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(BiharTimes) It was 9.30 PM yesterday. Alok was on the other side on phone from my village Pipra in Bihar. He was really concerned about the rain god who is almost deceiving the region after initial showers. The paddy seedlings are ready for transplantation. The canal that serves the village is not having water as the villages up the canal are not allowing the water to come down. Till few days back even the canal was not having any water, as the Sone barrage didn’t have water in its reservoir that serves the canal network in the region. Alok has deep bored tube wells in his fields to irrigate the plots and can use diesel pump. But the water level has gone down too much. It has no water. Perhaps last year also the rain was not good enough to replenish the water in mother earth down below.
· I talked to Madhukarpur the village about 20 kms away from Pipra. Satyabhama, my sister-in-law, informed that the villagers are organizing prayers for the goddess Sati Mai to bestow on it the rain. They can transplant their paddy fields only on the eastern side that are fed by a bigger irrigation canal. There is a fear of draught for the other field.
Alok and Satyabhama both are scared of the tough time ahead.
It will be really bad if the monsoon doesn’t oblige the region very soon. Surprisingly, Alok only few days ago had told me that it rained in Sasaram but not in Pipra. Today during my morning walk I happened to meet Mr. AK Singh who is from Motihari in Bihar. When I asked if it has rained in his village, he said that yesterday it had rained heavily. Why should not the region mentioned above get the rain? Yamuna says it’s normal. I can agree, as many a times it rains in Delhi but not in Noida. Only three days ago it rained heavily in Delhi new airport region in a short span of time delaying the maiden landing of the largest aeroplane, but neither New Delhi nor Noida got rain. Why does it happen? Is it because of the lack of balanced green cover in the region? In the last few decades, the villagers got rid of trees for increasing the land for cultivation. All the mango orchards around the villages have disappeared.
But what is there in fate of people in the area of Alok and Satyabhama this season? Will the monsoon bestow its generosity?
Surprisingly, as reported, the agriculture minister Renu Kumari of Bihar is satisfied. ‘‘There’s nothing to worry as the worst is over,’’ she said, adding, the farmers are happy and geared to carry seedling transplant. Has she not been informed about the region of Alok?
Even the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not come out with any positive indication. It did not expect any possibility of ‘cyclogenesis' (birth of a weather system) in the Bay of Bengal for another five days. Further, the all-India agro-met advisory issued by the IMD says, ‘though the rainfall has been deficient in some districts of the country, it has been largely well-distributed over the last fortnight’.
I don’t know if one can believe it. And who knows even these statements may be coming to keep the ruling political leaders happy? It is surprising that none of the major political parties and their leaders have talked about this climatic disaster hovering on the rice bowl of Bihar. Perhaps they are too busy in the battle of words meant to serve them in coming assembly election.
However, as per another prediction, the east and northeast India may get another round of rain over the next few days.
I wish it happens and brings cheers on the faces of millions of people in the region.
But can the scientists and technocrats of the country focus on seeing the vision of Tulsidas (Maange barid dehinjal Ramchandra ke raaj) realized along with their researches on cloning human beings that are already in plenty and visiting moon?
The views expressed by the author are personal.
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