People’s agony gain momentum as relief continues.

   1.                 People demonstrate before the collectariate and the
commissioners office in Muzaffarpur demanding relief
   2.                 Relief materials were looted in Samastipur by anti social
elements.
   3.                 Govt sources has told that 392 deaths in flood effected
district in north Bihar.
   4.                 Two minor girls Kamli (10) daughter of Laku Paswan and
Chandani Kumari (8) daughter of Argun Paswan  were thrown in to flood water by
policeman at Manbipur village under Mathurapur PS in Samastipur,  while they
were collecting fire woods.People demonstrated .DM announced compensation of Rs
1 lakh each..
   5.                 Ten people died by drowning in flood water at various
places in Muzaffarpur, Begusarai and Navagachhiya Districts.
   6.                 Flood situation in Samsatipur and Muzaffarpur Districts
continues to be grim and the situation in Supaul and Khagaria too, continues to
be miserable. While the situation in Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi and
East-West Champaran has improved.
   7.                 one eleven years old child Dheeraj kumar dead in flood
water near khanpur in Patna district.
   8.                 Punam kumari 8years old and her mother Sunainaq Devi dead
during latrine in open and slip down in flood water in Karara panshayat in
Ghoswari PS at Mokama.
   9.                 Wife of Jethu Manjhi dead during passing the Karua river at
Fatuha and two deathes repoted from Danianwan  and Phulwari shareef of Pastna
district.Patna district
   10.             10  diarrhea patent admitted in NMCH, Patna
   11.             Bleaching Powder to be purchased in bulk by state government
for preventing epidemic in the flood affected areas.
   12.             Burhi Gandak River has once again posed a serious threat to
inundate Muzaffarpur town.
   13.             Two boys Kongress Kumar(10) and Rohan kumar (6)  were drowned
in Madhepura in flood waters in Chausa Block Earliar Gaurabh Kumar (6) Sabitri
Kumari(14) andMeera Devi(32) of Ganganagar village under Alam Nagar Block lost
their lives in flood taking the death toll to five.
   14.             Alarmed over rising cases of malnutrition in the children of
flood affected areas in North Bihar, the UNICEF would setup a National
Rehabilitation Center (NRC) next month to launch an ambitious plan for improving
their health and nutrition intake.
   15.             Various people’s organization have come forward to contribute
to CM relief fund.
   Patna: 23-8-07


---------------------------------
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People’s organization fights the battle for survival.

   Barring East Champ ran where fresh flood waters have entered a few villages,
the overall flood situation slightly eased in the state on Tuesday with the
weather opening up and nill to moderate rains in the catchments areas of major
rivers.
   With the flood situation showing signs of improvement, the state government
decided to stop air-dropping of relief material in flood affected districts from
Wednesday.
   Principle secretary of the road construction department and in charge flood
relief operations R.K.Singh told PTI that all the four IAF helicopters that
air-dropped relief materials in the deluge-hit areas would be derequisitioned as
the flood situation had eased in most of the areas.
   “The relief operations will continue by way of road and boats”, he said,
adding IFA choppers air-dropped over 327 tones of relief since the operation
began on August3.
   The flood have so far claimed 352 human lives and damaged crops, private and
public property worth several hundred crores of rupees in 20 districts.
   Flood hit people of several panchayats in Vaishali Dist. face starvation as
reuse and relief operation have not reached them.
   The Bagamati dam in Sitamarhi dist. was swept away as a result of which water
has spread in to fresh areas of Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur Dist.

   According to state’s disaster management department sources, Samastipur
accounted for the largest number of deaths (66) followed by Darbhanga (61), East
chaamaran (58), Muzaffarpur(49), Khagaria(33), Sitamarhi(22), Bhagalpur and
Begusarai(13 each), Saharsa(10), Madhubani(8), Madhepura(7), West champaran(6),
Katihar(5)and Nalanada (1)Sources said over 17 million people in 9,064 villages
in 210 blocks of 20 districts were badly hit by the flood.
   Trian services on Darbhang-Kamtaul, Motihari-abettiah and motihari-Raxaul
sections of East Central Railway s (ECR), which were suspended due to flood
water overtopping the tracks, resumed on thuesday, CPRO, ECR, AK Chandra said.
He, however, said trains on these sections would run only during daytimes.
   A Central water commission (CWC) report said major rivers, including Ganga,
Punpun, Gandak, Burhi GandakBagamati, Adhwara group of rivers, a Kosi and
Mahanand, were flo9wing above the danger level at several place, but were likely
to recede.
   Source:Times of India Date-22/08/07
   Mean while news came that to deaths from khagaria, Mintu kumar 2 Years son of
Promod Pandit from Adabani Village of Chautham Block and Sehanaz khatoon 15
years D/o – Shalauddin of vill. Thuthi.
   More than 50 widows staged dharna and created blockade on road to Khagaria
D.M. Residence in protest demanding relief. These widows hailed from Sansarpur
panchayat in Khagaria Dist. . The widows said that their homes were flooded for
more than 10 days and they were not provided any relief.
        .

   Although several NGO’s, people groups and Youth clubs are working day-in and
day-out with their limited resources for improving the situation the over all
scenario remains pathetic. Government agencies are also working hard to meet the
challenge but with little result as there is an apparent lack of coordination.
While the government has provided food which needs to be cooked there is no way
to cook it in absence of traditional fuel. The flood hit people only require
ready-made food. Thus, the situation warrants large scale help so that the flood
ridden population may come out of this calamity. Many organizations, Peoples
representatives including  are running khichri center
   Mean while the disaster management Department has decided to take help from
NGOs .
    ‘Rivers Reservoirs only answer to Bihar floods’
   The centre on Tuesday agreed that the only permanent solution to Bihar floods
as recommended by the task force on flood management/ Erosion control -2004 was
possible through construction of storage reservoir schemes on the rivers flowing
through Bihar.
   In a written reply to a question on the current flood in Bihar and the
consequence loss of lives and property, Minister for water Resources saifuddin
soz told the Rajya Sabha that since most of these reservoir sites were in Nepal
these scheme could be implemented only with the consent of the Nepalese
Government. No time-frame and amount required for these projects could be
estimated at this stage, he added.
   The floods in Bihar this years had claimed more than 240 lives and caused a
loss of over Rs. 315 crores, the Minister said adding that,according to the
provisional estimated of the home Ministary, 247 persons lost their lives in the
two rounds of floods in the state and the loss to crops of Rs. 315.70 crore.
   “ The central has released Rs. 174.07 crore to the Bihar Government as the
first in stalment of calamity relief fund to undertake rescue and relief
operations,” Soz said adding that as many as 21 District. In the state were
inundated in the floods. The Central Water Commission had a network of 32 flood
forecasting station in the state to monitor the flood situation
   The Times of India,
   The Hindustan news paper reports(23-8-07) that two Scheduled cast girls named
Kamla Kumara (!5) and Candani kumara (!2) hss been killed  drawing in flood
water by Police man at Samastipur when the girls were collecting the fire woods
in police man campus without their permission. The people of Samstipur blocked
the Samastipur- Darbhanga road in protest the incident Fifteen more deaths has
accord by drowning in flood water in Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, Supaul and
Madhepura(Two Children) districts.







---------------------------------
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20.8.06

     The Urgent Need To Help Out millions of People in BIHAR reeling under
DISASTROUS FLOOD SITUATION

   Four Villages of Barauli Block in Gopalganj district face inhuman conditions
as flood water continues to stay for over a month.

   2.Flood Situation in Alamnagar and Chausa block of Madhepura district turns
grim as recent spell of heavy rain in the state worsen the situation. Boats are
the only signs of life in these areas.

   3. more than fifty people died in incidents of snake bite ,boat mishaps
    in Khagaria district in the recent spate of Flood. Over dozen children have
drowned in flood water.
   Official record of people dead in the flood do not reveal the actual figure as
snake bite and children deaths do not undergo post-mortum as per Hindu beliefs.

   4. Army men feed flood affected people in Begusaria where recent rains have
added to the miseries of the people.

   5. There have been a rapid increase in diarrohea cases in flood affected
districts. IMA team to carry medicine for flood affected people in Darbhanga and
Muzaffarpur districts.

   6. Around 2 crore population in Bihar face devastating flood situations. Death
toll in the recent spell of flood has gone up to 318 with no signs of
improvement in flood situation in next 48 hours.
   A team of social workers visited several districts of Bihar affected by Flood
and found that people were taking shelter in high places in open near various
railway stations, national highways no31.,no107. in Khagaria and Barrages and
faced rain without any cover. Children were the worst victims. Although, farmers
have brought food grains with them but could not save it from incessant rain. As
the situation does not allow the food to be cooked in absence of fire, relief
works had its limitations. The team felt that there was a need to supply cooked
or ready-made food in the Flood affected areas.
   Secondly, Tarpulins sheets were badly needed by the flood affected people .The
situation continues to be grim in Bihar and barring 5-6 international NGO’s
including UNICEF and TDH Germany , small help
   the relief measures are too little. It is an irony that the centre government
is yet to declare Bihar a disaster affected area in the absence of which relief
repair and reconstruction of flood affected areas of Bihar seems impossible.

   That Flood in North Bihar is caused by Water released by Nepal is a myth.
Actually, Bihar happens to be a valley of Nepali Mountainous region and so water
flows naturally into Bihar rivers. Construction of high Dam in Nepal to stop
this inflow would not be a solution as it would inflict heavy damage in the
mountainous region in Nepal causing quakes and tremors, massive damage to forest
area and flood.

   Secondly, construction of DAM would result in storage of silt similar to Kosi
Dams and would cause devastation in years to come. Hence, some other way has to
be found to seek a permanent solution.
   A comprehensive flood policy is required to be made to stop this annual flood
devastation in Bihar.




---------------------------------
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Bihar Flood in 2007-An interview with Deepak Bharati, SSVK

Q-Bihar faced severe floods in 1954, 1974, 1987 and 2004. However, the
year 2007 can be the worst year. What causes regular floods in Bihar?

Deepak Bharati: The river water had enough open space to flow till
1954 when the embankments were not constructed on the rivers. Even the
mightiest of the river flow did not cause much loss of humans and
property. With the construction of embankments on the rivers, water
logging and floods became recurring phenomena. The main reason of the
floods in Bihar is river embankments. The embankments are meant to
control the floods and ensure irrigation also.

However, they do not control floods; instead the silt flow becomes
mightier and uncontrollable after crack in the embankments. Speedy
floodwater brings sand and fertile land is converted in wasteland.
Before 1954, river was open and water did not deposit waste on the
land and through slow water fertile soil converted the land into a
fertile one. The embankment construction also offers opportunity for
contractors resulting in corruption. Many contractors became MLAs and
Ministers in Bihar. This is the gift of river and embankment politics
in the name of flood control and irrigation

In fact, instead of checking, the river embankments end up in
enhancing severity of flood. The data shows the construction of river
embankments has furthered the enormity of floods. Severity of 2007
flood is due to the continuous long phase rain in Bihar and Nepal-
Global Warming. Village roads constructed without proper drainage
system, non-preparedness of the disaster management department and
delay response of the State govt. Nineteen districts do not get
submerged over night. It speeded gradually but administration was
sleeping in the district and State head quarters in their
air-conditioned rooms.

When I was traveling in flood affected areas, I was connected with
many journalist friends including Mr. Pranav Kumar Chaudhary, Special
Correspondent- The Times of India, Patna and Mr. Abhay Mohan Jha,
Patna correspondent of national news channel -NDTV who was also in the
field in worst effected Darbhanga district. They also admitted local
administration was doing nothing. Till date two people (Flood Victims)
have been brutally killed by police.

Q: You published a report on floods entitled "Bihar Inside" in 2004.
What were its main points?
Deepak Bharti: This report notes the river embankments and big dams
are not the solution to Bihar floods. The medicine should control the
disease, whereas the data since 1954 shows the floods became
increasingly unmanageable after the construction of river embankments.
Through adequate statistics, this report proves the worthlessness of
embankments.

Q: Well, this was the problem. What could be the possible solution for
controlling floods? There is also a talk of dam construction in Nepal
origin on the rivers of Bihar.
Deepak Bharti: A discussion is going on over the construction of dams
in Nunthar, Shishapani and Barah on rivers like Kosi, Bagmati and
Kamala Balan, which originate from Nepal hills. They say it would
control floods, increase irrigation and enhance power production.
However, we have examples of several countries including China
witnessing severe destruction due to blasting of dams in earthquakes.
Comparing the Bihar earthquake of 1988 with 2001 Gujarat earthquake,
you find, while both the earthquakes were of almost similar magnitude,
Bihar quake caused lesser destruction due to rampant poverty. There
were more huts and less concrete houses in Bihar, reducing the
possibility of human and property loss.

North Bihar is an earthquake prone area. In 1998, earthquake zone was
Darbhanga that is only 60 K.M far from Nepal where big dams are being
proposed. In1988, Kamala River embankment breached due to earthquake
cracks in Madhubani District. Big dams can have several dangers.
Environmentalists note if the dam develops cracks and bursts out after
the earthquake, entire northern Bihar especially Madhubani, Darbhanga,
Saharsa and Supaul district may wash out in consequent floods. Second,
the bilateral relations are highly unstable in our globalized world.
If India's relation with China strains and China bombards the dam, it
can flood away the entire area.

Maoists hold the power in Nepal. Indian Naxalites have crucial links
with them. Naxalites are likely to be in hunt of exploding big dams,
causing a perennial security threat. Therefore, we need (Micro Dams)
small check dams in place of big dams. These dams will enhance
irrigation; reduce the danger of flood besides producing power.
However, political leaders lack the understanding of the issue. There
is little discussion on it.

Q: How is the destruction this year different from the previous years?
Government figures differ from the media estimate. What is the actual
loss to life and property? How many districts are flood affected?
Deepak Bharti: According to govt. sources one crore and forty-four
lakh people of 1958 panchayat, 7302 villages, 175 blocks of 19
districts are flood affected. Death of 217 people and 108 animals
reported officially. 133050 houses of estimated value 10023.37 lakhs
have been damaged. 1.3111 lakh hectare crops worth 26618.89 lakh
rupees have been affected. But, similarly unofficial sources say it
might be 4 times more. Death figures are more than 1000.

For example, State Govt. reported deaths of 51 in Darbhanga District
and on the other hand, Hindustan Dainik news paper Darbhanga reporter
Mr. Satish reported 100 deaths in 18 blocks of Darbhanga District. The
list of the dead people due to floods has also been published block
wise. The districts are Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, East
Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Patna, Bhagalpur, West Champaran,
Katihar, Madhubani, Samastipur, Sheohar, Nalanda, Khagaria, Gopalgang,
Madhepura, Araria, Begusarai. Several people have lost their lives.
Due to boat upturns in Samastipur and around, 125 people were washed
away. Few could save their lives. Government figures are unreliable.
If a boat upturns, government estimates death count on the basis of
its capacity, which is ridiculous. The government ignores that even
though a village boat has capacity of fifty people, not less than 150
people board it. It is a village boat and not some flight that you get
exact estimate of the persons boarded through passenger list. The
bureaucracy and other government departments are not fully involved in
the flood relief work. The helicopters were also deployed quite late.
Only few helicopters are deployed in entire Bihar. Latest figure of
total death is 260 officially and unofficially is above 1000.

Q: Does this indifference reflect apprehension after Gautam Goswami
flood scam?
Deepak Bharti: It does reflect. The ghost of Gautam Goswami scam
haunts bureaucracy. It seems they had already decided not to engage
with relief work this year. However, it's a very poor practice.
Instead of remaining on the back foot, government servants should have
made monitoring more stringent. They need to inculcate greater
transparency in accounting. Not undertaking relief work under the fear
of scam not only reflects their inhuman approach but also marks
betrayal to their service.

Several people are flooded away. In the absence of food, shelter and
medicine, they are gradually perishing. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil
Modi emerged out of the 1974 movement. He is my friend and is a widely
respected politician for his humanistic approach. Yet, the delay in
relief work makes me regretful. He should have personally visited the
villages to meet local people. In the absence of CM, Deputy CM Mr.
Modi was all in all but Disaster Department's portfolio was with CM so
when CM came back and gave green signal then relief operation started.

It seems the administration had decided much earlier not to deploy
helicopters. The helicopters were initiated much later at the loud cry
by opposition. This delay is really questionable considering the
government's claim that the helicopters were readily stationed at
Gorakhpur. Indeed, the apprehension of the scam delayed the deployment
of helicopters, whereas there are several areas in Bihar where only
air dropping can provide relief.

Q: Do internal tussles in state politics also cause delay in relief?
Deepak Bharti: I do not think so. I believe the delay is solely caused
by the autocratic methods of the bureaucrats, who are ruling this
country. They are given total authority and act on their whims and
fancies. Their bungalows are not flooded, therefore they are least
concerned. Few irresponsible IAS must be deputed in the flood-affected
village at least for 15 days. Mr. George was when defense minister,
had deputed few irresponsible IAS officers in Siachin glacier.

Q: Nitish Kumar was in Mauritius when Bihar was submerged. Does it
reflect good leadership?
Deepak Bharti: I am really surprised and shocked that an honest and
visionary leader like Nitish Kumar could not realize the gravity of
the situation. Mauritius visit could have been delayed. Bihar flood
was the top priority. He allowed opposition to cry foul and also let
bureaucracy play freely.

Q: We also witness political stunts during floods. Laloo Prasad landed
the IAF chopper on a highway.
Deepak Bharti: I believe it is unnecessarily raked up as a political
issue. Though Laloo Prasad acted wrong, he should not have landed the
chopper on the highway; yet if at all it has landed, it is not so big
an issue to be discussed. The priority should be to work for providing
relief.

Q: How do you find the work of voluntary organizations?
Deepak Bharti: NGOs are doing good work. Around 30,000 are registered
in the state but 100 NGOs are doing good work and we can say they are
credible NGOs. 100 NGOs and around 25 international donor agencies
cannot control the flood situation of entire Bihar. Yet, if government
effectively cooperates, the situation can improve a lot. Radio Mirchi,
Patna broadcasted my interview. I requested to post the sanctioned
relief material and other resources (Block wise and district wise) on
disaster management web site. It would enable the NGOs located in
concerned districts to directly check with the local government
officials whether the relief has reached or not. It would curb
duplicity and corruption in relief work and it also helps to
streamline the relief work.

I also requested to post the entire foreign relief resources on
disaster management web site. It would enhance coordination amongst
the NGOs and ensure government accountability, besides optimizing the
relief work. I appealed to NGOs and civil society of Bihar and out
side to come forward in this difficult situation and help people. CM
house Bihar is coordinating relief operation but there is one strict
instruction like to SSVK. No NGOs / INGOs or international donor
agencies will be entertained, if they honestly put the facts and
criticize the functioning of govt. relief operation.

Q: What are the immediate and long-term needs of the flood victims?
Deepak Bharti: At first, they need shelter, food, safe drinking water,
boat and medicine and also require daily items including matchboxes
and candles. Instances of snakebite increase during floods. They
urgently need medicine for snake venom. For long-term needs, they
require permanent shelter. Their houses have been destroyed and have
little options of livelihood. Once the water subsides, they should be
provided work through schemes like food for work. Govt. should
initiate discussion on flood policy for long-term solution.

Q: Bihar faces floods almost every year. Why there has been no
systematic effort to tackle floods?
Deepak Bharati: Politicians have never considered the solution for
flooding away of embankments. They have never explored the various
options of flood control. Govt. should make flood policy. It is a big
challenge and a debate should be initiated with the flood-affected
people including researchers, thinkers, policy makers, social
engineers and journalists. Compare with the Narmada. It also faces
floods. But, it has small size villages in its vicinity. Though the
damage is much less in Narmada basin, yet, since it involves three
states, it entails louder response than required as the leaders of all
these states get into action.

Q: You have active involvement with the social scenario of Bihar since
1974 JP Narayan movement. How Bihar administration has changed during
last two decades?
Deepak Bharati: The tenure of Lalooji saw greater social awareness and
social change. He had a vision. He broke the authoritarianism and
bureaucracy, brought them to local buses from red light government
vehicles. He was linked with local people. However, after first five
years, corruption crept into the administration. After fifteen years,
Nitish Kumar has initiated good administration. His government has
taken several remarkable steps. However, it is really sad that the
government has neglected the major issue of floods. If only the
government had been careful, much of the loss could be averted.

Q: What is your appeal to fellow Indians?
Deepak Bharati: Floods cannot be controlled overnight. It would
require a strategy and sustained effort of 5-10 years. We should study
the flood statistics since 1954, the loss of human lives and property.
Any strategy should be based upon such research.

We need a strategic group in Delhi also, which considers wider issues
including Global Warming while planning for flood control. I would
appeal to all the countrymen to visit Bihar for voluntary service.
Doctors from Chennai have visited SSVK, North Bihar flood affected
areas (Kosi and Kamala region). Swiss Red Cross (SRC) is working with
SSVK in worst affected block, Ghanshyampur of Darbhanga. SRC is
working in Madhubani and Sitamarhi district also. It would really help
the victims if more such doctors from other states visit Bihar. Flood
is causing and spreading several diseases and we lack medical resources.

Entire nation must come forward to help Bihar in this hour of
distress. I invite NGOs of the other state to come and help the
people. Our organization SSVK will do volunteer support.

Q: What are the efforts of SSVK for controlling floods?
Deepak Bharti: We had started a movement for permanent relief from
flood called "Nadi Mukti Andolan"(It means rivers must be free from
embankments, river should flow open like before 1954) but it could not
be popularized due to vested groups (Embankment contractor and
politician dirty politics.) Nadi Mukti Andolan demands to withdraw the
all embankment and make free all the rivers like before 1954. "Nadi
Mukti Andolan"(River Free Movement) can be success with the support of
local people's contribution not external support

SSVK does advocacy work with researchers, policy makers and
government. SSVK makes people aware that embankment is not the
permanent solution of this every year problem but real solution is to
make embankment free river. We have trained Lok Shakti Sangathan's
1100 grassroots workers. They are raising the issue on local level and
it was published in Sangathan's quarterly Journal called "Lok Shakti"

Ashutosh Bhardwaj

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the biharchintan
group.

   File        : /Bihar Flood in 2007-interview with deepak bharti.doc
   Uploaded by : vagishkj <vagishkj@...>
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You can access this file at the URL:
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Regards,

vagishkj <vagishkj@...>

We are trying to post the latest update of our flood relief effort at
this blog

http://biharfloodrelief.blogspot.com/

We would like to thank Mr M Varma for goading us to take up relief
work. Initially, we were reluctant both because flood relief has got a
bad name thanks to corrupt ways of some NGOs and also because most of
us are in principle opposed to charity. Looking at the sufferings of
the people, we decided to shed our inhibitions and decided to do tiny
bit.

It is my request that once the immediate need for relief is over, we
initiate a dialogue for a long term solution to this annual human
tragedy.

In a sense, our strength lies in our ability to influence policy. And
the problem does appear to lie in the wrong policy of embankment led
flood management. It was an eye opener for me to find that the flood
prone area has increased from 2 M hectares in 1955 when the
embankments were started to be constructed to 6.9 M hectares in 1992,
the latest year for which data is available. Surprisingly, the British
Chief Engineer of Irrigation of Govt of Bihar had debunked the usage
of embankments as a flood management measure in 1938 and had stressed
the need to have unhampered drainage. Even earlier, the British had
decided against embanking Damodar around 1870 when they found that it
was proving counterproductive. They actually demolished 30 miles of
embankments that they had built and never took up building of
embankments for any river which carries a lot of silt.

I guess if we can start an active debate on this issue, a long term
solution can be worked out.

For the moment, we are trying to do what we can in some of the flood
affected areas.

Thanks

http://biharfloodrelief.blogspot.com/2007/08/bihar-flood-relief-contribute-your-\
2.html
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pgN0IIAemFfn9L2EVRpLIEw




--- In biharchintan@..., "Atul Kumar" <atultech@...> wrote:
>
> Some updates via a  mail thread below  to add to similar updates
from Vivek,
> Divyanshu, Ashok and others on the Bihari group ...
>
> Some highlights (must have missed many others efforts going on silently)
>
> Tanya Prasad , Rajiv Vidyarthi, TVS leading efforts at Mumbai drive
for fund
> collection and Chlorine / Medicines
> Chandan,  Ravi Chandra, Sudhanshu jee and others in the GROUND ZERO
> co-ordinating at local level
> Kishlay and others will provide medical expertise inputs to guide our
> efforts
> Vivek, Divyanshu, Ashok, Jyoti Prakash , Naveen and many others at
> Hyd/B'lore  working for raising funds/supplies
> Offer of support from Chicago
>
> many parallel efforts going on so let's keep each other updated that
so that
> we are in sync. Some of us are planning to adopt 1 or more villages
for a at
> least 1 yr and help in rehabilitation efforts
>
> By tomorrow will know if can get GE Water's Solar RO (Reverse
Osmosis) Units
> ..that will really help in solving the potable water problem and
avoiding a
> disease outbreak
>
> Friends .. the immediate flood relief is much easier problem but
what will
> be needed in greater momentum is rehabilitation efforts after the rivers
> have receded . much of the visibility goes down but scars from the
> devastation remain .. so please keep the momentum on. Also any of
the silent
> members please come forward and join-in whichever channel and group
you feel
> comfortable with.Rajiv Vidyarthi is putting together a document on
google
> docs / sheet to keep track of efforts and contributions which will be
> published over web.
>
> Reason we are sharing this detailed update and mail thread is that
all can
> see the progress via the web community of Bihar. Of course as Naveen jee
> always says, this also illustrate the power of a networked/connected
world
> which we can leverage for bihar's resurgence.
>
> As is often quoted, the Chinese word for Crisis mean threat and
opportunity.
> So let's treat this crisis also as an opportunity to emerge stronger
as a
> community .. after all whole earth is itself a living organism isn't
it ..
> if you don't agree then try this
>
video<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6983074709191796496&q=global+brain\
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Naveen sharma <naveenshar@...>
> Date: Aug 7, 2007 11:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [Bihari] Digest Number 2347
> To: Atul Kumar <atultech@...>
> Cc: kishlay_anand@..., Chandan Singh < csingh@...>, Rajiv
> Vidyarthy <rajiv.vidyarthy@...>, tanyaprasad@... ,
> sarojk@..., Mayank Krishna <mayank.krishna@...>, Thakur Vikas
> Sinha <tvsinha@... >, Samir Kumar Mishra <samirmishra@...>,
> Rahul Kumar Barnwal <rahul.barnwal@...>, Ajit Chouhan
> <ajitchouhan@...
> >
>
> Solar RO could be a great solution.
>
> Naveen
>
>
> On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
> >
> > Was able to get through my ex-boss at GE (H Bala) who heads GE Water
> > India. He was boarding a flight from hyd to b'lore so will talk in
detail in
> > 2-3 hours. Meanwhile if we can be ready with a good proposal of
what we need
> > from GE Water ( clean water) then can discuss with him. TVS
suggested that
> > we can connect him with relevant bihar govt. officials if needed
or else we
> > can continue within ourselves .
> >
> > Rajiv's document modified as a proposal and team profile.  Instead of
> > chlorine we can actually get some water treatment equipment
installed as
> > well which will be great
> >
> > below is our mail exchange
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: Atul Kumar < atultech@...>
> > Date: Aug 7, 2007 11:12 AM
> > Subject: Re: Bihar Flood Relief
> > To: "Bala, H (GE Infra, Water)" >
> >
> > thanks Bala ... will work on the logistics details while you are
in flight
> > ..
> >
> > also let me know if you would prefer govt interface or
professionals like
> > us will be fine. Can send the profile of our team
(IIT/IIM/RECs/Doctors and
> > others mainly from corporate world) . Fairly informal but trusted
group of
> > people spread globally including
Bangalore,Mumbai,Delhi,US,Australia and
> > most importantly Bihar
> >
> > On 8/7/07, Bala, H (GE Infra, Water) < <H.Bala@...>> wrote:
> > >
> > > Yes we can do Atul !
> > > Let's discuss what needs to be done....we have some solar ro units I
> > > think in stock can be shipped, logistics installation etc we should
> > > talk....thnx bala
> > > -------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Atul Kumar <atultech@... >
> > > To: Bala, H (GE Infra, Water)
> > > Cc: Kumar, Atul <>
> > > Sent: Tue Aug 07 10:28:55 2007
> > > Subject: Bihar Flood Relief
> > >
> > > Bala Hi
> > >
> > > been a long time and have been thinking of calling you to give a
> > > personal update. But couldn't resist calling you today with
regard to the
> > > flood in bihar. It has been one of the most devastating floods
in recent
> > > history. Lots of biharis spread globally have been trying to
reach out
> > > locally and provide all support. Besides food,medicine, shelter
etc  one
> > > area where is a really critical need is "clean water" since
people are
> > > drinking mud-water and an epidemic outbreak is in the offing.
People are
> > > trying to arrange for Chlroine etc but much more is needed.
> > >
> > > Will you be able to help via GE Water in getting some fresh water
> > > supplies. If so can try to link you with the right level at
Bihar govt. who
> > > can help with this or even volunteers on ground. In fact one of them
> > > (Chandan Singh)  working very closely is ex-GE Betz. Will really
be great if
> > > GE and you can help make a difference there.
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > > Atul
> > >
> > >
> > On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar < atultech@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Just had a discussion with Chandan and he requested some advice on
> > > medical inputs. Hence am also marking Kishlay Anand who can help
us with
> > > these. Idea being, Kishlay can help with technical/experts
inputs which can
> > > be transferred somehow to the local volunteers on ground in terms of
> > > medicines, hygience etc
> > >
> > > Chandan : please shoot your questions and Kishlay will be able
to guide
> > > us as soon as he gets in. Might be taking rounds at his hospital
right now
> > >
> > > On 8/7/07, Naveen sharma < naveenshar@... > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I can get to IIT Alumni groups especially IIT KGP group with
whom I
> > > > have worked for quite some time.
> > > >
> > > > Naveen
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > sounds great Rajiv. Also adding Ajit on the thread since had
missed
> > > > > him in the original mail (my fault). Yes having updates on
google doc which
> > > > > can be made public and refreshed regularly will be really
good ..
> > > > >
> > > > > also one more idea would be to reach out to various IIT groups
> > > > > somehow who are normally very pro-active in these matter
> > > > >
> > > > > On 8/7/07, Naveen sharma <naveenshar@... > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Good job Rajiv,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Two points - let's create a google docs where we provide
the link
> > > > > > current set of donors ( to show an example) and daily
expense - this we
> > > > > > should say will get updated on a daily basis.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Second - let's also create a sheet on daily activities in
terms
> > > > > > what is being done for relief side, to whom is it reaching
to show
> > > > > > transparancy.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Transparency is the key to motivate/inspire others.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > So let's create the google docs and make it public.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Naveen
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On 8/7/07, Rajiv Vidyarthy < rajiv.vidyarthy@... > wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Atul and others,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Please have a look at the attached one pager.  If I have
missed
> > > > > > > anything do let me know .. I have tried to build
credibility of this
> > > > > > > initiative by putting in some keywords about people
involved in this
> > > > > > > initiative.. if anyone has any issues with that, or you
need any
> > > > > > > correction/modification do let me know. If I have missed
any name, do let me
> > > > > > > know ...
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Tomorrow morning I plan to release this to all of you
and our
> > > > > > > yahoogroups.. then you can send it to your
contacts/groups and ask them to
> > > > > > > transfer their donations to my ICICI bank account..
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Please let them know about our transparent processes in
which we
> > > > > > > will publish details of all donations to all the donors
and other involved
> > > > > > > ppl.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > regards,
> > > > > > > Rajiv
> > > > > > > 9323473603
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Tanya Hi
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Ravi being at Bhagalpur and having a local presence
can surely
> > > > > > > > help. Also his project, "Bihar Development Trust" is
building ground level
> > > > > > > > network in the area of micro-finance etc so is closely
aligned.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Chandan is a close friend at Patna who has been the
anchor and
> > > > > > > > pillar of all our projects there. Already on the road
to help in the
> > > > > > > > affected areas. Between Ravi and Chandan, guess we
have enough local
> > > > > > > > presence to deliver whatever support.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Ravi and Chandan: hope you don't mind our taking the
liberty
> > > > > > > > to leverage your names and local presence there.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Of course you can also count on Mayank, Rajiv and
others at
> > > > > > > > Mumbai for supporting your collection efforts at
Mumbai. Am marking Saroj
> > > > > > > > who is one of the founding/core members of Bihari
group, currently in
> > > > > > > > California but has past experience in this area and
also some views/ideas on
> > > > > > > > what would/should work and what wouldn't. So in case
you are still ready for
> > > > > > > > a drive at Mumbai then can count on these members.
Mayank, Rajiv and others
> > > > > > > > am taking this liberty of throwing your names here
though know are
> > > > > > > > relatively busy these days
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Am marking the mail to couple of other friends like
Naveen at
> > > > > > > > Bangalore, Ajeet at Mysore who have also been working
in the background and
> > > > > > > > might have other references ideas to share.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Verma jee/sir, marking you also since you are already
making
> > > > > > > > some efforts via CARE, UNICEF and via bihareebabu and
gave the wake-up call
> > > > > > > > to many of us. thanks for waking us up from the slumber.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Regards
> > > > > > > > Atul
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > FYI
> > > > > > > > TVS at Mumbai
> > > > > > > > Rahul at Delhi (has different views on relief efforts but
> > > > > > > > still )
> > > > > > > > Samir at Australia
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > On 8/6/07, Dr Ravi Chandra <rchandra1231@... > wrote:
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >    dear friends,
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > I was thinking of provided relief  but have no
resources.
> > > > > > > > > if we all can organise materials like tents, polythenes,
> > > > > > > > > blankets, we will distribute to needy .
> > > > > > > > > we are based at bhagalpur and can move with
materials when
> > > > > > > > > it arrives with the help of our team members.
> > > > > > > > > to know more about us, please click on link below our e
> > > > > > > > > mailid.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > ravi
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Dr Ravi Chandra
> > > > > > > > > Director
> > > > > > > > > 9334308432
> > > > > > > > > Bihar Development Trust
> > > > > > > > > rchandra1231@...
> > > > > > > > > bihardev@...
> > > > > > > > >
http://romanticirman.blogspot.com/2007/07/bihar-development-trust.html
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=34946028
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > ------------------------------
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > Rgds, Naveen
> > > > >
> > > > >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Hi All,

   A Flood relief fund have been setup by Bhojpuria.com to help the flood-victims
of Bihar. The contributions received in this fund will be used to help the
victims with cloths, food, medicines and others.

   http://www.bhojpuria.com/jump.php?page=flood.html

   If you want to contribute in helping the said purpose, please deposit the
funds directly by Cash / Cheque / Draft in any branch of State Bank of India in
the account given below. You may also send a Cheque/ Draft to Bhojpuria.com, if
you want.

   Deposit at any Branch of SBI
   Bank Name: State Bank of India
Branch : Jamshedpur (0096)
Account Name: Bhojpuria.com
Account Number: 30219994536

   If you are outside India
Bank Name: State Bank of India
Address : Main Road, Bistupur, Jamshedpur. India
SWIFT Code: SBININBB164
Account Name: Bhojpuria.com
Account Number: 30219994536

   In case, you want to send a Cheque / Draft, please make it in favour of
BHOJPURIA.COM, payable at JAMSHEDPUR, and send it to:

   Sudhir Kumar
Bhojpuria.com
Road No. 2, Azad Basti
Near Manifit, PO- Telco
Jamshedpur. PIN-831004
India. Phone: 9931182544

* The Name / address of contributors will be listed at Bhojpuria.com. Please
send your name, address, amount, and payment details to info@... ,
after you send the donation.

   You may read more at:
   http://www.bhojpuria.com/jump.php?page=flood.html

   Looking forward for support from all of you.

   Parnaam,
   Sudhir Kumar
   Bhojpuria.com
   http://www.bhojpuria.com
   Phone: 09931182544, 09431111776




---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Vivek ji,

   On  behalf  of  Bihar Bhakti Aandolan  and  on  behalf  of  those  who  wish 
to  see Bihar  and  Biharis  in  advanced  state  of  material existence, I 
greet  and  welcome  your  dedication  to  do  something  appreciable  for 
Bihar.

   One  thing  I  want  to be  attended  by  all  who  will  read  this  letter,
that  is -

   There  is  wast  opportunity  to  invest  in  field  of  Film-Industry  in 
Bihar  and  that  will  be  enormouslly  profitable  to  the  investers.

   Building  of  Recording  Studio  for  Bhojpuri  and  other  songs  Shooting 
Studio  for  Bhojpuri-Films  and  srials  as  well as  Films.

   Who  will build  it  first,  will  also   be  first to  gain  .

   Kindly  think  over  it ...Again  thanking  you  .


Aravind  Pandey
the  founder,
Bihar  Bhakti  Aandolan.Patna
http://www.esnips.com/user/biharbhakti

http://biharbhakti.blogspot.com



  Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Friends,


   Basic  question about tyrrany over Biharis  is  related to Irrepairable 
curruption of  Sarkaaree Noukars  who  are  fearlessly  looting  the  money 
allotted  to  provide  jobs  to  our  landless  labours.
                  So,  they  are  forced  to  go  to  Assam, Punjab, Mumbai
etc...living  there  with  unbearable  disrespect  to  their  human  dignity.

   It  is  to be  thought  upon  by all  Biharis  who  are well off and  living 
outside  Bihar  leaving  their  Motherland  in  cruel  hands  of  Noukars  whose
vision  is  only  limited  to  Next-Posting    .


   Can  we  do  somethig  for  those  who  are  victim  of  tyrranical 
anti-system  which  is   sucking  the  blood  of  poors.?

   Can  we  do  something  to  provide  them  jobs  here  in  Bihar  so  their 
migration  may  be  stopped ?





divyanshu verma <divyanshu_verma@...> wrote:
            See how they are treating..

http://www.bihartimes.com/news07/Aug/1383.html


---------------------------------
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news, photos more.




Aravind  Pandey
the  founder,
Bihar  Bhakti  Aandolan.Patna
http://www.esnips.com/user/biharbhakti

http://biharbhakti.blogspot.com



  Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

FLOOD UPDATE OF BIHAR  According to Disaster management department Govt. of
Bihar Forty four more deaths have been reported across since Wednesday taking
the till in flood related incidents 202.
   However overall flood situation affected 14.36 millions people of 6602
villages of 19 districts. According to Public works department (PWD) 782KM road
damaged in north Bihar.
   Four Air force helicopters and nine motorized boat taking from the army were
being used.
   Central water commission sources said all major rivers ,except Ganga, Burhi
Gandak
   and koshi were flowing below the danger lavel and along their course.
   Meanwhile international and local non-government met bat Bihar Institute of
public Administration and rural development (DIPARD) at Patna on Friday to
launch a joint effort to
   Help out people facing the flood fury. A state lavel coordination committee
was formed which includeswhich would work for the coming two months.
   Various organizations both from public and private sector have started the
releaf work giving further impacts for the on going relief work.
   The newspaper Times of Indaia. Hindustan times and Nav Bihar reported that in
absence of proper relief children and women eats Snails, frog and fish . The
anterior villages are isolated from relief. The poor women are fetching food to
feed there children  and they remain hungry.
According to doctors there is lake of hygine use of open and uncooked food. in
take of fries are reasons of  deases.Bleeching powders and ddt have not been
spread .yet.P.S Has got acquainted with the girl, http://cyberblady.com, how it
to you? Only it is fair!

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Note: forwarded message attached.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 
   
Playing Politics With Floods
Dinesh Kumar Mishra

There is lot of fuss made about the visit of Nitish Kumar to Mauritius when
Bihar was heading towards one of the major floods. But what if Nitish Kumar left
for Mauritius amidst rising threat of floods in the Bihar on the 26th July this
year and so what if he could go for an aerial survey of the flood affected area
only on the 3rd August after his return to Bihar? Flood water had entered Patna,
Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Motihari on the 25th July and it had not spared the
village of the Chief Minister either. Why this hue and cry then?
This is not without precedence. There was heavy rainfall in West Bengal, Orissa
and Assam along with Bihar and UP in 1968 resulting in huge loss to life and
property. This year is a landmark in the flood history of Bihar as the Kosi
observed the highest ever discharge of 9,13,000 cusecs, a record that is yet to
be bettered. This was also one of the worst floods in West Bengal. After
visiting some of the flood ravaged areas in Bihar and West Bengal, Dr. K. L.
Rao, then Minister of Irrigation at the Centre, left for the USA to attend a
seminar. H. N. Mukherji, MP, while talking about the insensitivity in official,
administrative and political circles, expressed his anger and frustration in the
Lok Sabha (18th November 1968) saying, ‘…. About the other levels, my hon.
friend, the Minister, Dr. K. L. Rao, an engineer himself, he left for the United
States, immediately after the deluge for attending a seminar. I am sorry to have
to say that knowledge acquired at this time of life is not going to be of much
assistance to the cause of my country.’   Dr K.L.Rao had gone on tour after the
deluge and was well aware of the situation. Nitish Kumar went before it and was
unaware of the events to come. That was the only difference. After all, how much
attention is given by the politicians to the problems faced by the common man?
During one of the worse floods in the recent memory in Bihar, in 1998, that
affected 13.47 million people (almost as much as in 2007 till date of 14.45
million) killing 380 persons (257 till 12th August in 2007 inclusive of boat
tragedies) spread over 28 districts; the ruling party in Bihar was busy
organizing the Ekjutata (Solidarity) Rally in Patna to fight communalism. This
could have very easily been postponed to a later date as there was no emergency
on the communal front. But strange are the ways of politicians. Writes Ranjit
Sinha (Deccan Herald-28th August 1998), ‘… Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav chose not to
visit flood hit areas because probably that would have shifted the focus to the
natural calamity which, in turn, could have resulted in lesser number of persons
turning out for the Patna Rally. Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav had appealed to the
‘brave’ people of Bihar not to get upset by these little inconveniences as the
country was faced with greater and more serious problems like communalism and
price-rise’. Lalu Prasad had also advised the flood victims to enjoy fishes that
had come with the floodwaters in 2004.
Things do not change at all despite chanting the ‘Preparedness Mantra’. In
Bihar, during the 2003 floods, army was deployed in Danapur sub-division of the
Patna district for relief and rescue operations. The state Government failed to
provide diesel for the army boats in time and the trucks carrying the food
packets to Danapur from Patna did their job leisurely and only half the supplies
could be reached to the take off points for the IAF helicopters. Helicopters add
glamour to the calamity and the flood victims are expected to forget their
miseries by seeing these flying objects. In the floods of 2004 in Bihar Lalu
Prasad had claimed that he had deployed 11 helicopters for airdropping of food
packets (one of these helicopters had crashed). He went a step ahead to claim
that never before in the history of Bihar so many helicopters were deployed for
such work. He was not aware that in the ‘real’ worst ever flood of the last
century, the records of which are yet to be touched if not bettered, occurred in
1987and the state had pressed 13 helicopters into service then. This year, in
2007, the things are no better either. The helicopters pressed into service
number four only and that too attended with frequent breakdowns.
The responsibility of providing relief in the wake of natural calamities
including floods primarily rests with the concerned State Governments. The
Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments where
necessary by providing logistic and financial support. For this purpose, the
State Governments are allocated Calamity Relief Fund (CRF), which is contributed
by Government of India and the State Government in the ratio of 3:1. Additional
assistance is also provided to the State Government in the event of a calamity
of severe nature from National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) after following
the laid down procedure.
As per the reports available from the State Government, a corpus fund of
Rs.108.97 Crores was available with the Government in the CRF with the State in
August 2003. Out of this money, only Rs. 19 Crores were released from the fund
for carrying out relief operations in the state till August. Yet, the Rabri Devi
Government in Bihar was flaying the Central Government for not helping the state
with the requisite money. Writes Anirban Guha Roy ( The Hindustan Times Patna,
13th September 2003), ‘…the State Government is yet to get the central
assistance of Rs.112 Crore allotted in 2002-03 under special package for relief
distribution in the flood affected districts. The Central Government has not
released the money as it has taken the stand that the State Government should
first spend the CRF money before it seeks the release of more central funds.’
Obviously, the state Government was not in a position to give the utilization
certificates for the funds given to it earlier and wants the flood victims to
believe that the Central Government is responsible for it. That was the time
when RJD was in power in Bihar and NDA was ruling in Delhi. The scene is
reversed now and the two Governments have exchanged positions. While Lalu Prasad
Yadav suggests that the state Government has not made any demands to the Centre,
it was at the initiative of the Centre that money for relief is sent to Bihar
even if the state has not submitted the accounts for expenditure of last year.
The NDA Government of Bihar says that whatever assistance comes from the Centre
is provided for under the regulations of the 12th Finance Commission and is not
at the mercy of any minister at the Centre. It also suggests that the state has
not yet received any money from the Centre.
It is customary to call any flood as the worst ever flood and there is nothing
denying the fact that only those who survive the deluge can take pride in
braving the calamity. Calamity, that is caused by the apathy of the Water
Resources Department of the state, indifference of the political system and
passing the buck between the governments at the Centre and the state. All the
formalities regarding the floods had been observed this year too. It started
with assurances by the state that all the works of repairs and maintenance the
embankments would be completed in time, cautioning engineers that that they will
be reprimanded in case of any failure of the embankments, bureaucrats alerted to
plug all the loopholes through which succor to the people leaks during the
floods, Disaster Management Departments taking all precautions to prepare the
people to face floods, cancellations of leaves of all the concerned officials,
public informed with the phone numbers of officers to be contacted in case of
emergencies etc but when the floods struck; all the measures taken collapsed
like a pack of cards, which again is an annual formality. The police too
performed its duty by killing one person each in Madhubani and Saharsa in flood
related skirmishes.
While the flood victims wish that the embankments along the Bihar Rivers have
more damage to the flood scenario than good and want to get rid them of them,
the state Government has plans of massive construction of embankments along the
rivers. It is already working on a Rs 792 Crores plan to embank the middle
portion of the Bagmati and had constructed some 10 kilometers length of the same
this summer. The entire newly constructed embankment was smashed into
smithereens in the very first rain in the Sitamarhi district. It has Rs. 845
Crores proposal to embank the Mahananda Tributaries and has fresh plans of Rs
3,000 Crores to jacket the other rivers in the state. Why there is so much of
enthusiasm within the state machinery when the people do not want these
structures. The reasons are not difficult to assess. Why the Government is not
taking up an evaluation of the performance of the embankments when the flood
prone area of the state has increased from 25 lakh hectares in 1952 to 68.8 lakh
hectares in 1994 (the year of last assessment). It has mostly constructed
embankments during this period along the Bihar rivers that measured 160
kilometers in 1952 and have gone up to 3440 kilometers in 2007 (this includes 10
kilometers that were constructed this year and subsequently washed away).A sum
of nearly Rs 1800 Crores was spent on such construction during the plan period.
  There is widespread resentment over relief distribution, trading of charges
between various political outfits for inefficiency, dereliction of duties,
corruption, opportunism, and suggestions of approaching Nepal for facilitating
the construction of dams in the hills there. The carrots of these dams are
dangled before the people since independence and the Government at the state
level blames the centre for not taking right steps to enter into an agreement
with Nepal to facilitate the process. The irony is, almost all the political
parties have now ruled the country and the state and, many a times,
simultaneously. Why on earth they don’t resolve the Nepal issue once for ever,
if it is that important and that inevitable. Should it take 60 years not to
resolve any issue that is said to benefit all? Devegowda had time with him to
enter into an agreement with Bangladesh in 1996 when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the
Chief Minister of Bihar. Similarly Congress ruled Bihar and Delhi simultaneously
for about 30 years.
All these tussles are annual rituals and once the floods recede, everything will
be forgotten till next year when the issue will be highlighted during the month
of March when March Loot occupies the headlines.
  The game goes on and on and most of the flood victims are left to fend for
themselves.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convenor-Barh Mukti Abhiyan
(Freedom From Floods Campaign)
6-B Rajiv Nagar , Patna 800024
Mob: +919431303360
E-mail: mishradk@...
14th August 2007





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Friends

Am venturing to forward this non-bihar rather India related mail but
excellent opportunity for many young students. Hope various group owners
will bear with me.

First a little background about Subhashish (originator) of this mail. He
works wth Accenture in Australia and is one of my best friends from IIM-A.
He was part of the original yatra on occasion of Independence day while
studying at IIT-Madras.

In fact, myself and Subhashish had a chance to work for a London/Mumbai
based startup, Inaltus, started by Shashank Tripathi during our MBA. That
explains my yahoo id carrying that foeign sounding name. Shashank was the
key force behind the original yatra in 1997 and is a great entrepreneur and
speaker at events.

When Shashank Tripathi started his own firm, Inaltus, along with
friends/colleagues from reputed names like Bain, Unillever in 2000  after
quitting Andersen London,  he chose to select many of his team from that
yatra because of the close bonds/trust they formed. I couldn't participate
in that yatra as didn't know about it and still regret. Know the stories and
participants via friends and would strongly urge Students especially with
entrepreneurial/patriotic mindset in our groups to participate here if
possible .. is lot of fun and close bonds which last life long. Target
audience is 18-25 years which I believe we have lots of them here in our
groups An interesting note to add is one of those key entrepreneurs these
people are meeting is our very own "Bindeshwari Pathak" besides Narayan
Murthi and people of that stature. Feel free to ping me or reach out
directly to Subhashish if any of you is interested

Cheers
Atul Kumar
+1 203 512 6749
NY/NJ,USA
http://www.linkedin.com/in/atulkumar


Hi All,

This mail is to introduce you to an exciting project for awakening
entrepreneurship in India – Jagriti Yatra.

  Jagriti Yatra (www.jagritiyatra.com) is an ambitious program involving 400
young college students (18-25) on an epic journey by Rail across the cities,
towns
  and villages of India. The 2008 event will flag off from Mumbai on 4th
  of May 2008 and will last for 21 days.

  The intent is to meet entrepreneurs around the country who have made a
difference in either social or business dimensions. This program is a small
attempt to inculcate the message in today's youth that the future of the
country is dependent on entrepreneurial creativity.

The Yatra has been done before - 10 years ago on the eve of 50 years of
Indian independence. I was part of that yatra ( view video in
http://www.jagritiyatra.com/abry1997
   )
). A book chronicling the details of that Yatra is being released later this
month by Harper Collins. The book launch event is on 14th Aug (Mumbai) and
on 20th Aug (New Delhi).  The Delhi book launch will be followed by panel
discussion with Kiren Bedi and Dr Rajendra Pacahuri. If you would like an
invite for the Mumbai/Delhi book launch please do let me know.

If you would like to get involved in this event (Jagriti Yatra) or you are
in a position to provide or help with sponsorship please do get in touch
with me (    +61 400 224 810 ) or Gitanjali Banerjee (    +91 98921 90288 ).
Check http://www.jagritiyatra.com/getinvolved/  or contact me for more
information. I have also attached an information pack "Get Involved" which
will come handy in justifying sponsorship & involvement from you and/or your
organization J.

There is also an event scheduled for the 16th August, 2007 to launch the
2008 Yatra in Mumbai Oberoi Sunset Lounge. This will be ideal to get to know
all about this event, and interact with the organizers. You are welcome to
attend this event. I have attached with this email an Invitation for the
event.

Cheers,

Kalka

Subhashish Sarkar

Ph :    +61 400 224 810

Subhashish.sarkar@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

hi friends,

this is neeraj bhushan, a new entrant to this group. in fact i am very new to
this group. its good to find there are people who do think of bihar. to tell you
honestly, i am taking this group seriouly and who knows our sincere efforts may
lead to achieving the purpose for which this group has been created and being
managed.

as a genuine bihari, i promise to make worthwhile contributions to the
development of thought and purpose while being in this loop. to start with, may
i request you all to be prompt in replying to the messages we receive thrugh the
mail dispatches. this process can kickstart exchange of views from the members.

what do u say? let me check how do you respond to this message first...

regards
neeraj bhushan
http://geocities.com/neerajbhushansingh/neerajbhushan.html


To: biharchintan@...: vagishkj@...: Sun, 12 Aug 2007
00:27:46 -0700Subject: [biharchintan] Political rivals trade charges over
seminar on poverty




Ujjwal SinghPatna, Aug 8 (PTI) The first-ever internationalseminar in Bihar
seeking to redefine poverty and findways for its eradication touched off an
acrimoniousdebate between arch political rivals with theopposition RJD
questioning the wisdom of organisingsuch a costly congregation and the ruling
NDAdefending it as a part of its initiative to tackle thebiggest challenge
facing the state.The three-day international seminar on +revisiting thepoverty
issue: management, identification anderadication, which concluded here in July
last week,not not only saw luminaries in the field of economicsdiscussing ways
to identify incidence of poverty, butalso got the rival political sides to trade
chargesover efficacy of such events in tackling the malaise.A galaxy of eminent
economists from across the worldincluding Dr Arjun Sengupta, Chairman of
NationalCommission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector,Dr Abhijit Sen,
member, Planning Commission, RichardPalmer Jones of East Angila University,
Amresh Dubeyof National Council of Applied Economic Research,Peter Lanjow (World
Bank), Kaushik Basu of CornellUniversity, JNU Vice-Chancellor B B Bhattacharya
andUGC Chairman S K Thorat participated in thedeliberations.The global meet of
scholars organised by Institute ofHuman Development, Delhi, A N Sinha Institute
ofSocial Studies, and Asian Development ResearchInstitute and supported by Bihar
State Planning Boarddrew criticism from Union Rural Development
Minister,Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who chided the state's NitishKumar government
for thrusting huge and unnecessaryexpenditure on the poor state.
PTI__________________________________________________________Be a better
Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers -
Check it out.http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469


_________________________________________________________________
Sign in and get updated with all the action!
http://content.msn.co.in/Sports/FormulaOne/Default

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ujjwal Singh
Patna, Aug 8 (PTI) The first-ever international
seminar in Bihar seeking to redefine poverty and find
ways for its eradication touched off an acrimonious
debate between arch political rivals with the
opposition RJD questioning the wisdom of organising
such a costly congregation and the ruling NDA
defending it as a part of its initiative to tackle the
biggest challenge facing the state.

The three-day international seminar on +revisiting the
poverty issue: management, identification and
eradication, which concluded here in July last week,
not not only saw luminaries in the field of economics
discussing ways to identify incidence of poverty, but
also got the rival political sides to trade charges
over efficacy of such events in tackling the malaise.

A galaxy of eminent economists from across the world
including Dr Arjun Sengupta, Chairman of National
Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector,
Dr Abhijit Sen, member, Planning Commission, Richard
Palmer Jones of East Angila University, Amresh Dubey
of National Council of Applied Economic Research,
Peter Lanjow (World Bank), Kaushik Basu of Cornell
University, JNU Vice-Chancellor B B Bhattacharya and
UGC Chairman S K Thorat participated in the
deliberations.

The global meet of scholars organised by Institute of
Human Development, Delhi, A N Sinha Institute of
Social Studies, and Asian Development Research
Institute and supported by Bihar State Planning Board
drew criticism from Union Rural Development Minister,
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who chided the state's Nitish
Kumar government for thrusting huge and unnecessary
expenditure on the poor state. PTI





________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469

Friends .. am really excited to share this good news. Looks like some real
progress on making Clean Water available via GE Water. Just received a very
positive mail confirmation from my ex-boss H Bala at GE. Looks like both at
senior levels in GE and also at Bihar Government things are progressing fast
..

This link below , http://www.ge.com/in/news/20060809.html (thanks to Naveen)
shows that if things work out well then like Chennai in Tsunami it will be
really wonderful support at macro level

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bala, H (GE Infra, Water)
Date: Aug 8, 2007 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Update on Clean Water
To: atultech@...

Atul,
We all set...talking to chief secretary this morning.
Will come back to you...all upto sr leadership chain has given green signal,
by tomorrow we should mobilize something.
Thnx
Bala
-------------------------


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Some updates via a  mail thread below  to add to similar updates from Vivek,
Divyanshu, Ashok and others on the Bihari group ...

Some highlights (must have missed many others efforts going on silently)

Tanya Prasad , Rajiv Vidyarthi, TVS leading efforts at Mumbai drive for fund
collection and Chlorine / Medicines
Chandan,  Ravi Chandra, Sudhanshu jee and others in the GROUND ZERO
co-ordinating at local level
Kishlay and others will provide medical expertise inputs to guide our
efforts
Vivek, Divyanshu, Ashok, Jyoti Prakash , Naveen and many others at
Hyd/B'lore  working for raising funds/supplies
Offer of support from Chicago

many parallel efforts going on so let's keep each other updated that so that
we are in sync. Some of us are planning to adopt 1 or more villages for a at
least 1 yr and help in rehabilitation efforts

By tomorrow will know if can get GE Water's Solar RO (Reverse Osmosis) Units
..that will really help in solving the potable water problem and avoiding a
disease outbreak

Friends .. the immediate flood relief is much easier problem but what will
be needed in greater momentum is rehabilitation efforts after the rivers
have receded . much of the visibility goes down but scars from the
devastation remain .. so please keep the momentum on. Also any of the silent
members please come forward and join-in whichever channel and group you feel
comfortable with.Rajiv Vidyarthi is putting together a document on google
docs / sheet to keep track of efforts and contributions which will be
published over web.

Reason we are sharing this detailed update and mail thread is that all can
see the progress via the web community of Bihar. Of course as Naveen jee
always says, this also illustrate the power of a networked/connected world
which we can leverage for bihar's resurgence.

As is often quoted, the Chinese word for Crisis mean threat and opportunity.
So let's treat this crisis also as an opportunity to emerge stronger as a
community .. after all whole earth is itself a living organism isn't it ..
if you don't agree then try this
video<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6983074709191796496&q=global+brain\
>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Naveen sharma <naveenshar@...>
Date: Aug 7, 2007 11:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Bihari] Digest Number 2347
To: Atul Kumar <atultech@...>
Cc: kishlay_anand@..., Chandan Singh < csingh@...>, Rajiv
Vidyarthy <rajiv.vidyarthy@...>, tanyaprasad@... ,
sarojk@..., Mayank Krishna <mayank.krishna@...>, Thakur Vikas
Sinha <tvsinha@... >, Samir Kumar Mishra <samirmishra@...>,
Rahul Kumar Barnwal <rahul.barnwal@...>, Ajit Chouhan
<ajitchouhan@...
>

Solar RO could be a great solution.

Naveen


On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
>
> Was able to get through my ex-boss at GE (H Bala) who heads GE Water
> India. He was boarding a flight from hyd to b'lore so will talk in detail in
> 2-3 hours. Meanwhile if we can be ready with a good proposal of what we need
> from GE Water ( clean water) then can discuss with him. TVS suggested that
> we can connect him with relevant bihar govt. officials if needed or else we
> can continue within ourselves .
>
> Rajiv's document modified as a proposal and team profile.  Instead of
> chlorine we can actually get some water treatment equipment installed as
> well which will be great
>
> below is our mail exchange
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Atul Kumar < atultech@...>
> Date: Aug 7, 2007 11:12 AM
> Subject: Re: Bihar Flood Relief
> To: "Bala, H (GE Infra, Water)" >
>
> thanks Bala ... will work on the logistics details while you are in flight
> ..
>
> also let me know if you would prefer govt interface or professionals like
> us will be fine. Can send the profile of our team (IIT/IIM/RECs/Doctors and
> others mainly from corporate world) . Fairly informal but trusted group of
> people spread globally including Bangalore,Mumbai,Delhi,US,Australia and
> most importantly Bihar
>
> On 8/7/07, Bala, H (GE Infra, Water) < <H.Bala@...>> wrote:
> >
> > Yes we can do Atul !
> > Let's discuss what needs to be done....we have some solar ro units I
> > think in stock can be shipped, logistics installation etc we should
> > talk....thnx bala
> > -------------------------
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Atul Kumar <atultech@... >
> > To: Bala, H (GE Infra, Water)
> > Cc: Kumar, Atul <>
> > Sent: Tue Aug 07 10:28:55 2007
> > Subject: Bihar Flood Relief
> >
> > Bala Hi
> >
> > been a long time and have been thinking of calling you to give a
> > personal update. But couldn't resist calling you today with regard to the
> > flood in bihar. It has been one of the most devastating floods in recent
> > history. Lots of biharis spread globally have been trying to reach out
> > locally and provide all support. Besides food,medicine, shelter etc  one
> > area where is a really critical need is "clean water" since people are
> > drinking mud-water and an epidemic outbreak is in the offing. People are
> > trying to arrange for Chlroine etc but much more is needed.
> >
> > Will you be able to help via GE Water in getting some fresh water
> > supplies. If so can try to link you with the right level at Bihar govt. who
> > can help with this or even volunteers on ground. In fact one of them
> > (Chandan Singh)  working very closely is ex-GE Betz. Will really be great if
> > GE and you can help make a difference there.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Atul
> >
> >
> On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar < atultech@...> wrote:
> >
> > Just had a discussion with Chandan and he requested some advice on
> > medical inputs. Hence am also marking Kishlay Anand who can help us with
> > these. Idea being, Kishlay can help with technical/experts inputs which can
> > be transferred somehow to the local volunteers on ground in terms of
> > medicines, hygience etc
> >
> > Chandan : please shoot your questions and Kishlay will be able to guide
> > us as soon as he gets in. Might be taking rounds at his hospital right now
> >
> > On 8/7/07, Naveen sharma < naveenshar@... > wrote:
> > >
> > > I can get to IIT Alumni groups especially IIT KGP group with whom I
> > > have worked for quite some time.
> > >
> > > Naveen
> > >
> > >
> > >  On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > sounds great Rajiv. Also adding Ajit on the thread since had missed
> > > > him in the original mail (my fault). Yes having updates on google doc
which
> > > > can be made public and refreshed regularly will be really good ..
> > > >
> > > > also one more idea would be to reach out to various IIT groups
> > > > somehow who are normally very pro-active in these matter
> > > >
> > > > On 8/7/07, Naveen sharma <naveenshar@... > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Good job Rajiv,
> > > > >
> > > > > Two points - let's create a google docs where we provide the link
> > > > > current set of donors ( to show an example) and daily expense - this
we
> > > > > should say will get updated on a daily basis.
> > > > >
> > > > > Second - let's also create a sheet on daily activities in terms
> > > > > what is being done for relief side, to whom is it reaching to show
> > > > > transparancy.
> > > > >
> > > > > Transparency is the key to motivate/inspire others.
> > > > >
> > > > > So let's create the google docs and make it public.
> > > > >
> > > > > Naveen
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On 8/7/07, Rajiv Vidyarthy < rajiv.vidyarthy@... > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Atul and others,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Please have a look at the attached one pager.  If I have missed
> > > > > > anything do let me know .. I have tried to build credibility of this
> > > > > > initiative by putting in some keywords about people involved in this
> > > > > > initiative.. if anyone has any issues with that, or you need any
> > > > > > correction/modification do let me know. If I have missed any name,
do let me
> > > > > > know ...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Tomorrow morning I plan to release this to all of you and our
> > > > > > yahoogroups.. then you can send it to your contacts/groups and ask
them to
> > > > > > transfer their donations to my ICICI bank account..
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Please let them know about our transparent processes in which we
> > > > > > will publish details of all donations to all the donors and other
involved
> > > > > > ppl.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > regards,
> > > > > > Rajiv
> > > > > > 9323473603
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On 8/7/07, Atul Kumar <atultech@...> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Tanya Hi
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ravi being at Bhagalpur and having a local presence can surely
> > > > > > > help. Also his project, "Bihar Development Trust" is building
ground level
> > > > > > > network in the area of micro-finance etc so is closely aligned.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Chandan is a close friend at Patna who has been the anchor and
> > > > > > > pillar of all our projects there. Already on the road to help in
the
> > > > > > > affected areas. Between Ravi and Chandan, guess we have enough
local
> > > > > > > presence to deliver whatever support.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ravi and Chandan: hope you don't mind our taking the liberty
> > > > > > > to leverage your names and local presence there.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Of course you can also count on Mayank, Rajiv and others at
> > > > > > > Mumbai for supporting your collection efforts at Mumbai. Am
marking Saroj
> > > > > > > who is one of the founding/core members of Bihari group, currently
in
> > > > > > > California but has past experience in this area and also some
views/ideas on
> > > > > > > what would/should work and what wouldn't. So in case you are still
ready for
> > > > > > > a drive at Mumbai then can count on these members. Mayank, Rajiv
and others
> > > > > > > am taking this liberty of throwing your names here though know are
> > > > > > > relatively busy these days
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Am marking the mail to couple of other friends like Naveen at
> > > > > > > Bangalore, Ajeet at Mysore who have also been working in the
background and
> > > > > > > might have other references ideas to share.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Verma jee/sir, marking you also since you are already making
> > > > > > > some efforts via CARE, UNICEF and via bihareebabu and gave the
wake-up call
> > > > > > > to many of us. thanks for waking us up from the slumber.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Regards
> > > > > > > Atul
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > FYI
> > > > > > > TVS at Mumbai
> > > > > > > Rahul at Delhi (has different views on relief efforts but
> > > > > > > still )
> > > > > > > Samir at Australia
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On 8/6/07, Dr Ravi Chandra <rchandra1231@... > wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >    dear friends,
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I was thinking of provided relief  but have no resources.
> > > > > > > > if we all can organise materials like tents, polythenes,
> > > > > > > > blankets, we will distribute to needy .
> > > > > > > > we are based at bhagalpur and can move with materials when
> > > > > > > > it arrives with the help of our team members.
> > > > > > > > to know more about us, please click on link below our e
> > > > > > > > mailid.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > ravi
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Dr Ravi Chandra
> > > > > > > > Director
> > > > > > > > 9334308432
> > > > > > > > Bihar Development Trust
> > > > > > > > rchandra1231@...
> > > > > > > > bihardev@...
> > > > > > > >
http://romanticirman.blogspot.com/2007/07/bihar-development-trust.html
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=34946028
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > ------------------------------
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Rgds, Naveen
> > > >
> > > >


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Deepak Bharti <ssvkindia@...>
Date: Aug 7, 2007 2:00 PM
Subject: bihar flood photograph
To: Deepak Bharti <depakbharti@...>


http://www.bihartimes.com/News07/Aug/pix681.html
--
Deepak Bharti,
Secretary
SSVK, Opposite Ajay Nilayan Appt.
Nageshwar Colony,Boring Road,
Patna - 800001 (Bihar) India
Web- http://www.geocities.com/ssvk_india
e-mail:ssvkindia@.../depakbharti@...
Phone/Fax : +91-612-2522077/ 6273-222242
              +91-9431025801 (cell)

--
Deepak Bharti,
National Convenor, Lok Shakti Sangathan India
Secretary,NGO  SSVK Bihar, Lok Shakti Bhawan
Opposite Ajay Nilayan Appt.
Nageshwar Colony,Boring Road,
Patna - 800001 (Bihar) India
Web- http://www.geocities.com/ssvk_india
e-mail:ssvkindia@.../depakbharti@...
Phone/Fax : +91-612-2522077/+91-6273-222242
              +91-9431025801 (cell)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Bihar Floods, 2007 – An Update

Context

* *

Incessant rains, both in the upper and lower catchments of the North Bihar
rivers, since the third week of July 2007 have caused serious flooding in
the North Bihar plains affecting as many as 19 of the 38 districts in the
state causing extensive damage to infrastructure, human lives, livestock,
crops and other property and assets.  According to the initial estimate made
by the disaster management department of the state government about
11.5million people belonging to Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi,
Saharsa, West
Champaran East Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Patna, Nalanda, Bhagalpur,
Banka, Katihar, Samastipur, Seohar, Khagaria, Gopalganj, Madhepura, Araria
and Begusarai have been affected by the devastating flood. So far 90 people
have lost their lives and crop in .99 million hectare worth Rs.1.12 billion
have been lost in the flood. At least 72,465 houses worth Rs 285.4 million
and government property worth Rs 120.5 million have been destroyed. A
Central Water Commission report dated August 5, 2007 says the Burhi Gandak,
Bagmati, Adhvara, Kosi, Mahananda and Gandak are receding but are still
above the danger mark at several places. According to officials in the state
disaster management department the worst hit districts include Sitamarhi,
Saharsa, East Champaran, Darbhanga, Supaul, Katihar, Madhubani and
Samastipur.



*Current Situation*

Hundreds of thousands of people in Bihar have been displaced by severe
floods and are without food, shelter, drinking water and essential medicines
for days.  Many are living dangerously on embankments, highways, rooftops
and any high place they find to keep alive.  While dozens drowned in
floodwaters, some died of starvation. Others breathed their last after
catching diseases like malaria, kala azar and diarrhoea. Some were bitten to
death by snakes. In the last five days, several newborn babies died due to
absence of health care in areas that have become isolated islands. Many
elderly people were hit hard, with many tragically left behind in inundated
villages by younger members of families eager to escape.

According to Marzio Babille, Unicef's health chief in India who is
coordinating UN work in Bihar, in the 15 days to August 2, 90cm of rain had
fallen in Bihar's worst affected areas, compared to annual average rainfall
of 1.3m.  He said aid agencies and authorities must do more to prevent
outbreaks of measles, gastroenteritis, dengue fever and other diseases, or
"we will see many deaths".  He said 20 helicopters were needed in Bihar,
whereas presently only 4 had been pressed into service. "The scale is
massive, the challenge is enormous for the government and those who are
helping," he said in Patna, Bihar's capital.

Many of the displaced are yet to get any food packets or water. Most are
fighting for survival with virtually nothing to eat. They are sleeping under
the open sky and forced to drink the polluted flood water.  Help from the
sky is their elusive last hope. There is acute shortage of essential
medicines as well as doctors in rural areas hit by floods.  Reports pouring
in from different flood-hit areas paint a harrowing picture of the miseries
of the people. In fact, the United Nations has now described the situation
coupled with other parts of South Asia as one of the worst floods in living
memory.(NDTV August 5,2007)

*State Response*

The situation has become all the more grim because the state government was
initially unresponsive when things were more manageable.  With the Chief
Minister away on a visit to Mauritius, the state administration maintained a
pretence of being adequate to the task without undertaking any concrete
action at the ground level.  Confronted with the mounting pressure from the
opposition parties and the growing anger of the affected people, the Chief
Minister, on his return on August 2, set the relief operations rolling by
undertaking an aerial survey of the flood relief districts to have an
appraisal of the gravity of the situation.  Subsequently cabinet ministers
were made specifically responsible for each of the affected districts to
coordinate relief operations and an additional post of Special District
Magistrates, each responsible for a cluster of affected districts, was
created to deal with a calamity of this scale.  The assistance of the army
was requisitioned. The relief operations that way got off to a planned start
from August 4 onwards.

The relief interventions being undertaken by the state government include
the following:

Ø       Opening up of relief camps – Muz-15, Sitamadhi-9, Saharsa-2,
E.Champ-37, Supaul- 5, Darbhanga-231, Bhagalpur-2, W.Champ-19, Katihar-6,
Madhubani-62, Samastipur-276, Sheohar-30, Gopalganj- 10, Madhepura- 2,
Begusarai-10

Ø       Setting up of medical relief teams - Muz -10,E.Champ-2, W.champ -
17, Supaul - 7, Bhagalpur-4, Dharbhanga-18,Katihar-9, Madhubani-21,
Gopalganj-8, Samastipur-22 Sheohar-5, Madhepur-4, Begusarai-8

Ø       No. of boats deployed for evacuation  - Muzaffarpur- 558, Sitamarhi-
346,Saharsa-174, E.Champ.-394, Supaul-143Darbhanga -547, Patna-21
Bhagalpur-22, W.Champ- 118, Katihar-109,Madhubani-102, Samastipur-413,
Sheohar-85 Nalanda-39, khagaria-119,Gopalganj-90, Madhepura-88, Araria-20,
Begusarai-40

Ø       Details of distribution of essential commodities - Wheat-15731.50qtls,
Rice-13221.00 .qtls, Chura-3185.18 qtls,Gur- 566.02 qtls,Sattu-45.45qtls.,
Candles -89757, Match Box-47213, Salt- 231.10qls & Polythene Sheets
distributed- 25126, Cash distribution(Rs. In Lakh)-140.01,6080 food packets
Air dropped in Darbhanga, Madhubani,E.Champ district,1000 packets
distributed by Begusarai Distt.

Apart from supply falling grossly short of demand, there are certain areas
that have as yet to be addressed like drinking water and temporary shelters.
With regards to the latter, the process of procurement from the neighbouring
states has been initiated.  With large areas still under water, the state is
having logistical problems in reaching out relief to the people given the
grossly inadequate number of boats that the government has at its disposal.
The state government is presently busy consolidating the estimates of damage
caused by the floods in order to make that into a basis for requisitioning
assistance from the Calamity Relief Fund of the Prime Minister.

*Response of other actors*

Realising its limitations, both physical and financial, in dealing with a
calamity of this magnitude, the state has gone in appeal to other actors,
including those from the civil society.  Some of the players who have taken
up cudgels are UNICEF, OXFAM, British Red Cross, CASA, TDH, Indian Red
Cross, Swiss Red Cross but the actual relief operations either actually have
to roll out (with agencies still appraising or having gone in appeal with
funds still to be raised) or are very few and far between.

*Immediate Interventions*

Given this state of affairs, the people continue to languish.  Our feedback
from the field and from media reports is that, in order of priority, what is
most required on an urgent basis are the following:

1.       Community Kitchens and dry ration support

2.       Polythene Sheets for temporary shelters

3.       Medicines to combat the outbreak of epidemics

4.       Safe drinking water

5.       Restoration of loss of personal assets like clothes and cooking
utensils

So much so for addressing the immediate relief needs.  However, there still
remains enormous need on the ground which calls for extension of relief
support. The Chief Minister has gone on record stating that the timing of
the floods has also been unfortuitous as it has excluded the possibility of
re-undertaking kharif cultivation. With no kharif cultivation, the landless
would be robbed off wage earning opportunities in agriculture till
September.  Hence, relief support would have to be more extended for such
families. For the time being the marginal and small farmers who have
suffered crop losses have been promised cash compensation at the rate of Rs
4000/hectare.

*To-day I appealed Bihar,s people through Radio Mirchi to come foreward for
the help of flood effected people of bihar.*

  Thanks and Regards
Deepak Bharti,
National Convenor, Lok Shakti Sangathan India
Secretary,NGO  SSVK Bihar, Lok Shakti Bhawan
Opposite Ajay Nilayan Appt.
Nageshwar Colony,Boring Road,
Patna - 800001 (Bihar) India
Web- http://www.geocities.com/ssvk_india
e-mail:ssvkindia@.../depakbharti@...
Phone/Fax : +91-612-2522077/+91-6273-222242
              +91-9431025801 (cell)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Friends

Hope you don't mind these frequent mails from me on this topic. Just wanted
to share a mail from my friend Dr. Kishlay Anand. I sought his help not only
a a close friend but also someone who can really make a difference.

Just to introduce Kishlay. He is a great doctor, entrepreneur and
humanitarian as well and of course has really illustrious career and someone
who can follow in our great Dr. AKN Sinha traditions. Educated at Don
Bosco,Patna then DPS RK Puram , then AIIMS,Delhi . Columbia University,NYC
and most recently finished his residency at Creighton, Omaha

Please see his mail below, if only we can get enough volunteers on the
ground then he and others like him can really make a difference. One of the
mistakes we need to learn from past is that inspite of  knowing the scourage
of flood in advance we (Bihar) didn't prepare in advance.

Now we can at least prepare for the post-flood causalities due to
communicable diseases and lack of clean water rather than waiting for a
major outbreak


Regards
Atul



On 8/6/07, Kishlay Anand <kishlay_anand@...> wrote:
>
>  Hi,
> One of the key problem faced by masses in this situation arises due to the
> lack of clean water leading to problems like diarrhea and dehydration. If we
> can raise some money from the community to fund clean water, food items and
> essential antibiotics (quinolones), paracetamol, that would be a simple but
> worth while effort. If we can form a network with local health care
> providers to distribute these items. We can basic educational materials to
> educatre volunteer on the ground and help them to identify common illnesses
> and provide simple symptomatic treatment.
>
> I am willing to help with money and time.
>
> Best,
> Kishlay Anand MD, MS
> The Cardiac Center,
> Creighton University,
> Omaha, NE.
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Atul Kumar <atultech@...>
> *To:* kishlay_anand@... ; shailendra kishore <docshail@...>;
abhishek
> sinha <docabhisheksinha@...>
> *Sent:* Monday, August 06, 2007 8:00 PM
> *Subject:* Fwd: [Bihari] Digest Number 2347
>
> Kishlaya, Shailendra and Abhishek
>
> please see if something can be done via the doctor community besides
> whatever govt and relief agencies are doing .. just to introduce you three
> .. the only connection you three share besides being my friend's is that you
> are doctors from patna .. will send detailed intro in a while .. in the
> tradition of our great Dr. AKN Sinha you can make a difference ..
>
> cheers
> atul
> +1 203 512 6749
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Atul Kumar < atultech@... <atultech@...+>>
> Date: Aug 6, 2007 5:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [Bihari] Digest Number 2347
> To: Dr Ravi Chandra <rchandra1231@...>, tanyaprasad@...,
> Chandan Singh <csingh@...>
> Cc: m_varma <m_varma@...>, sarojk@..., Mayank Krishna <
> mayank.krishna@...>, Naveen Sharma <naveenshar@...>,
> rajiv.vidyarthy@..., Thakur Vikas Sinha <tvsinha@...>, Samir
> Kumar Mishra <samirmishra@...>, Rahul Kumar Barnwal <
> rahul.barnwal@...>
>
> Tanya Hi
>
> Ravi being at Bhagalpur and having a local presence can surely help. Also
> his project, "Bihar Development Trust" is building ground level network in
> the area of micro-finance etc so is closely aligned.
>
> Chandan is a close friend at Patna who has been the anchor and pillar of
> all our projects there. Already on the road to help in the affected areas.
> Between Ravi and Chandan, guess we have enough local presence to deliver
> whatever support.
>
> Ravi and Chandan: hope you don't mind our taking the liberty to leverage
> your names and local presence there.
>
>
> Of course you can also count on Mayank, Rajiv and others at Mumbai for
> supporting your collection efforts at Mumbai. Am marking Saroj  who is one
> of the founding/core members of Bihari group, currently in California but
> has past experience in this area and also some views/ideas on what
> would/should work and what wouldn't. So in case you are still ready for a
> drive at Mumbai then can count on these members. Mayank, Rajiv and others am
> taking this liberty of throwing your names here though know are relatively
> busy these days
>
> Am marking the mail to couple of other friends like Naveen at Bangalore,
> Ajeet at Mysore who have also been working in the background and might have
> other references ideas to share.
>
> Verma jee/sir, marking you also since you are already making some efforts
> via CARE, UNICEF and via bihareebabu and gave the wake-up call to many of
> us. thanks for waking us up from the slumber.
>
>
> Regards
> Atul
>
> FYI
> TVS at Mumbai
> Rahul at Delhi (has different views on relief efforts but still )
> Samir at Australia
>
> On 8/6/07, Dr Ravi Chandra <rchandra1231@... > wrote:
> >
> >    dear friends,
> >
> > I was thinking of provided relief  but have no resources.
> > if we all can organise materials like tents, polythenes, blankets, we
> > will distribute to needy .
> > we are based at bhagalpur and can move with materials when it arrives
> > with the help of our team members.
> > to know more about us, please click on link below our e mailid.
> >
> > ravi
> >
> >
> > Dr Ravi Chandra
> > Director
> > 9334308432
> > Bihar Development Trust
> > rchandra1231@...
> > bihardev@...
> > http://romanticirman.blogspot.com/2007/07/bihar-development-trust.html
> > <http://romanticirman.blogspot.com/2007/07/bihar-development-trusthtml>
> > http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=34946028
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
>
>
> --
> Atul Kumar
> +1 203 512 6749
> NY/NJ,USA
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/atulkumar
>
> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/atulkumar>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Bihar  Floods, 2007 – An Update

Context

Dear Friends*
*

Incessant rains, both in the upper and lower catchments of the North Bihar
rivers, since the third week of July 2007 have caused serious flooding in
the North Bihar plains affecting as many as 19 of the 38 districts in the
state causing extensive damage to infrastructure, human lives, livestock,
crops and other property and assets.  According to the initial estimate made
by the disaster management department of the state government about
11.5million people belonging to Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi,
Saharsa, West
Champaran East Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Patna, Nalanda, Bhagalpur,
Banka, Katihar, Samastipur, Seohar, Khagaria, Gopalganj, Madhepura, Araria
and Begusarai have been affected by the devastating flood. So far 90 people
have lost their lives and crop in .99 million hectare worth Rs.1.12 billion
have been lost in the flood. At least 72,465 houses worth Rs 285.4 million
and government property worth Rs 120.5 million have been destroyed. A
Central Water Commission report dated August 5, 2007 says the Burhi Gandak,
Bagmati, Adhvara, Kosi, Mahananda and Gandak are receding but are still
above the danger mark at several places. According to officials in the state
disaster management department the worst hit districts include Sitamarhi,
Saharsa, East Champaran, Darbhanga, Supaul, Katihar, Madhubani and
Samastipur.

*Current Situation*

Hundreds of thousands of people in Bihar have been displaced by severe
floods and are without food, shelter, drinking water and essential medicines
for days.  Many are living dangerously on embankments, highways, rooftops
and any high place they find to keep alive.  While dozens drowned in
floodwaters, some died of starvation. Others breathed their last after
catching diseases like malaria, kala azar and diarrhoea. Some were bitten to
death by snakes. In the last five days, several newborn babies died due to
absence of health care in areas that have become isolated islands. Many
elderly people were hit hard, with many tragically left behind in inundated
villages by younger members of families eager to escape.

According to Marzio Babille, Unicef's health chief in India who is
coordinating UN work in Bihar, in the 15 days to August 2, 90cm of rain had
fallen in Bihar's worst affected areas, compared to annual average rainfall
of 1.3m.  He said aid agencies and authorities must do more to prevent
outbreaks of measles, gastroenteritis, dengue fever and other diseases, or
"we will see many deaths".  He said 20 helicopters were needed in Bihar,
whereas presently only 4 had been pressed into service. "The scale is
massive, the challenge is enormous for the government and those who are
helping," he said in Patna, Bihar's capital.

Many of the displaced are yet to get any food packets or water. Most are
fighting for survival with virtually nothing to eat. They are sleeping under
the open sky and forced to drink the polluted flood water.  Help from the
sky is their elusive last hope. There is acute shortage of essential
medicines as well as doctors in rural areas hit by floods.  Reports pouring
in from different flood-hit areas paint a harrowing picture of the miseries
of the people. In fact, the United Nations has now described the situation
coupled with other parts of South Asia as one of the worst floods in living
memory.(NDTV August 5,2007)

*State Response*

The situation has become all the more grim because the state government was
initially unresponsive when things were more manageable.  With the Chief
Minister away on a visit to Mauritius, the state administration maintained a
pretence of being adequate to the task without undertaking any concrete
action at the ground level.  Confronted with the mounting pressure from the
opposition parties and the growing anger of the affected people, the Chief
Minister, on his return on August 2, set the relief operations rolling by
undertaking an aerial survey of the flood relief districts to have an
appraisal of the gravity of the situation.  Subsequently cabinet ministers
were made specifically responsible for each of the affected districts to
coordinate relief operations and an additional post of Special District
Magistrates, each responsible for a cluster of affected districts, was
created to deal with a calamity of this scale.  The assistance of the army
was requisitioned. The relief operations that way got off to a planned start
from August 4 onwards.

The relief interventions being undertaken by the state government include
the following:

Ø       Opening up of relief camps – Muz-15, Sitamadhi-9, Saharsa-2,
E.Champ-37, Supaul- 5, Darbhanga-231, Bhagalpur-2, W.Champ-19, Katihar-6,
Madhubani-62, Samastipur-276, Sheohar-30, Gopalganj- 10, Madhepura- 2,
Begusarai-10

Ø       Setting up of medical relief teams - Muz -10,E.Champ-2, W.champ -
17, Supaul - 7, Bhagalpur-4, Dharbhanga-18,Katihar-9, Madhubani-21,
Gopalganj-8, Samastipur-22 Sheohar-5, Madhepur-4, Begusarai-8

Ø       No. of boats deployed for evacuation  - Muzaffarpur- 558, Sitamarhi-
346,Saharsa-174, E.Champ.-394, Supaul-143Darbhanga -547, Patna-21
Bhagalpur-22, W.Champ- 118, Katihar-109,Madhubani-102, Samastipur-413,
Sheohar-85 Nalanda-39, khagaria-119,Gopalganj-90, Madhepura-88, Araria-20,
Begusarai-40

Ø       Details of distribution of essential commodities - Wheat-15731.50qtls,
Rice-13221.00 .qtls, Chura-3185.18 qtls,Gur- 566.02 qtls,Sattu-45.45qtls.,
Candles -89757, Match Box-47213, Salt- 231.10qls & Polythene Sheets
distributed- 25126, Cash distribution(Rs. In Lakh)-140.01,6080 food packets
Air dropped in Darbhanga, Madhubani,E.Champ district,1000 packets
distributed by Begusarai Distt.

Apart from supply falling grossly short of demand, there are certain areas
that have as yet to be addressed like drinking water and temporary shelters.
With regards to the latter, the process of procurement from the neighbouring
states has been initiated.  With large areas still under water, the state is
having logistical problems in reaching out relief to the people given the
grossly inadequate number of boats that the government has at its disposal.
The state government is presently busy consolidating the estimates of damage
caused by the floods in order to make that into a basis for requisitioning
assistance from the Calamity Relief Fund of the Prime Minister.

*Response of other actors*

Realising its limitations, both physical and financial, in dealing with a
calamity of this magnitude, the state has gone in appeal to other actors,
including those from the civil society.  Some of the players who have taken
up cudgels are UNICEF, OXFAM, British Red Cross, CASA, TDH, Indian Red
Cross, Swiss Red Cross but the actual relief operations either actually have
to roll out (with agencies still appraising or having gone in appeal with
funds still to be raised) or are very few and far between.

*Immediate Interventions*

Given this state of affairs, the people continue to languish.  Our feedback
from the field and from media reports is that, in order of priority, what is
most required on an urgent basis are the following:

1.       Community Kitchens and dry ration support

2.       Polythene Sheets for temporary shelters

3.       Medicines to combat the outbreak of epidemics

4.       Safe drinking water

5.       Restoration of loss of personal assets like clothes and cooking
utensils

So much so for addressing the immediate relief needs.  However, there still
remains enormous need on the ground which calls for extension of relief
support. The Chief Minister has gone on record stating that the timing of
the floods has also been unfortuitous as it has excluded the possibility of
re-undertaking kharif cultivation. With no kharif cultivation, the landless
would be robbed off wage earning opportunities in agriculture till
September.  Hence, relief support would have to be more extended for such
families. For the time being the marginal and small farmers who have
suffered crop losses have been promised cash compensation at the rate of Rs
4000/hectare.

To-day i appealed bihar,s people through Radio Mirchi patna to come foreward
for the help of flood effected people.

Thanks and Regards
Deepak Bharti,
National Convenor, Lok Shakti Sangathan India
Secretary,NGO  SSVK Bihar, Lok Shakti Bhawan
Opposite Ajay Nilayan Appt.
Nageshwar Colony,Boring Road,
Patna - 800001 (Bihar) India
Web- http://www.geocities.com/ssvk_india
e-mail:ssvkindia@.../depakbharti@...
Phone/Fax : +91-612-2522077/+91-6273-222242
              +91-9431025801 (cell)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

friends .. can we come together as a group and do something

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: tanyaprasad@... <tanyaprasad@...>
Date: Aug 5, 2007 4:46 AM
Subject: Re: [golghar] Digest Number 651
To: golghar@yahoogroups.com

Idea is good. We can mobilise, raise funds, medicines , food items, clothes,
bed sheets, blankets but who in our group based in bihar is going to take
responsibilty for correct distribution. Collection is easy, distribution is
not....

I come forward for collection in mumbai...would request others who are more
mobile than me to come forward for transport to bihar and distribution pls

All ideas welcome.

Thanks /tanya
-----Original Message-----
From: golghar@yahoogroups.com

Date: 5 Aug 2007 08:26:06
To:golghar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [golghar] Digest Number 651


There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Bihar floods
     From: m_varma


Message
________________________________________________________________________

1. Bihar floods
     Posted by: "m_varma" m_varma@... M_Varma
     Date: Sat Aug 4, 2007 6:48 pm ((PDT))

We Bihari members of the Net-community are so quick to take umbrage
whnenver a single negative word is uttered against Bihar or Biharis in
the print or the virtual media – no matter how patently and obviously
false the comment is or even downright idiotic it is; in other words
not only not worthy of any notice, much less of a response.

But when Mother Nature unleashes her fury at us of "Biblical
proportions", what do we do? We remain utterly inert – not a voice is
heard, not a single muscle twitches, not a soul stirs.

What could have been done or what can be done?

Raise funds and procure food, medicine, baby formulas, for example.

Rush them to Patna. Ferry them to the needy.

Show some concern, make some effort.

I remember,when the eminent Patna physician Dr. A. K. N. Sinha (past
President of national IMA, President of the World Medical Council) was
around, with his boundless energy and resourcefulness he would quickly
rouse and organize a whole bunch of students of the Patna Medical
College during such times and lead them to the affected areas with
supplies and medicines. This was before the Internet or the WWW was born.

In the "Gauravshali Bihar" of today, isn't there any one even half as
energetic, resourceful, and truly caring as the late Dr. Sinha?

If not, the least we can do is pat ourselves on the back for
PROTECTING Bihar, and launching it on a trajectory of glory.

Remember, charity begins at home.




Messages in this topic (1)
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--
Atul Kumar
+1 203 512 6749
NY/NJ,USA
http://www.linkedin.com/in/atulkumar


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Adarniya Shri Dinesh Mishraji
   It is another season of floods, perhaps worse this year as the newspaper
reports seem to suggest. Exactly as you have repeatedly said in your books, the
embankment led flood management theory has once more failed to provide any
succor.

If I have understood the problem correctly, the basic issues in flood management
in Bihar are:

    Low Altitude of the Upper Gangetic Plains of Bihar      which leads to very
low gradient for the rivers and shallow river beds.
    Very high silt in the river water, particularly, during the monsoon     
months.
     These result in high deposition of silt in the bed raising the already
shallow river bed. Thus the embankments trying to tame the river fail to do
their job and just become a hindrance to the natural drainage of water. Vast
areas, deprived of the nourishing alluvial soil become fallow and vast tract of
land become perennially flooded as water is not able to find an egress. Thus the
embankments, far from being a boon, are proving to be a curse.
       Now granted that embankments are not the solution, and if at all, end up
exacerbating the problem, but what is the solution other than just letting the
river do its job? Surely, engineering and technology cannot be so poor as to not
find a solution to this. Are not there similarly low lying areas elsewhere with
heavily silted rivers? How have they solved the problem there? We have heard of
Hwang Ho as the curse of China which is no longer in the news for its floods.
Have they managed to solve the problem there? Does that hold any lessons for us?
Or shall we have to think of a totally new and innovative solution?
     Pardon my impertinence, but I have tried to look at the problem in a
different way and attempted a solution.
     If we really look at the basics, then we have three objectives in the
following order of priority:

    Protect the human habitations : provide for the safety of the      human and
animal lives
    Protect the transport infrastructure: roads and railways
    Protect the crops
     We add to this the premise that the geography of North Bihar makes it
impossible to tame the rivers through embankments and keep them within their
bed. It is not even desirable to tame the rivers as that deprives the land of
the alluvial top soil that gives it its productivity. In the worst case
scenario, let the floods take away one season of crops per year. We still have
two or even three safe crops with a higher yield due to the fertile alluvial top
soil. So we can remove the last objective from the equation altogether? We are
then left with the remaining two. Suddenly, the area to be flood protected
becomes just a fraction of the total area, as human habitation and transport
infrastructure put together cannot be more than 10% of the total land, howsoever
high the population density.
     Should we then start putting bunds around human habitations – towns and
villages. These embankments would provide protection for the fifteen to twenty
days or even longer of flooding that we may expect in a year.
     What would these protection embankments entail? How many towns and villages
to be thus protected? What would be the expenditure? Will this necessitate
relocation of some human habitation? Or can they still be protected if
sufficient passage is given to water to find its natural egress?
     I remember the Patna protection bund was breached, allegedly by the Army
jawans in 1975 when Son started to flood Danapur. Would the people have still
breached the bund if there was another bund for Danapur, with sufficient passage
provided between the two bunds for the gushing water to merge into Ganga?
     As regards roads and railways, modern civil engineering allows us to build
hundreds of kilometers of raised passage, high above the ground. Enough culverts
and drainage have to be built to ensure they don’t come in the way of passage of
water.
     I am not sure if this model makes any sense or is just the oversimplified
ranting of a person who is not even a civil engineer. If indeed this makes any
sense, we can petition for an experiment for one river basin.

With warm regards


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BIHAR FLOOD UPDATE 2007
   Flood Continue to wreak instate
   The fury Flood in Bihar Continued to wreak have on Friday with swollen rivers
inundating fresh areas across 16 of the state 38 district affecting ten
millions.
   Official sources said all major rivers were maintaining a rising trend and had
acossed the danger-mark at diffrent place along their course.
   With 14 fresh deaths – Darbhanga (3), Begusarai (5) Madhubani (5) East
Champaran (2) and West Champaran (4) reported in the list 24 hours, the dath
toll in the current spell of floods has risen to 57 official sources said.
   After modrate rain 3.39 lacks cusecs  water rushed from timaly on Nation Nepal
to Bihar.
   C.M Nitish Kumar finaly seek the Army’s helps in cary and resource and relief
opration in Darbhanga. Food Packets to be air dropped in Flood hit areas of
Darbhanga from today.
   More than 150 homes have been swept away in heavy current after the surging
water of the Burhi Gandak river breached its embankment around Chria Bariarpur
Block (Begusarai) on Thursday night. Barhi Village completing swept away
Thursday night – hundred of people rescured by a joint teanat the Army and para
militry force.
   The Hindustan News paper repotd 100 of women and children swept away. Olice
has recovered some dead body.
   Four children age 7-15 drawn near Baisha Village in Motihari Two dead Sharsa
and Farbishganj.
   Police firing one person death in Madhubani.
   People complain that no doctors are in flood areas.   Fix Special D.M of flood
areas districts has been posted the district are Madhepura, Supaul, Muzffarpur.
Sitamarhi, Sheohar,  East Champaran and Khagaria.
   Meeting by NAPM
   Unit of NAPM and the Nadi Wapsi Abhiyan Jointly convened a meeting of
educationists, social activists, legal professionals and  flood victims to
dicussed the problems faced by people  in flood hit districts.
   The Participannts felt the flood problem should not be politicised, the blame
game will not solve the problem and the flood victims should be provided
immediate relief, they said.
   The meet noted that only the areas having embank ments are the embankment move
the disaster cores by flood. Roads were not properly constructed under various
schemes in diffrent parts of the state, caring water logging problem. The meet
also felt that on the relief and rehabilitation front, not much has so for been
done by the state civil society bodies . More work is to be done on thic count,
noted the participant.
   A march would be taken out today and they submitt a memorandam to Governer
R.S. Gavai


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Bhojpuria.com nominated for UN World Summit Awards

It is said that India lives in villages, and a website representing the same
cultural ethics of India, will be representing India this year in UN World
Summit Awards (WSA).

Bhojpuria.com, the World's first portal for Bhojpuri speaking people, will be
the only nomination from India (in cultural section) in perhaps the biggest
Awards for websites.

The Grand Jury is going to sit and decide over the awards on August 31 –
September 09, 2007 at Croatia, and the main award distribution function will be
held on November 5th, at Venice, Italy.

As many as 168 countries will be participating in the World Summit Awards, which
has got United Nations as its major partner. The WSA associate partner network
consists of over 120 organizations engaged in the development of multimedia on
the national and international level and demonstrates a high professional
standing.

"Bhojpuria.com was perhaps the first serious attempt to re-unite a civilisation,
which was scatterred to all parts of this world, some 150 years back." said
Sudhir Kumar, director of the portal.

"In the Award function, just because of our website, the name of Bhojpuri will
be taken in the presence of the heads of atleast ten countries and several UN
authorities, and it would become the biggest international platform ever for
Bhojpuri."

"We have a rich cultural heritage, and for the first time, we will showcasing
the same to an International audience," added Sudhir, with a smile on his face.

"In just a short span of less than two years, Bhojpuria.com have been doing
wonders. We are happy that our attempts have started paying off, and our culture
is getting a worldwide recognisation, due to this website," said Anil Ojha,
editor of Bhojpuri Mati, the largest selling Bhojpuri monthly magazine.

This is to be noted that Bhojpuria.com have been appretiated and awarded by
almost all big Bhojpuri bodies globally including Viswa Bhojpuri Sammelan, Akhil
Bhartiya Bhojpuri Sahitya Sammelan, Jamshedpur Bhojpuri Sahitya Parishad, and
Indian Social Club (Muscat).

The portal came to limelight last year in August, when it bagged the prestigious
Manthan Award for Best Cultural Poral in India. earlier this year, Andhra
Pradesh Govt. enlisted it as India's best Cultural Portal, in its DOST
Catalogue.

   You may read more at http://www.bhojpuria.com




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Update Bihar Flood  3-8-07
   The overall situation in Bihar worsened on Thursday with the swollen Bagmati
breaches its embankment in Samastipur.
   The UNDP of Bihar sources
   District-16
   People Effected 83.55 lakh
   Death –41 people
                14 animal
   Agriculture field-6.343 lakh hectares
   Crop destroyed-4509.68
   Acceding to newspaper Hindustan
   Death by snake bite, during  birth delivery  and water flow deaths –150
   Govt machinery totally failed
   A central water commission sources told that all major rivers were maintaining
rising trend fallowing heavy downfall in their catchments area over the past 24
hours.
   Chief secretary of irrigation department has said that average rainfall
recorded 800-900
   M.M. Our guess was 150 to 200 M.M.
   Mean while the Government appeal to NGO for help Government in relief work.
   Federation of Volunteer Agencies says that there are no updates of web site of
Home
   Ministry Govt. of India and U.N.D.P. Bihar.

   Nadi Bachao Andolan has organized a meeting yesterday at Patna. Prominent
People
   Of Patna, NGO, Funding agencies attended the meeting for people’s effort.

P.S Has got acquainted with the girl, http://cyberblady.com, how it to you? Only
it is fair!

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Flood of Update (01/08/07)
   Dear friends
   Today the embankment of Rosra has broken.By night the water will rushed Alauli
   Block, Three Blocks of Begusarai is under water. The water will come Khagaria
by tomorrow evening.
   2.5 lakh people hit by flood in Khagaria district of Bihar
   Khagaria:There has been no letup in the flood situation in Khagaria district
with waters of the koshi, Bagmati and Ganga  continuing to ravage large number
of villages at Alauli , Beldaur and Chautham blocks on Tues day.
   So far nearly 2.5 lakh people across saharbanni,cherskhers,Anandpur
Maran,Deaha,Khairi and Kutha under Alauli Block,Thuti Mohanpur,
Phango,Sarsawa,Rohiyar Bangalia.Kaithi and Lagar under Chautham
block,Darhi,Pachauth,Chorhi,Itamdi,Dighaun,Kurban, Satma, Mahinath and Dumri
under Beidaur Block,Phulwaria,Koel,Paura and Baltara villages Under Gogri Block
and Uttari and RahimpurDakchini villages under Khagaria block have been affected
by the current spate of floodsin the district.While road communication has ben
sverly disrupted with flood wters overtopping roads at several places,incessant
the situations.
   Govt official sources said that bso far apopulation of 59.62 laks across 12
district and 2,685 villages have been hit by flood while over 40000houses have
been damaged. While the toll stand 22.
   Times of India.August1, 2007
   Krshan Mohan
   Kisan vikas trust
   Goshala Road
   Khagaria
   Mobile :9430042559


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Note: forwarded message attached.

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Forwarding the mail of Mr. Deepak Bharati seeking support for flood relief
in Bihar.
Vagish


North Bihar is once again suffering from severe flood situation.Devastating
floods in Bihar and the catchment areas continuing for the last fortnight
have affected more than *30 lakh people* settled in over *800 villages* in
north Bihar. Floods have wreaked havoc in large parts of Bihar, *killing
over 30 people* and displacing a population of over 30 lakh .



The worst affected districts are Muzaffarpur, Westand EastChamparan,
Saharsa, Supaul, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Khagaria, Sitmarhi Patna,
Bhagalpurand Gopalganj. The official help has been negligible as the
poor villagers
have been forced to take shelter in upper areas. According to Central Water
Commission sources, all the major rivers like Gandak, Bagmati, Kamala Balan,
Koshi, Kankai, Adhwara group of rivers, Ganga and Punpun are flowing above
the danger mark and their water level is still rising. The floods have
disrupted both road and rail traffic leading to cancellation of many trains.
In several districts, the local administration have ordered the closure of
academic institutions keeping in view the seriousness of the situation.



Right embankment of Kamala Balan breached Naruar at Jhanjharpur block
Madhubani District and 3 points between Alinagar block and Ghyanshyampur
block of Darbhanga District.Due to heavy flood of Kamala Balan and Gehuma,
Sugerve block of Jhanjharpur, Lakhnaur and Madhepue have been badly
effected.

NGO Samajik Shaikshanik Vikas Kendra(SSVK) Jhanjharpur and its frontal
people,s organization Lok Shakti Sangathan(LSS) Bihar,s volunteer working
for relief and trying to mobilize government resources.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Deepak Bharti <depakbharti@...>
Date: 28-Jul-2007 18:23
Subject: ngo ssvk Jhanjharpur(Madhubani):Reg Flood Relief (A Status Report)
To: vagishkj@...

Dear Vagishjee
If possible please do something for flood effected people of bihar.
Regards

Deepak Bharti,
Convenor, Lok Shakti Sangathan India
Secretary,SSVK, Opposite Ajay Nilayan Appt.
Nageshwar Colony,Boring Road,
Patna - 800001 (Bihar) India
Web- http://www.geocities.com/ssvk_india
e-mail:ssvkindia@.../depakbharti@...
Phone/Fax : +91-612-2522077
              +91-9431025801 (cell)


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