‘Still fighting for basic rights’: Climate distress isn’t an electoral issue in poll-bound Bihar

Bihar, among India’s most climate-vulnerable states, lives through floods and droughts almost every year. Yet as the state heads into the assembly election, its deepening ecological crisis finds little space in the political discourse.

As Bihar approaches its two-phased assembly election on November 6 and 11, political debates centre on caste, crime, corruption, and leadership, despite studies spotlighting increasing climate risks.

A study by the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi and IIT Guwahati has found that 14 of India’s most climate-vulnerable districts are in Bihar.

In 2021, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a New Delhi-based think-tank, ranked Bihar as the fifth most vulnerable state in its report that mapped India’s climate vulnerability. According to the report, the northern districts face recurring floods, while southern Bihar struggles with drought.

The thinktank identifies Darbhanga, Madhubani and Samastipur in Bihar among India’s most flood-exposed districts, and Arwal, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Saharsa and Sheohar as drought hotspots.

Abinash Mohanty, one of the authors of the report, who currently works with IPE Global, defines Bihar’s climate challenge as “a mix of floods, droughts, cyclones, and heat waves”. He notes a new pattern of “swapping trends where flood-prone areas experience drought and vice versa.”

The thinktank analysis used the 2011 Census data, and he warns that vulnerability...

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