From Risk to Resilience:

A Scoping Exercise for Bihar

1 Introduction

Bihar is one of the most poverty-stricken states in India. Floods recurrently impact the
state causing damage to the tune of Rs. 200-300 crores, annually. Table 1 shows that
there are a number of districts in Bihar where the flood prone area ranges 40 percent to
75 percent of the total area of district. The state can be divided into three distinct
geographical regions. As shown in Map 1, in the north is the northern Gangetic plain
which has many rivers flowing south or southeastern direction that join the Ganga
flowing in the state from west to east bisecting the state. In the south is the southern
Gangetic plain with rivers flowing north or northeastern direction confluencing with the
Ganga. These plains are known as central Bihar. The third part which is hilly comprises
Chhotanagpur and Santhal Parganas. Of these three parts North Bihar is most prone to
floods (see Map 2).

Large-scale construction of embankments was undertaken in the Fiftees in India for flood
control. The total length of embankments along Brahmaputra-Ganga river system was
about 14511 kms (1987). Out of this, 4448 kms are in Assam, 974 kms in West Bengal,
2756 kms in Bihar, 1711 kms in UP and 1007 kms in Orissa. In Bihar it has increased to
3466 km in 1997. The embankments worked effectively in the initial period till early
seventies after which flood problems aggravated due to rising of bed levels of embanked
rivers leading to clogging of drainage points controlled by sluice gates. This led to
frequent breaching of embankments forcing water out of the embanked areas in form of
surges. Although people were used to face floods but they were not prepared to cope with
the surges coming out from these breaches. The situation deteriorated further by clogging
of drainage courses by construction of roads, railways and canals resulting in water
logging even outside the embanked (/protected) areas.

Embankments on Bagmati—an important river of Bihar—are a case in point. The

Bagmati traverses down the Himalayas and enters India in the Sitamarhi district of Bihar.
The capital of Nepal--Kathmandu is located on its bank. The river joins the Kosi near
Badla Ghat in Khagaria district of Bihar. It has a total catchment area of 13,279 sq. km.
of which 6,246 kms is located in India and the rest in Nepal. The topography of river
basin in India is almost flat. The flat slope combined with heavy silt load causes
meandering of the river in the Indian plains causes huge loss of assets of people in the
basin.

The river has got three distinct reaches in India of about 85-90 kilometers each. The
lower reach, which is more prone to spilling, is relatively stable and hence embanked in
mid 1950s with the objective of solving the flood problems. The upper third reach of the
river was left unattended then on the premise that it would not be feasible to embank the
unstable portion of the river. It was eventually proposed to embank the upper reach in
1965 at an estimated cost of Rs. 3.17 Crores. These estimates were subsequently revised
in 1969,1973,1974,1976, 1980, and 1981 at Rs. 6.54 Crores, Rs. 22.55 Crores, Rs. 26.72
Crores, Rs. 36.20 Crores, Rs. 51.88 Crores and Rs. 60.48 Crores, respectively. Amidst
various revisions and resistance from the local people, these embankments were
constructed during the emergency (1975-77) from Dheng near the Indo-Nepal border to
Runni Saidpur in a stretch of 85 Kilometers. This included the garland embankments
around Bairgania Block of the Sitamarhi district that is located between the doab of Lal
Bakeya and the Bagmati River.

The middle 90 kilometer reach of the river, between Runni Saidpur and Hayaghat, was
rated perpetually unstable and was left open for free spilling even while the lower and
upper reaches of the river were embanked in 1950s and 1970s respectively. As a result,
the middle non-embanked reach of the river causes immense damage to life and property.
The breaches in the embankment in upper reaches exacerbate the problems of floods

It is the middle stretch that was considered highly unsuitable to embank due to unstable
river regime at a point of time, is now proposed to be embanked at a cost of Rs. 792
Crores along with strengthening and raising of the existing embankments in the entire
stretch of the river in Bihar to address flood problems of Bihar.

How effective are the embankments in mitigating floods? What are the socio, economic
and environmental costs of embanking a river? There is a need for taking a holistic view
of costs and benefits in evaluating the embankments as a strategy for DRR.

In the following sections we discuss perceptions and solutions of hazard in Bihar. It is

based on the workshop on Flood Mitigation in Bihar organized by CDS and Barh Mukti
Abhiyan at Patna during 14th-15th March 2007. This workshop was participated by village
communities, NGOs and civil society, and retired officers from government who held
senior positions and have contributed to reports of state planning commission and flood
irrigation commissions.

2 Perceptions of key stakeholders

Flood and droughts are major hazards in Bihar. They are interlinked due to construction
of embankments--they cause floods and drought like conditions in downstream areas
while flooding in upstream areas of embankments. We list below perceptions of these
hazards of communities and NGOs and civil society.

2.1 Village community

‰ Flood causes bank-cutting damaging houses. Bank-cutting combined with long-
duration inundation compels villagers to stay on bunds for most part of the year
(noted especially in areas affected by Kosi floods);
‰ Siltation of riverbed has at many places raised the bed level above fields outside and
near the embankments clogging the sluice gates making the embankments more prone
to breaching;
‰ Telecommunication, health and communication facilities are cut-off for 4-5 months
every year (noted in upstream reaches of Bagmati);
‰ Flooding causes sand casting of fields reducing agriculture productivity drastically;
‰ Embankments have rendered agriculture no longer feasible in areas downstream
(/outside) of embankment due to water scarcity. This condition is observed especially
around areas of confluence of tributaries;
‰ Flooding causes inundation for four months every year while in rest of the months the
area faces acute water scarcity (drought like conditions). This has severely affected
agriculture making it no longer viable. In such areas even the quality of fish in local
water bodies is bad;
‰ The quality of groundwater is bad in areas affected by floods. It is rich in iron and
hence, cannot be used for domestic purpose. Even the quality of surface water
becomes bad due to stagnation for long periods causing severe health problems due to
water borne diseases;
‰ Floods causes distress migration with only men migrating for income. This has
resulted in many women headed households. In few cases it was observed that HIV
AIDS has come to the area through these migrants. Another problem is increased
trafficking and child labor;
‰ In some areas upstream (inside) of the embankments inundation is a perennial
problem. Snake bites are common in such areas; and,
‰ There is shortage of fuelwood. The household subsistence is severely affected by
inadequate space for foodgrain and fuelwood.

2.2 NGOs and civil society

‰ Flaws with estimation of affected area: Government declares area affected by floods,
which does not include areas perennially inundated/ waterlogged;
‰ The relief distribution is improper. Only 6 percent of population affected get relief
actually;
‰ There are delays in planning and implementation of flood protection schemes but no
interim plans are in place;
‰ Embankments cause inundation problems due to: poor maintenance of drainage;
breaching at many places; and, rise in river bed levels due to silting;
‰ Literacy levels of population upstream (inside) of embankments that are perennially
inundated stands at 1951 levels;
‰ Expenses on health constitute about 35-40 percent of household expense due to water
borne diseases in flood affected areas; and,
‰ Flooding in Bihar is a natural phenomenon due to: Erratic nature of rainfall—90
percent of season’s rainfall occurs in 3-4 months and in that over intense spells in 25
days; and, 60-70% of river catchments are in high altitude, steep gradient and high
rainfall areas. This in combination with reduced capacity of rivers due to silting leads
to rivers spilling the plains.
3 Solutions

The solutions perceived by communities, NGOs and Civil Society (including retired
senior government officers) are presented below. They include physical and soft
(capacity building and awareness) interventions, and approaches to flood mitigation. It is
to be noted that some of the solutions proposed by communities are result of awareness
campaigns and pilot demonstrations by NGOs in the region.

3.1 Community
‰ People’s wisdom needs to be considered in designing strategies appropriate to local
conditions;
‰ Drainage management through community participation including physical and soft
measures; and,
‰ Innovative practices in agriculture: growing saplings of crops through innovative
techniques during waterlogged periods so that they are ready for sowing by the time
the flood recedes. This way they avoid delays in crop harvest. For example, few
enterprising farmers grow saplings of paddy and chilli on polythene sheets during the
waterlogged period.

3.2 NGOs and Civil Society

‰ There is need for realistic assessment of area affected by flood through GIS and
remote sensing technology. Generally, the figures of government are an
underestimate. These kinds of maps need to be prepared on as and when required for
more reliable estimates of compensation;
‰ Controlled breaching: It is observed that embankments breach at many places during
floods causing havoc due to surges that emanate from these breaches. A factor
influencing the extent of damage from such breaches is the level difference between
the riverbed level (upstream of embankments) and the level of fields downstream of
embankments. The riverbed level is generally higher than field levels due to silt
deposition. Controlled breaching will help reduce this level difference and also allow
fertile silt to spread over larger area;
‰ Low cost rainwater harvesting systems by use of locally available materials: As part
of relief households are provided polythene sheets for shelter. These have been used,
though on pilot basis, to install cost-effective rainwater harvesting systems;
‰ Crop variety development: Developing crop variety fostering early sowing and
harvesting before the area is flooded. For example, few NGOs have promoted 45 days
paddy variety—Narendar 97 which can be harvested before floods generally occur in
the area;
‰ Sluice gated dams could be effective for flood mitigation provided they are
maintained and operated timely; and,
‰ Interventions in health, education and sanitation: It is noted that health expenses form
significant portion of household expenses in the flood-affected areas. Appropriate
physical and soft measures need to be promoted.

Civil Society—Retired Senior Government Officers

The solutions proposed by this group emphasize stronger partnership between
government, NGOs and Community and technical/physical solutions.

‰ Multi-level infiltration and storage of flood water underground for use in periods of
need;
‰ The rivers flooding North Bihar originate in Nepal and hence effective flood
management will need international cooperation to address it at basin level;
‰ There is need for constructive engagement of civil society with government for
planning, implementation and monitoring of mitigation strategies;
‰ Leveraging development programmes: Conventional development programmes such
as Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme
could be used to generate employment as well as generating productive physical
assets for flood mitigation;
‰ New business opportunities will need to be explored: Appropriate support (production
and market) for promoting fisheries in waterlogged areas can provide critical income
to the affected; and,
‰ Integrated approach: The problems caused by flood are often interlinked. For
example, water logging, drainage, inundation and water scarcity are closely linked.
The solution lies in adopting an integrated approach for flood mitigation.

4 Issue for investigation

From the foregoing, it is evident that embanking rivers is a prime strategy adopted by
Government of Bihar. It has, on the one hand, adversely impacted livelihoods of
communities by eroding their social, economic and environmental assets, while on the
other, has protected areas which otherwise would have been impacted by floods.
However, these costs and benefits are for different groups. In other words, benefits
accrued are at cost to others. As a result, any cost benefit analysis of embankments will
need to take into account temporal and spatial patterns of distribution of costs and
benefits across the basin. For the purpose of study we will limit this assessment to
Bagmati basin for it extends beyond international borders into Nepal where ISET-N, a
partner on the project, could evaluate sets of DRR interventions considering the
upstream-downstream linkages.

At the micro-level (household/ village/ panchayat) there are DRR initiatives such as
elevated handpumps, rainwater harvesting, innovations in agriculture (practice and crop
variety) which have yielded benefits (/mitigated impacts) for communities. The study
proposes to evaluate costs and benefits of these interventions in quantitative and
qualitative terms. Since these interventions are on pilot scale, this component of study
will confine to applying non-probabilistic approach for assessing costs and benefits.

5 Proposed Approach and available datasets

Engaging key individuals for Macro level assessment

WII will hire the services and expertise of Mr. D.K. Mishra as advisor and two additional
experts who have excellent network with Government of Bihar. This is primarily for: it
would allow data acquisition, especially from the government. The logic to include other
experts is two folds: (a) it aids data collection; and, (b) the output will have a high
advocacy value especially to influence the government – and thus induce effective
change. The two experts identified are Mr. C.P. Sinha or Mr. R.K. Shahi. Mr. Sinha is an
ex-professor of Roorkee University.

Approach for Macro level study

The proposed approach for the cost-benefit analysis of embankments as a viable risk
reduction mechanism in flood prone areas will follow the CBA framework shown in
Figure 1. Bagmati basin is selected for analysis.
Figure 1. CBA Framework

Table 2 describes the information for each of the parameters mentioned in the framework
that would need to be collected for the basin, the nature of the data and sources of raw
data.
Table 2
Parameters Required information Sources of Raw Data
Hazard Intensity:
• River gauge and discharge [Raw Data] • Water Resources Dept,
Recurrence: Bihar and CWC, Delhi
• Recurrence of floods of various intensities .
(over a time series) [Derived Data]
Vulnerability Exposure:
• Area under crop [derived by multiplying • Department of
percentage of district area falling in the Agriculture
basin with crop area for various crops • Census of India (2001)
from agriculture dept]
• Number of Houses by districts by
categories (A, B, C and X) falling in the
basin [derived by multiplying percentage
of district area falling in the basin with
census figures of number of houses]

Fragility: • State Disaster

• Number of houses damaged partially and Management Authority
fully due to floods [Raw Data] • Second Irrigation
• Crop area affected by districts falling in the Commission report
basin [Derived Data]
• Loss of property (roads, culverts, buildings
and bridges) [Raw Data]
• Loss of human life [Raw Data]
• Cattle – number of total loss. [Raw Data]
Risk: without • Impacts of losses on the communities - • Vulnerability Atlas of
DRR value of crop and houses damaged: India 2007
Monetized [Derived Data]: (procurement in
o Damage at various recurrence of floods process)
o Increased migration • Derived from micro
Non-monetized [Derived Data]: level assessments
o Impacts on health, education and food
security
Parameters Required information Sources of Raw Data
Risk • Capital and maintenance (recurring) costs • Water Resources Dept
Management of embankments [Raw Data] • Second Irrigation
Project • Area protected [Raw Data] Commission Report
• Vulnerability Atlas of
India (2007)

Risk: with DRR Monetized [Derived Data]: • Vulnerability Atlas of

• Area benefited (not impacted by floods) India (2007)
[derived data] • Water Resources Dept
• Value of crops on area benefited [Raw • Agriculture Dept
Data] • State Disaster
• Value of public property protected [Raw Management Authority
 Data]
• Economic costs (cattle loss, houses (Derived from macro and
damaged, public property damaged) micro level assessments)

Non-monetized [Derived Data]:

• Social costs (health, education)
• Environmental costs

Micro level assessments

The micro level assessments for each of the local level DRR interventions will be
undertaken using participatory approaches such as PRA, FGDs, household questionnaire
covering costs and benefits (avoided/ mitigated impacts) on social, economic and
environmental aspects. The micro level assessments will not consider probabilities of
costs of benefits.