Navita is aVV-PACS Correspondent from Katihar district in Bihar on the eastern border of India. She has worked with the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations, working towards spreading awareness amongst the Dalit community on issues like access to livelihoods under the government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Katihar is a district plagued by low literacy rates and an…

Navita Devi

Heavy, unseasonal rains in large parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has wreaked havoc on farmers of these two major North Indian states.

Reporting from the Gandhigram village in Bihar's Katihar district, our Community Correspondent Navita Devi shows the helpless conditions in which farmers are living. "I pay Rs. 30,000 ($400) per year to lease this farmland. I grow rice and vegetables generally. But due to this non-stop and unseasonal rains all my investment has washed away," says Rajesh Mehta, a farmer who now wonders how will he survive and earn enough to pay for the lease. When climatic conditions are ideal and the harvest seasons are good, Rajesh makes about Rs. 1 lakh ($1300) in a year. But reaching even that figure seems a challenge now.

Navita herself tills a small field near her house where she grows seasonal vegetables. Up until now, the earnings from her farms and working for Video Volunteers paid for her children's education and household expenses. But this season, due to the unseasonal rains caused by climate change, the balance may get upset.

Amid all the large-scale flooding and loss of earnings, the government is yet to move and reach out to the people in need.