Blazing India: Bihar’s poor slog and suffer the most

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Droughts, heatwaves and weak monsoons come and go every year. Some survive it and some don’t. But those who always bear the brunt of rising temperatures are the poor. Thousands of daily wage labourers in Bihar step out every day to be able to earn a meagre amount but the scorching sun is not letting them do that either. Unable to beat the heat, they work late hours and earn less.

The rising temperatures killed 78 people within 48 hours in Bihar’s Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada districts, which are also facing a water crisis.

After hundreds of deaths, district magistrates of five Bihar districts, including the worst-hit Gaya, invoked Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ban public activities during daytime.

While rains did lash Bihar last week, it could only provide temporary relief. Temperatures again rose to 41 to 42 degrees Celsius with high humidity. The India Meteorological Department’s Patna office again issued a heat wave alert.

“I was earning Rs 500-600 a day to dig up soil on contract basis, carry sand, bricks or stone chips. But the intense heat has forced us to reduce our working hours and got our earnings down to Rs 300-400 a day,” said Rajdeo Yadav, a daily wage labourer in Patna.

The hostile climate is forcing the poor to not take the risk of working during in the afternoon. “We have to take regular intervals to rest and escape the Sun. We don’t work between 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm,” added Yadav.

Farmers too are finding it tough to irrigate land. Manish Singh, a marginal farmer in drought-hit Jehanabad district, said rising mercury and no pre-monsoon showers have together left no moisture in the land to start the process of cultivation for Kharif season.

“We have not even begun preparing our land for paddy as the soil is rock-like owing to lack of moisture,” he said adding that the fear of another drought is haunting them all.

In the state capital Patna too, where temperatures are above 45°C, roadside vendors are severely hit.

“No customer shows up in the afternoon. There’s no sale, no business. We are totally dependent on the evening after the Sun sets,” said Nagender Kumar, a garment vendor who sits near Patna railway station.

The IMD recorded 45.8°C on June 15, the hottest day in the past 53 years.

Manoj Kumar, executive director of the state health society, said Bihar government issued an advisory asking people to avoid going out in the day and keep themselves hydrated.

It is an alarming sign that temperatures are rising and rainfall is decreasing every year, said Ranjeev, an environmental activist. “The heat is slowly putting more and more stress on farmers. They are dependent on water, but the prolonged heatwave has dried water bodies,” he said.

Postcard to Gaya: The killer heatwave revives memories of our faithful, much-loved Saifuddin

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

What connects me to a distant Bihari cluster where a heat wave claimed 61 lives last weekend? It’s a four generation debt of gratitude. Saifuddin has surfaced to my consciousness. He’s always been in its mothballed folds though he died nearly 26 years ago. How could he not be, considering that he came into our family just weeks   before I did, and went on to supervise the  passage to adulthood of my own two sons?  A callow village lad, he’d been recruited to serve my grandfather.

The dormant memories haemorrhaged my brain because one of those three reeling   districts had been implanted there since i was 12. Every month, Saifu would request, ‘Bachi-baba, pata likh dijiye’. And I’d neatly write the address on his postcard: Village Karanja, Post Jakhim, Dist Gaya, Bihar. But, as far as we were concerned, ours was his only home, and his devotion confirmed this. He had risen to Cook, but he was also our park-taker, school/ college lunch-bringer, earthy idiom-supplier: ‘Jiska bandar wohi nachayega’ he’d scoff at my clumsy onion-chopping. He even became my ‘dowry’.

Alarmed over domestic demands skewing my career, Dad despatched him on the Howrah Mail. My protests against such ‘apron strings’, quickly turned to daily thanksgiving for this talisman against perfidious Mumbai maids. Et al. Bawling No 1 Son would quieten as soon as Saifu took him in his arms. Through the boys’ acne and ecstasy, he filled in for Absentee Parents. He berated No 1’s girlfriends for phoning during his siesta, and No 2 for fussing over his clothes ( ‘Coallage jata, ke party mein?’ ). He was such a stabiliser that all fuses blew during his summer sojourn to  ‘muluk’,  and everyone lit up when he returned, darker,  thinner, but – so we liked to think – equally happy to be back.

We selfishly put off his retirement, but finally surendered to his real family. The sons he barely knew had gone off to jobs, and a male elder was needed to look after the left-behind wives in Village Karanja. We got a postcard of his passing a year later.  It was on No 1 Son’s 20th birthday, and now there was no Saifu to comfort his silent bawling.

Exit heatwave, get ready for rains

Source: telegraphindia.com

Jharkhand is likely to experience showers from Thursday with the monsoon expected to make its grand entry in the state sometime over the weekend, the weather office has indicated.

Ranchi Meteorological Centre officials said conditions for the advancement of the southwest monsoon had become favourable ever since the severe cyclonic storm Vayu had waned. This meant that over the next three to four days the monsoon would move into parts of Andhra Pradesh and remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some more areas of Bay of Bengal, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha.

“We expect monsoon to arrive in Jharkhand around June 22. If that happens monsoon would have a delayed its arrival this time in Jharkhand by 12 days,” explained S.D. Kotal, director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, adding that as on Tuesday, the northern limit of monsoon (NLM) was passing through Mysore, Salem, Cuddalore, Alipurduar and Gangtok.

Kotal said the monsoon was expected to enter Jharkhand from somewhere between Sahebganj and Pakur and move towards central, southern and later north western parts of the state.

He also indicated that premonsoon showers would start over Jharkhand in the next 48 hours (June 20 onwards).

“Light rain and thunderstorms are likely at isolated places in the districts of western and southern Jharkhand in the next two days. After that both cloud and rainfall coverage area was expected to increase,” he explained.

The Ranchi Met office withdrew its heatwave alert on Tuesday, bringing to an end a weeklong spell of extreme discomfort that forced residents to stay indoors in the afternoons and prompted schools to extend summer vacations for primary students.

Weathermen said a trough at mean sea level was running from northeast Uttar Pradesh to north Bay of Bengal across Bihar, Jharkhand and Gangetic Bengal. A low pressure area was also likely to develop over north Bay of Bengal during the next three to four days.

On Tuesday, Capital Ranchi and its surrounding areas recorded a maximum temperature of around 37°C against Monday’s 37.3°C.

Palamau headquarters Daltonganj recorded around 40°C, three notches above normal. On Monday, Daltonganj had logged 41.4 °C. Jamshedpur, Chaibasa in West Singhbhum, Seraikela and several other places in the Kolhan region of southern Jharkhand recorded highs between 41° and 42°C, four notches above normal.

Met statistics revealed that several isolated places across Jharkhand, including Daltonganj and Garhwa, witnessed rain and thunder during the past 24 hours. Heatwave conditions also prevailed in isolated places in central and southern Jharkhand.

Jharkhand’s Land Bank: Injustice to Adivasis Continues

Source: newsclick.in

New Delhi: It was a sunny afternoon, with severe heatwave prevailing in the country. Perka village at Murhu development block in Khunti district of Jharkhand was deserted. The residents – who are mostly Munda Adivasis (tribes) with a population of 550 – were staying indoors to protect themselves from the heatwave. Few of them were seen resting on bare cots in a shaded place.

Majority of them did not know that the State Government has registered three plots of the village’s forest which cover approximately 1,214 acres, with the Land Bank (prepared by the state’s Department of Revenue and Land Reform). It is a part of the 21 lakh acres of ‘ghair mazurwa’ (uncultivated and common) land being acquired for a Land Bank across the state to woo industries. Ownership of the community on such lands (Jamabandi title) have been cancelled. The government claims that it is a big leap forward in development as it would help in facilitating land allocation to industrial units.

Interestingly, in 1932, the villagers were given the forest land for their use. This has been officially recorded in the land records in the Khatiyan Part – II. As per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the government authorities should have recognised the rights of the villagers on the village’s forest.

“I have land record papers of 1932, where we have been given the right to use the forest land. How can the government take away our forest land and enlist it in the Land Bank without the consent of our Gram Sabha (village council)?” asked Petrus Tiru, 55, expressing his shock over the development.

He was interrupted by a 50-year-old Santosh Soy who said, “It has been 20 years since we have been protecting our forests. We keep a watch round the clock to ensure that no one cuts trees. We also discuss how to protect and minimise the use of forests in our weekly Gram Sabha meetings.”

The Land Bank has been created with an aim to attract investments in the state by allocating land to corporates for establishing their industries. While launching ‘Momentum Jharkhand’ — an investment promotion campaign of his state — in Bengaluru on July 27, 2016, Chief Minister Raghubar Das had said, “Land acquisition has never been a challenge for us because we have a Land bank of 1,75,000 acres readily available for different industries to set up their businesses. Farmers are ready to give us land as we are paying a handsome price. We currently hold 40% of India’s natural mineral wealth and we are on the way to becoming the power hub of the country by 2019.”

However, the tribals allege foul play. They believe that the government is using a trick to grab their forest, community and religious land to hand over to corporations who exploit these resources in the name of development projects to make a profit.

Citing an example to strengthen this allegation, Gladson Dungdung – a Ranchi-based tribal rights activist and author – told NewsClick, “The state government acquired 42 acres of uncultivated land at Dambuli village in West Singhbhum district’s Manoharpur block and gave it to Vedanta. Now, the company is attempting to acquire the private land of Adivasis against their consent. They don’t have a way to reach the land they cultivate on.”

Why does the state government need a Land Bank after all?

Jharkhand has a long history of Adivasis’ struggle. The traditional dwellers have been fighting to protect their identity, autonomy, culture, languages, land, territory and natural resources for more than 300 years. The creation of Jharkhand – which was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on November 15, 2000 – as a new state in the political map of India, was one of the results of the struggle.

“After the formation of the state, the Adivasi struggle has been concentrated on anti-displacement movement. As many as 74 MoUs (memorandum of understanding) were signed by the successive governments one after another within a decade. Fortunately, none of the mega project was materialised. The Adivasis forced the Arcelor Mittal, Jindal Group and Tata Steel Ltd. to desert the proposed land for their dream steel projects,” said Dungdung.

Learning from the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government – which took over in 2014 – changed the land acquisition strategy. On December 31, 2014, the government through its Department of Revenue and Land Reform issued a circular to deputy commissioners of all the 24 districts, asking them to conduct a survey and prepare data of all kinds of land, except for private land, for the Land Bank. After the data was prepared, the department created a new website, where 2,097,003.81 acres of land was shown as government land in the Land Bank.

The website was launched on January, 5, 2016, by the Chief Minister. It was followed by the signing of 210 new MoUs with the corporate houses during the ‘Global Investors Summit’ held at Khelgaon, Ranchi on February 16, 2017.

“Now, the government has been attempting to acquire the common land, sacred groves and forest land without (free, prior and informed) consent of the communities. What is disturbing us is the fact that several plots of land that have been enlisted in the Land Bank, declaring them uncultivated or owned by the government, actually belonged to Gram Sabhas. Under the tag of the government land, three categories of land were acquired for the Land Bank – (a) common lands such playgrounds, village paths, land meant for grazing of animals; (b) sacred groves (Sarna, Deshavali and Jaherthan); (c) forest land, whose entitlements were supposed to be given to the Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers. In a nutshell, the government is ensuring corporates’ entry into tribals’ villages through the Land Bank,” he alleged.

The most surprising aspect of the Land Bank – he said – is that out of 2,097,003.81 acres of land registered in the Land Bank, 1,016,680.48 acres (which is 48.4% of the total land registered in the Land Bank) is forest land. “If we analyse the data of Land Bank at the district level, Chatra district tops the list with 92.3% of the forest land enlisted in the Land Bank. With 90.8%, Bokaro secures second place. Giridih stands third, with 72.8% of forest land listed in the Land Bank. However, in terms of area of the forest land, Giridih gets the first place with 329,539.12 acres of forest land out of the total 452,074.26 acres of land of the Land Bank. Simdega is at second position with 244,434.50 acres out of 358,450.52 acres and Gumla is at third place with 87,082.74 acres of forest land of 181,222.78 acres of land of the Land Bank,” Dungdung claimed.

Declaring it a “gross violation” of sections 4(1) of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which recognises and vests forest rights on Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on forest land, Dungdung concluded, “The Act categorically mentions in the section 4(1) that no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete. In fact, the forest rights are denied to the community by enlisting the forest land and community forests in the Land Bank, which also violates the Provisions of Panchayat (Extension) in Scheduled Area Act (PESA) 1996 that recognises the self-determination of the Adivasis and empowers the Gram Sabha to manage the natural resources. This is also a violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Odisha Mining Corporation Vs Ministry of Forest and Environment and others (c) No. 180 of 2011, which clearly states that the Gram Sabha is the owner of the natural resources; therefore, the common land, sacred groves and forest and forest land of the villages cannot be acquired without the consent of the Gram Sabhas.”

Weather across India: Bihar heatwave claims 61 lives, rain brings respite for Northern states | 12 points

Source: indiatoday.in

The weather in India has been difficult for the population of the country with the heatwaves dominating the weather for the past few weeks. According to reports, there have been 32 heatwaves this year in India, the second-longest spell of high temperatures in the country’s recorded history. The heatwave conditions prevailing in most parts of the country has claimed at least 44 lives in Bihar in a day, even as rain brought down the mercury in some western and northern states on Sunday.

Here are the weather conditions in various states

1. Rain and thunderstorm has been predicted on Monday in Uttar Pradesh, where sweltering heat continued unabated with Allahabad in the eastern part being the hottest at 45.3 degree Celsius, six notches above the normal. Sultanpur, Varanasi and Basti in the state recorded 45 degrees Celsius, 44.2 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius respectively.

2. Blistering heatwave condition continued unabated in Bihar, where at least 61 people died on Saturday. The state government has ordered closure of schools till June 19. According to officials, 22 people died in Aurangabad, 20 in Gaya and two in Nawada districts due to the heatwave. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the deaths and announced an ex gratia of Rs four lakh for the next of kin of the victims.

3. In Delhi, traces of rain and strong wind reduced the daytime temperature which settled at 36.3 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal. The weatherman has predicted overcast conditions and thunderstorm accompanied with light rains on Monday.

4. Parts of Rajasthan witnessed rain since Saturday, bringing respite from the sweltering conditions. The state capital recorded 9.2 mm of rains on Sunday, the meteorological department said. Bhim in Rajsamand gauged 7 cm of rains followed by 4 cm in Tibi of Hanumangarh and 3 cm each in Chirawa, Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and Sangaria since Saturday.

5. Similarly, rainfall in Ahmedabad and rest of Gujarat brought respite from the scorching heat. The maximum temperature in Ahmedabad hovered around 37 degree Celsius, the IMD said. North Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch regions are likely to receive heavy rain on Monday under the influence of Cyclone Vayu, the MeT department said. On Sunday morning, the cyclone remained centred about 470 km west-southwest of Porbandar, 440 km southwest of Dwarka and 545 km southwest of Bhuj, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin.

Monsoon is expected to advance further up north as Cyclone Vayu loses intensity paving the way for the wind system to move towards the Arabian Sea, the weatherman said Sunday.

6. By now, monsoon should have reached the central India, including parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, but it is yet to reach Maharashtra. It still remains over Mangalore, Mysore, Cuddalore over the southern peninsula and Passighat, Agartala in the northeast, according to the India Meteorological Department.

7. The western coast – from Maharashtra to Gujarat – has been receiving rainfall due to the cyclone. Only coastal Karnataka and Kerala have received rains due to monsoon.

8. Monsoon is likely to set in in Telangana around June 20 and in Andhra Pradesh by June 18, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

9. The public in Tamil Nadu has been advised not to expose themselves to direct sunlight between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm to avoid sunstroke, a Regional Meteorological Centre has said. Chennai and its neighbouring areas and several other northern districts in Tamil Nadu have been reeling under heatwave-like conditions for the past several days with the mercury hovering over 41 degree Celsius.

10. This year’s heatwave has not even spared the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu recorded a maximum temperature of 39.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the weatherman said.

11. The weather remained mainly dry in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday even as the maximum temperature fell by 3 to 4 degrees from normal, Shimla MeT Centre director Manmohan Singh said.

12. Some states experienced pleasant conditions with little to moderate rain. Sirsa, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh in Haryana and Amritsar, Gurdaspur and a few other areas in Punjab received welcome showers.

According to meteorological department forecast, light to moderate rain is likely at a few places on June 16, 17 and 18 in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. Meanwhile, four people, including two brothers, were killed in separate incidents of lightning strike during rain and thunderstorm in northern part of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, police said.