastructure:
    • Owing to poor public infrastructure for surface water and increased water stress, farmers of Bihar have shifted to ground water irrigation as in the case of other states.
      • There was a huge surge in the 1980s in Bihar in ground water irrigation.
    • Fertilizer and pesticide prices also increased substantially.
    • Yet, while input prices had increased significantly, the output price of agriculture remained almost stagnant.
    • Bihar’s food grain yield is lower than the national average and less than half of Punjab’s.
    • unequal land distribution, poor agrarian social structure including persistence of feudal elements not only hindered the growth of productivity in agriculture.
• Political:
  • Bihar is among the most poorly governed states of India.
  • The alignment of political forces on the basis of caste and ethnic identity.
    • Post 1970s, several parties emerged in Bihar to represent caste and ethnic interests of less powerful groups. Although this has changed the political landscape of Bihar and the parties representing discriminated caste and ethnic groups have won elections, sectarian caste-based politics have failed to improve government performance in terms of economic growth.
    • Caste-based politics in Bihar promoted an electoral culture that locks in votes for candidates based on caste, regardless of their competence or performance.
    • The conflict between the so-called ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ castes has been an ongoing phenomenon in Bihar since the independence of the country.
  • Political instability:
    • more than 20 governments were in power in Bihar from 1961 to 1990, of which none was able to complete its term of office.
      • Bihar had 40 change of hands in just 70 years. On average Chief Ministers of Bihar had a tenure of 1.5 years. In fact many stayed in office for just a few months.
      • Bihar has had 23 different Chief Ministers in its 70 years history. Punjab has had only 14.
      • As a result, most of the governments remained dysfunctional with a weak capacity to enforce law and order, regulate and guide the activities of the private sector, and design and implement programmes and projects effectively.
  • Input related corruption in development work:
    • Due to this, the expected development didn’t materialized.
    • In other states, corruption was turn over based -> so projects were first completed.
  • All these adversely affect the quality of governance, the rule of law, financial management, and implementation of developmental plans and programmes.
  • Due to poor governance, physical and economic infrastructures such as roads, transportation and electricity, essential for attracting investment and pursuing other development efforts, have remained inadequate in Bihar.
  • Weak administration also undermined government’s capacity to mobilize local resources effectively to fund development expenditure.
• Adverse impact of certain policies:
  • Transfer of resources from the centre to the states:
    • Bihar has been receiving less per capita allocation from the centre for development expenditure than any other of the states. Right from the beginning of planned developement, It has received less than half the all-India average.
      • since resource allocation partly depends on resource utilization capacity, Bihar received relatively low per capita allocations.
    • Because Bihar has relatively undeveloped industry and services sectors, the fiscal resource base of both states is relatively small. Moreover, their low administrative capacity has weakened the ability of both states to collect revenue.
    • Bihar was not even able to manage the matching funds required for centrally sponsored development programmes.
    • Bihar has the lowest resource utilization rate in India. The unused funds in Bihar are transferred to more efficient states.
  • The policy of ‘freight equalization:
    • It was introduced in 1952 and remained in force until 1993. This policy further marginalized Bihar.
    • Under this policy, railway freight rates for industrial inputs like coal, iron ore, steel and cement were structured in a way that would ensure that they were available at the same price in all parts of the country through government subsidies.
    • The impact of this policy is distributed unevenly.
    • While this policy helped some states of the south and west to build industries with raw materials sourced from Bihar and UP at subsidized transport costs, it neutralized the benefits of proximity and comparative advantage of Bihar and UP in establishing locally available mineral resource-based industries.
    • While coal and other natural resources available in Bihar and other eastern states were made available inexpensively to other parts of India, other industrial inputs available in other parts of India were not included in the freight equalization scheme, such as petroleum products.
    • This policy negated the comparative advantages of Bihar’s and UP’s mineral resources and affected industrial and economic growth through dynamic loss of forward and backward linkages.
    • For instance, the Tata group decided to invest in Bihar because of its natural advantage of minerals, but changed its decision after the introduction of this policy, industrial agglomeration bias continued.
    • Consequently, the economy of Bihar and UP has remained agricultural despite possessing huge mineral resources.
    • While the freight equalization policy was cancelled in 1992, Bihar had already fallen behind and in addition they continued to be constrained by an unfriendly investment climate arising from weak physical and social infrastructure and poor governance.
    • While Colonial India’s permanent settlement policy took away Bihar’s agricultural productivity, independent India’s freight equalization policy destroyed Bihar’s industrial ambitions.
  • Given the huge agro-climatic potential and cheap agricultural labour, one could expect agriculture-led growth in Bihar and UP similar to that in Punjab.
    • But, Bihar and UP were not able to utilize this potential for several reasons, including incomplete land reforms and low investment, inadequate physical infrastructure and poor institutional support.
• Socio-Cultural:
  • Deep rooted caste system, widely prevalent patriarchy and high prevalence of child marriage etc.
    • The caste system caused lacking of innovativeness among a vast section of population.
  • The states’ vast human population has remained as a liability with poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and low skill.
  • social conflict:
    • Caste conflicts e.g. Bara massacre, Senari massacre etc.
    • Communal riots
  • The exploitative landlord class established during British rule, which constantly resisted economic and social development even after independence in 1947.
    • Despite several attempts, land, which is the main productive asset in rural areas, has remained in the hands of a few absentee landlords, who have little interest to invest in land to increase productivity.
  • The canvas of social-movement was limited here. There were only two identity: Caste and national.
    • Sub-nationalism was al-together absent. =>Lack of emotional attachment to this area => no interest in it’s development.
  • Lacking investment on Health and education.
• Other:
  • No proximity to any large Industrial city.
  • A landlock state lacking the international linkages.
  • Brian drain: Skilled and educated people migrate to other area looking for better life opportunity.

Government steps:

• Current government have made an attempt to give development aspirations to all sections of society including low caste and ethnic minorities and practical measures have been taken to improve the quality of governance, including law and order, an increase in the efficiency of administration, the curbing of corruption, as well as increased development funds from the centre – all have contributed significantly to bring confidence and enhance development effectiveness.
• Law and order have improved recently; the efficiency of the judiciary in terms of the disposal of cases has increased; and the effectiveness of bureaucracies, including law enforcing agencies, has increased, all of which have helped to increase confidence of citizens and enhanced the development effectiveness of government.
  • This has created favourable conditions for investment and growth.
• The State Government has made significant efforts through promotion of Zero Tillage methods and System of Rice Intensification technique to increase rice production.
• To enhance the productivity of cereals, the State Government is making efforts through modernization of farms, technological adoption, investment in irrigation infrastructure and abating pest attack.
• JEEViKA, a World Bank supported program of the Government of Bihar (under the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project) is aimed at socioeconomic empowerment of rural households.
• Prohibition, 35% to women etc.
• Mention some of the schemes.

Way forward:

• To transform the vicious circle into a virtuous circle, increased savings, capital formation and a big push in investment are needed.
• Creation of social, institutional and physical infrastructure.
• Land reform, Encouraging entrepreneurship, Commercial Farming
• Promoting FDI and other external funding for capital investment.
• Focus on skill and education. The new education policy 2020 should be sincerely implemented.
• Achieving targets under sendai framework by collaborating with other government and civil societies.

Thus, natural disasters are only one of the major cause of poverty in Bihar. The problem is multifaceted and needs holistic solution. Bihar development is not only concern of India, but also a concern for the global community because India’s achievement of sustainable development goal will be difficult unless poverty is eliminated in Bihar.
Recent years Bihar has started moving fast on the path of development, the GDP growth rate is in double digit continuously since several years. There is need of active contribution from all section of society towards the realization of the vision of prosperous Bihar. ©crackingcivilservices.com