Kosi Floods in Bihar: A Study from Anthropological Perspective

Abstract

The response of the state's disaster management apparatus to the floods in north Bihar is largely limited to strengthening of embankments and temporary rehabilitation of people, distribution of food material, construction material etc. (Mishra, 2008a). This paper attempts to study Kosi Floods from an anthropological perspective that provides a nuanced way for the policy makers to understand Kosi Floods as a humanly accentuated, socio-culturally negotiated and techno-politically attempted problem. Extant literature suggests that momentary event of the disaster is just the tip of the iceberg whereas the major extent of the problem lies with the way our social, economic, and political life is organized (Barrios, 2017). The distribution of impact of the disaster in the society is also dictated by its socio-cultural matrix further underlining the human element in the construction of disaster (Pritchard & Thielemans, 2014). This paper discusses the implications of human interventions and limitations of modern scientific and technological solutionism. It will also discuss reflections on democratization of knowledge in developing a better flood policy. Using snowball sampling, in-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse range of people including relevant officials and scholar-activists. Focused group discussions were also conducted with the flood-affected victims of 4 locations comprising both rural and urban localities in 2 districts of Bihar i.e., Supaul and Madhepura during December month of 2020 during initial field visits for doctoral research.