( 31st August - 12th September) Prepared by -

Draft for Discussion Bihar Floods 2017 Immediate Needs Assessment and Inclusion Monitoring of Responses towards affected Dalits, Minorities & Adivasis in Araria and Kishanganj ( 31st August - 12th September) Prepared by - National Dalit watch-national Campaign on Dalit human Rights, All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch & Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan 1

Content Introduction 1- Floods 2017 2- Response by government 3- Why Immediate Needs assessment and Inclusion Monitoring? 4- Methodology and tools 5- Coverage and Duration of the assessment 6- Locating Dalits, Minorities in flood affected districts of Bihar 7- Findings from Immediate needs assessment & Inclusion monitoring of post Bihar Flood response a- Trends of Losses b- Early Warning, Rescue and Evacuation c- Immediate relief Immediate Shelter - Provision of Relief Camps - Provision of Community Kitchen - Provision of Dry Ration and Food Packets - Provision of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities - Provision of immediate health support services - Process of relief distribution - Assessment of Losses and Post flood response from government authorities - 8-Urgent demands from affected communities Immediate food assistance Shelters Health Restoration of Public services Early recovery & immediate compensation 9-Recommendation for dignified recovery and Rehabilitation Implementation level Practice level Policy level Annexure List of Relief Camps & Team Involved 2

INTRODUCTION In the mid of august when Nation was planning to celebrate its 70th independence Day and waiting for joy and happiness. State of Bihar has faced severe flood due to deep depression over Bay of Bengal with the heavy rain brought the sadness to. The heavy rains from 10-14th august and flood waters have stranded the life for almost 15 days. The disaster affected population of 27.60 lakh in 314 panchayats of Araria and Kishanganj in which 120 people have lost their lives. The flood which severely, rendered lakhs of hungry and homeless, flattened thousands of mud houses and kuccha houses, orphaned and dislocated many more the after days life is hard for a majority of the affected population.death, disease, hunger, deprivation, dispossession, distress migration and constant poverty are now stalking them relentlessly. Though various reports have already talked about the situation of the 2017 flood in Bihar, this survey report comes out with issues around equitable access of rescue and relief provisions to Dalit, Minorities and Adivasi communities in the immediate flood relief operations by govt agencies in affected villages of Araria and Kishanganj. The immediate needs assessment and inclusion monitoring of 63 villages of 24 panchayats in 7 blocks in Kishanganj and Araria divulge that even in this severe situation once again the state and its allied agencies have failed to provide dignified response to Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis. Cases of Corruption in damage assessment, relief distribution, delay in relief, discrimination in relief camps by dominant caste people, by default neglect towards huge population of Muslims and Dalits in giving them relief and rescue. This report once again shows us similar traits of discrimination happened in 2007, 2008, 2010,2014 &2016. This shows that government machinery even with its best intention of providing relief and rescue to everyone have failed to provide relief to downtrodden communities. Cases of neglect of food by helicopter team, no response from DM and BDO Kishanganj over the phone to villagers of Kishanganj, Giving Rs 1500 to a women as compensation for death of her husband by Mukhiya, Leaving Disabled people, pregnant women etc stranded in flood waters for 5-6 days and many more such evidences give a gruesome picture of Bihar Disaster Management and its vision of Leaving on one Behind. The state disaster management is still in reactionary response the condition of Dalits, Minorities and Adivasi population which are more dependent on state agencies are still waiting for their dignified share this response report also reveals how Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis have been treated during the floods and process of Rescue, Relief and Post Disaster Care We hope that this report will be helpful for communities and stakeholders to recognize the discrimination and neglect towards Dalits,Minorities and Adivasis in Disaster response and work towards Inclusive disaster risk reduction practices in Bihar and Make Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction an agenda and core action of its DM& DRR actions through inclusive targeting, programming and actions. 3

1- FLOODS 2017 In 2017 the state of Bihar have faced one of the worst floods in its history affected affected 19 districts of North Bihar causing death of 514 people. 2,371 panchayats (settlement councils) under 187 blocks of 19 districts (Kishanganj, araria, Purnea, katihar, west champaran, east champaran, darbhanga, madhubani, sithamarhi, Shivhar, Supaul, madhepura, muzaffarpur, gopalganj, saharsa, khagaria, saran, samastipur ) of Northern Bihar have been affected in the flood. Around 1.71 crore (17.1 million) people are hit by the floods. Over 8.5 lakh people have lost their homes, with Araria district alone accounting for 2.2 lakh homeless people 2017 Flood has broken 9-Year record of deaths In Bihar. Bihar is India's most flood-prone State, with 76% of the population in the North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. Devastating flood was caused due to excess heavy rainfall in monsoon season 1. Sl No District Blocks Panchayats Population Deaths in Lakh 1. Kishanganj 7 126 10.10 24 2. Araria 9 188 17.50 95 3. Purnea 13 148 12.31 44 4. Katihar 15 189 20.08 40 5. East Champaran 22 261 24.08 32 6. West Champaran 16 211 7.19 42 7. Darbhanga 14 231 21.21 37 8. Madhubani 15 201 7.65 28 9. Sitamarhi 10 243 22.74 47 10. Shivhar 5 41 1.62 6 11 Supaul 8 77 3.98 16 12 Madhepura 10 89 3.38 29 13 Muzaffarpur 12 140 8.69 21 14 Gopalganj 6 47 3.44 20 15 Saharsa 7 72 3.37 8 16 Khagaria 6 35 1.62 10 17 Saran 6 36 1.68 13 19 Samastipur 5 32 0.50 2 19 Sivan 1 4 0.50 0 187 2371 171.64 514 As on 18/09/2017 2 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_bihar_flood 2 http://disastermgmt.bih.nic.in/press%20notes/pr18092017evening.pdf ) 4

2- RESPONSE BY GOVERNMENT Total number of 52 teams i.e 28 team of NDRF, 16 SDRF along with 7 team of army consisting of 2248 personnel deployed for rescue and evacuation of Flood affected population Total Number of 280 boats have been provided by the authority to evacuate flood affected population Number of People evacuated 854936 3 Number of people in served in relief camps 421824 Total Number of 462174 people being served food in 2569 community kitchens Air dropping of 160840 kg of ration through 31908 Dry food packets in disconnected areas due to floods Announcement of damage assessment and compensation as per SDRF/NDRF norms 4 On 26 August 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 500 crore (78 million USD) central assistance for flood hit areas of Bihar and ex gratia of Rs 2 Lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased from the PM Relief Fund, after he conducted an aerial survey of the four districts of Purnia division, including Araria district. The Centre would finally sanction more funds for flood relief measures based on the report submitted by the central team. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand donated Rs 5 crore each to Bihar flood relief fund. On 29 August 2017, Bihar cabinet sanctioned Rs 1,935 crore under Bihar Contingency Fund for relief and restoration work in the flood-hit districts in the state. Payment of relief amount to the flood-affected families and differentlyabled persons- Rs 900 crore Supply of food material - Rs 947 crore Ex- gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased - Rs 8 crore Rehabilitation - Rs 50 crore Repair of houses damaged in the floods - Rs 10 crore Agriculture input loans - Rs 20 crore Bihar cabinet sanctioned the amount when the toll was 400. Rs 6,000 will be given as gratuitous relief to every flood-affected person. The money would be deposited in the beneficiaries' bank accounts. 3- WHY IMMEDIATE NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND INCLUSION MONITORING? The need to monitor and assess the situation of Dalits and minorities and level of inclusion or exclusion in all government and humanitarian interventions at this stage of the calamity is founded on the past documented shreds of evidence and 3 http://www.disastermgmt.bih.nic.in/press%20notes/pr09092017evening.pdf 4 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/india-bihar-state-reels-unprecedented-flooding- 170820174216830.html 5

experience of caste-based discrimination and exclusion discovered during floods of 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016 in Bihar 5. In past there has been cases of rampant discrimination with the Dalits and marginalized communities right from the early warning up to the rehabilitation of affected communities in responses from government have neglected Dalits inclusion monitoring. Additionally to this Dalits, Minorities and marginalized communities are most deprived and vulnerable to the impact of disasters and less able to recover without support. The societal processes often deny relief and rehabilitation benefit them. Thus, Discrimination by default in Disaster Response and Risk Reduction (DR & DRR) becomes as much an issue as discrimination by norm and intent and is prevalent both within civil society and administration. Taking this into account and having primary focus for the inclusion of Dalit, Minorities and Marginalized communities in Disaster Response by State agencies there is need to have urgent action for Immediate Needs Assessment and Monitoring of Disaster relief towards communities at margins. Linking to the overall objective of assuring rights and entitlements of Dalits, Minorities and Marginalized communities. The plan of Immediate needs assessment and inclusion monitoring of post Disaster Response will be based in the multilevel actions which will comprise formation of task force from the affected villages, assessing the situation on ground, the damages and losses undergone by them, linking government and humanitarian agencies for relief & rehabilitation ; subsequently facilitating their claim to entitlements as the immediate step, followed by advocacy for influencing state level disaster management plan and policies 4- METHODOLOGY Formation of Monitoring team Taking the cognizance of situation and also the pre-existing vulnerabilities of Dalits and minorities in floods and to assist the communities, a rapid task-force was formed with various organizations and community leaders from state to community level. After several rounds of consultations and interactions, for assisting and serving to flood affected victims from Dalit, Minority and marginalized communities in Bihar floods 2017. The task force have been organized and sensitized toward the whole process of immediate needs assessment and inclusion monitoring of the post disaster responses towards affected communities. The team have followed a rigorous barnstorming session on the use of different tool, methods etc. as we though Dalit, children, elder people and other poor people of society are more vulnerable after trauma of floods in 2017 The initial task force members were from Local Dalit Networks, Community based networks,trained volunteers and other human rights organizations at state and local level After the initial round of engagement/field visit, several volunteers were brought in to strengthen the whole process of monitoring inclusion and needs assessment flood affected communities in Araria and Kishanganj. 5 http://nationaldalitwatch-ncdhr.blogspot.in/ 6

Process of Immediate Needs Assessment And Inclusion Monitoring Tools Village level assessment format Family level loss and needs assessment format Relief camp assessment format Focused group discussions Steps in Immediate Needs Assessment and Inclusion Monitoring Meeting with Local officials i.e BDOs,COs, DM and PRI members During period of inclusion monitoring, core group members and r task force members have been able to meet the BDOs of Thakurganj, Dighalbank, Pothia and Kishanganj blocks of Kishanganj additionally the team have also met the DM of Kishanganj district. Apart from this the team have also met Ward members, mukhiya and vikas mitra of all the visited places. A number of Meetings with PRI members also organized in all the visited panchayats. The core purpose of the meeting was to provide immediate help to the flood victims those were excluded in intentionally or any other ground. Community Meeting at Panchayat, Village and Hamlet level Community meeting at panchayat village and hamlet level have been done in 24 panchayats in Araria and Kishanganj. The main focus of all these meeting was mainly to have an holistic information on the post flood situation, losses, needs and responses from various agencies with the lens of Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis Focused group discussion at Village and Hamlet level As per the plan and also the in accordance with the effective inclusion monitoring and needs assessment the survey team have conducted approx 40 focussed group discussions with Dalits,Adivasis, Minorities, women, elderly, differently able, children etc for understanding specific losses, needs, responses towards them. Individual interviews with affected Families & Individuals During the whole process of Inclusion monitoring and immediate needs assessment the survey team have met several flood affected families, individuals and households to collect stories and narration of despairs. The personal interactions where mainly focussed on the kinds and traits of post disaster trauma, responses and needs of the affected families. Meeting with Relief Camp In-charge Looking into the National and state disaster management plan for floods and importance of Relief camps being set up by Bihar government in 2017 floods Team has visited relief camps in Araria and Kishanganj and had detailed discussion with relief camp in charge on the details of running the relief camps by the government with the lens of accessibility, participation, transparency, inclusiveness & accountability towards vulnerable communities of Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis. 7

Limitation and Challenges - - Non availability of disaggregated f Relief operations in public domain ( name of the blocks, villages etc ) - Non Cooperation by government agencies to give details of responses carried by Bihar Government - Dominant caste people, PRI members were obstructing the team survey team to get interacted with Dalit, Minorities and Adivasis families 5- COVERAGE OF THE ASSESSMENT District Block Panchayat Village Kishanganj Thakuganj Dudhbati Dudhbati Bholabhita Bholabhita Dighalbank Dighalbank Adgra Basti Sanjay Gandhi Maidan Dighalbank Dhantaula Haruvadang Sarai Ghuntu Shiv Mandir Dhantaula Doriya Hanuman Chowk Nyabadi Hathiduba Bihari Tola Kamat Basti Nayabadi laxmipur Lohagarha Taagachh Taal gachh nyabasti Lohagarha Phulbadi Khadkhaidya kodhowadi Rahimuni Faudar palsa Kanchanwad Panchgacchi Teknigarhi Palsamilik Tulsi Tola Gidhni Tola Ban Tola Jhar Basti Singhmari Pakawadi Baluwadangi 8

Mandir Tola Pothia Sarogora Baksa Burni Chota Suhagi Chattargachh Inderpur Mauja Balsan Kochadhaman Mojavadi Vastakola Kishanganj Kishanganj Dharamganj Teghriya Dumariya Bhatta Araria Raniganj Parihari Buddhu Tola Parihari Koskapur Brahmdev Tola Dakshin koshkapur Bairakh Gariari Tola Koshkapur Bistoriya Gudaam Bistariya Balsra Chandi Ghasi Bajhra Balsra Goth Baigula Lagrahi Araria Sharanpur Sharanpur Tarabadi Dabra Sharanpur Kismat bhagpureni khawaspur Tarauna bhojpur Tarauna Pairwakhuri Jamua Jamua khamgara Sahasmal Sahasmal Sukhsena Kursakatha Laxmipur Laxmipur Shankarpur Gosaipur paswan Tola - Gathered Information from 21 relief camps - Meeting in 18 panchayats to collect the collective loss and government response - Village / ward meetings in approx 45 villages - Individual meeting with approx 200 families of Dalits, Minority and Adivasis 6- LOCATING DALITS, ADIVASIS AND MINORITIES IN COVERED DISTRICTS DISTRICT BLOCKS SC % Muslim % ST % Kishanganj Total 6.7 67.98 3.8 Thakurganj 5.2 64.05 5.4 9

Pothia 3.7 73.75 6.5 Dighalbank 6.2 65.31 6.5 Kishanganj 8.6 67.98 2.3 Kochadhaman 8.50 74.04 0.05 Araria Total 13.6 42.94 1.4 Raniganj 21.8 30.3 4.5 Kurasakantha 13.4 24.92 1.1 7- FINDINGS FROM IMMEDIATE NEEDS ASSESSMENT & INCLUSION MONITORING OF POST BIHAR FLOOD RESPONSE Immediate needs assessment and inclusion monitoring of the flood 2017 have been conducted from 31st August to 12th September 2017. The experiences from the assessment have shown that how communities have stranded for an average 7-8 days in flood waters without any support from government agencies. Communities have shared that it was really a nightmare for them to save their lives, belongings and assets. While looking into the current flood and also conducting the immediate needs assessment process and inclusion monitoring the team have observed though the rescue efforts by government have been continuous, and rescue teams have tried their best to save all lives in affected Districts and villages, still there were various villages where government has shown inadequate response in terms of early warning and rescue and shelter. The communities have shared their experiences of exclusion and discrimination by the government. The monitoring team has observed the following findings are based on the series of discussion and interactions held with the communities, sample data analysis, interview with the authorities at Local levels about rescue, relief being provided by the state to the affected Dalit, Minority and Adivasi communities. TRENDS OF LOSSES Overall Observations Agriculture loss In most of the villages visited and surveyed team has observed that almost 70 % of the crops have been destroyed (Paddy, Patua, and other seasonal crops ) 10

Due to heavy flooding in all the villages there is heavy sand deposition in all the land and the land is not of no use for at least 2 seasons In Kishanganj and Araria most of the villagers have expressed that for them the situation is more difficult for Dalit, Minorities and Adivasi communities as most of them have taken land on rent or on share basis from land owners. Some of families have also expressed that they have taken loans from local money lenders they are finding no way to return it back to the money lenders Loss of houses Most of the Dalit,Minority and Marginalized communities lives in the houses made of Bamboo and Mud with Thatched or tin Shed therefore whenever flood occurs the houses gets washed away in on flash, because Dalit lives at the embankment it is there community whose houses gets damaged and they had to suffers the damage of livestock as well In most of the villages visited and surveyed team has observed that almost 30 % of the houses were complete washed away and rest of the houses are severely damaged due to heavy flood waters Loss of Livestock From the survey team have came to know that large number of families from Dalit, Minority and Marginalized have lost their poultry, pig, goats and small animals during the spate of 11

floods. Large number of Muslims have reported that they have lost goats. There were some villages who have shared they have lost big milch animals due to floods Some of the villagers in Kishanganj have reported that there animals have faced various diseases and living with no support for the treatment Loss of food grains Large number of affected families have shared that they have lost all the food grain stock due to heavy floods Survey team have also observed that most of families were not able to shift their food grains Large number of Muslim and Dalit families who are dependent on PDS shops have reported that even PDS ration in the respective Loss of Livelihood Almost all the families have lost an average of 10-15 days of daily labor due to heavy flooding in their villages Some of the villages in Araria and Kishanganj have shared that due to the sudden spate of floods they have also lost opportunities of work in livelihood support due to stop from making Mud Statue, mats, ropes from patsan etc. Taking this serious condition most the families from Mahadalit families have shared that they are bound to get migrated for Delhi and Punjab due to non availability of any work in area. 12

Specimen Individual Family wise losses from Kishanganj District Respondents Profile As many as 2451 households from 40 villages across six blocks of Kishanganj was surveyed to access impact of 2017 flood in terms of loss to life, property and livelihoods. Among the families participated for individual survey, more than half (53.4%) of the population belongs to BPL category, 10.5 per cent were from APL and about 7.5 per cent were Antyodaya card holders. As many as 844 (34.4%) respondents were from Scheduled Caste (SC), 729 (29.7%) were Muslim s and 10.5% or 256 were Scheduled Tribes (ST). Graph-1 presents social category wise distribution of respondents and Chart-1 below presents social group wise economic profile of the respondents. Main sources of livelihood for the families interacted during the process are agriculture and daily wage labour work. About 25% of the families covered depend on agriculture for survival. As many as 1530 families, approximately 2/3 rd were primarily daily wage labourers, of which 36.2% were SC, 7.5% ST and 30% were from minority community. Chart-2 below presents caste wise distribution of respondents in the two main occupations. 13

Loss to livelihoods As reported during the exercise about 611 families have lost their 2485.9 Bigha (approx. 994.34 acre) agricultural land due to submergence. This has a huge adverse impact on the food security of the families concerned until the next favourable cropping season. Almost half, about 49% land belongs to SC community, 29% to Minority, 21% to OBC and 7% belongs to ST community, who have reported loss of crops during the 2017-Floods. A rough estimate of monitory equivalent suggests an average loss of Rs. 7000 per Bigha with a cumulative loss of approx. Rs. 1.51 crore. For obvious reasons there is a huge loss of labour days during floods. A rough estimate as reported by the community, as many as 1981 families have suffered cumulative loss of over 31000 days, which is equivalent to 1.09 crore. Table-1 below presents social group wise loss sustained due to loss in labour days. Table-1 Social group wise Loss of Labour days Category No. of Families Person Days Monitory Equivalent (in 000) SC 642 11882 3908 ST 222 3464 815 OBC 492 6288 3603 GEN 3 65 16 Minority 622 9343 2644 Aggregate 1981 31042 10987 14

Casualties Bihar confronts flood every year since ages. But still lack of preparedness costs human lives and loss of livestock. Based on the small sample covered during the process loss of 105 human lives were reported. Of these maximum 71 members belong to minority community, 17 people were from schedule caste community. Also there is a huge loss due to death and loss of livestock during flood. Approximately 13000 livestock, which includes Cow, Goat, Buffalo, Pig and others, have been lost in 2017 floods by the community covered during the study. Table-2 below presents social group wise distribution of loss sustained by different social groups due to loss of livestock. Table 2 Social group wise Loss of livestock HH Category Cow Ox Goat Pig Buffalo Hen Others SC 261 154 1246 52 58 1126 132 ST 22 28 235 257 9 889 20 OBC 110 97 495 5 37 164 14 GEN 0 0 2 0 0 12 15 Minority 280 345 1072 7 264 4765 794 Total 673 624 3050 321 368 6956 975 Loss of House and Property Most of the members have sustained loss on the count of damage to their houses or dwellings. There are as many as 1079 families reported who have sustained loss due to loss of their thatched dwellings. Of these 33% and 36% families belong to SC and Minority communities respectively. About 1262 people have sustained losses on the count of damage to the structure of their Kaccha houses due to submergence. Table 3 below presents social group wise distribution of damage due to loss or damage to the structure of the dwellings. Table 3 Social Category wise Loss or Damage to House Category Kaccha Houses Hutments SC 429 34% 359 33% ST 112 9% 109 10% BC 422 33% 220 20% Gen 1 0% 2 0% Minority 298 24% 389 36% Total 1262 1079 A cumulative loss of stock of above 3000 quintals of food grains were reported by the community people which mainly includes wheat, rice and pulses. Table 4 below describes the distribution of loss sustained by different social groups due to loss of stock of food grains. 15

Table 4 Social group wise loss of Stock of food grains (in Quintal) Social Group Wheat Rice Pulses SC 33028 77388 3995 ST 6142 22907 637 OBC 15792 28626 1109 GEN 50 175 30 Minority 32028 78178 4660 Total 87040 207274 10431 Almost one out of every two household have reported spending money for treatment of family members for illness caused due to unhygienic living conditions and insufficiency of food during flood. A rough estimate suggests that these community members have sustained an extra burden of approximately Rs. 28.75 Lakh on medical treatment. Other losses include loss of household utensils, furniture, important documents which attracts an opportunity cost for getting another copy of it, valuables and also liquid money. Overall the other losses were estimated to be around 4.18 crore as per estimates presented by the community people. EARLY WARNING, RESCUE AND EVACUATION During our discussion in villages and interactions with communities team have found that not a single village have received early warning from any of the government agencies In Kishanganj & Araria almost all the villagers have shared that there were almost null rescue services and they themselves have taken them out by using private boats, walked an average of 2-3 kms for safer locations i.e Highways, Schools etc In this serious condition villagers had to pay for private boats or other services to get them out from the flooded villages. 16

Due to lack of money and socio-economic condition most of the Dalits, Minorities and Marginalized families have difficulties in coming out from the marooned villages. Due to non availability of rescue services Pregnant mothers, Elderly, children and disabled family faced additionally difficulties and still facing major difficulties. Villagers from Talgach panchayat of Kishanganj district, have reported that during the floods they have used Banana trunk to come out form the flood waters. In some the places in Araria Boats have been placed but was mainly used by PRI members and people from Dominant caste. Due to lack of rescue services most of the families have stranded and lived in the flood waters for an average of 4-5 day. As reported by the villages in Kishanganj and Araria cases even after requesting local officials no one came to rescue them. IMMEDIATE RELIEF Immediate Shelter Contrary to the claims of Government of Bihar team have found that very few surveyed villages have had shelter facilities. Lack of proper shelter communities have been stranded in flood waters for an average of 3-4 days 17

Even those which have been established were very far from the remotely affected villages and merely inaccessible and villages were not able to access them. In Kishanganj and Araria team has found that nearest safer shelter place which was announced was far away from the villages and it was really difficult for villagers to go there without any proper transportation services. Out of 63 villages surveyed affected communities very few villages have received immediate shelters in form of relief camps In Araria district we have witnessed that villages has witnessed huge destruction and without any government support they located themselves on the higher places, there was no one to help them. Adivasi people from Bihar Tola village in Kishanganj have told they themselves have moved 4 kms away from their village on highway and stayed there for 7 days It has been witnessed that in provision of shelter and its arrangement its Dalit community who gets excluded. Assessment of Relief Camps & Community Kitchen - Overall observations As per the survey findings the average delay in opening relief camps was 3-4 days During the survey and assessment we have found that only relief camps were initiated and commenced for an average of 2-3 days. Villagers in Sanjay Gandhi Maidan village of Kishanganj have told that they have forced to evacuate the government school by school teacher on 15th august In some of the camp relief camp in-charge has deliberately told flood affected communities to leave the school premises 18

On 3rd of September in Jhadawadi village of talagach panchayat team have found that relief camps was closed but as per the Local BDO the relief camp was running. As per the interaction with families team came to know that relief shelter have violated the norms of NDRF/SDRF guidelines and there were no basic facilities for the flood victims. During the village visits and entailed discussion, communities have expressed that the food provided was less in quantity and was not enough to survive in flood like situation In all the visited relief camps there was no provision of medicine, special food for children and safety measures for women and children Villagers from district witnessed discrimination while distribution of food packages as well, said he was distributing dry food packages on boat along with officials but his own village got excluded because official said your village has not been listed in the government list In surveyed villages communities have shared cases of discrimination in distribution of food to minorities and Dalits. Affected families have reported that most of the relief camps have been running by PRI members and people from Dominant caste people. Sample observation of 19 Rrelief Camp Assessment (Araria) This year Bihar has experience another devastating floods in the decade, which revived the memory of devastation during 2007 floods. Araria was one of the worst 19

hit Districts during 2017 Floods in Bihar. With an aim to assess the quality of services provided by the Government as a response to the situation, a quick assessment of relief camps organised by the District administration was conducted in Araria. The district was one among the worst hit districts, which remained engulfed under water between 12 to 17 August. The exercise was conducted in a week s time between 1 and 7 September with community members from 10 Gram Panchayats across two Blocks namely Raniganj and Arariya. About 19 camps were organised in 5 Grampanchayat s of Ranigang Block and 6 Grampanchayat s of Araria Block as identified by the community members. Most of the camps were organised in government school buildings except a few which were organised out of Panchayat Bhawan, Private School, Anganwari Canter and Mukhia s house. The camps organised at places other than Government schools were for a very short period of one and two days. About half of the camps identified were operational only for two and less number of days, 25% of the camps were functional for five or less number of days and remaining were conducted for 8 and 9 days. A rough estimate by the community people suggest that a little les than 10,000 have taken shelter at these camps. Almost half of the camps have served cooked food twice a day however remaining camps have served food only once in a day. Generator was arranged for lighting the camps in eight out of nineteen camps. But this is mostly provided during initial few days as reported by the community members. There is no arrangement of lighting in 10 camps, one camp have arranged solar lamp. As a response to other relief measures, a package of dry rason, which includes 5Kg rice, 1 Kg pulses, 200 gm. soybean, 100 gm. turmeric and some potato, was distributed in Araria Block. However members from Raniganj Block have not reported any benefit other than conducting relief camps, food was only available at the camps. A few members also reported distribution of Polythene sheets at a limited scale. Assessment of loss was conducted in half of the locations covered where members from the community have submitted their documents to their respective Ward member. 20

Provision of Dry Food Packets Team have found that most of the hamlets of Dalits and Minorities have been waiting for the food packets to distributed Even in the villages where food packets have been distributed there was average delay of 12-15 days There are large number of cases in which the PRI members, Local officials have deliberately denied distribution of Dry food packets to Dalits and Minority families The food packet distribution was prioritise mainly as per the preference of Elected pacnchayat members and dominant caste communities In Kishanganj some of the villages communities have complained about huge disparity is quantity and quality of relief items 21

distributed by local officials in Dalits and Minority tolas. In some cases team have found that in the name of transportation charges local officials given less quantity of food grains Local government officials and PRI members have denied access to the food packets Local government official have kept dalits and Minority families have been denied access from receiving food packets in the name of BPL/SECC/ADHAAR cards etc Mahadalit tola in Raniganj Block have shared that air dropping of food supply through helicopter have denied dropping material in their villages. Air dropping of the food packets happened in the main village and hence there was a huge number of left outs from Dalits, Minorities communities due to their remote location in the villages Provision of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities In all the surveyed villages team has found no facilities provided for water, sanitation and hygiene. Team has found that there has been a clear violation of standard operating procedure as per Disaster management plan of post flood management. Most of the marooned communities are still under the lack of clean water for drinking and daily use. Most of the families in the flooded areas are bound to drink from hand pumps which are totally insecure due to mix of dirty flood waters due to water logging. Not a single village have received any services regarding water purification, chlorine tablets etc. None of surveyed villages have received beaching powder or any other pesticide to stop further contamination in post flood response. In some of the villages in Kishanganj due to lack of toilet facilities women have felt unsafe and complained about threats of physical and sexual abuse. 22

Provision of immediate health support services Out of the 63 villages team has found that there were no arrangements of medical camps. Team have witnessed that total number of 20 Pregnant women in... village have been waiting for any health support to support themselves in fury of floods. Due to lack of institutional help and government response survey team have observed difficulties for pregnant women, elderly people and newly born babies for their care. In some of the villages medical camps have been organized by some charity organizations but due to limited resources the coverage. Flood affected communities of have expressed that due to their far location from the main centers or PHC they have felt serious problem in getting the medicine and proper treatment. Many of the disabled, children and elderly people were stranded without any medical support in the flood affected villages. Process of relief distribution - Most the relief distribution is being done by PRI members and local officials and there was no involvement of community members. There was no specific priority to 23

fulfil the needs of most despair families of Dalits, Minorities and other marginalised communities. In most of the villages officials have spread confusion about the eligibility criteria to receive the relief items. During the distribution of food relief there has been priority to the families from dominant strata of society, on main roads & influential people. Most of the relief distribution places were far away from the villages or are in dominate caste area which Dalit, minority people were not able access due to the lack of transportation In some of the relief distribution places there were cases of neglect and fear of discrimination and violence. In contrary to the SOP and various guidelines most of the relief distribution places there was clear lack of transparency and accountability/ Villagers in from kursakatha block in Araria and dighalbank of Kishanganj have blamed local officials for disparity in selection of wards in distribution of relief packets that has resulted into delay and non distribution of Food packets Assessment of Losses and Post flood response from government authorities In most of the villages where the team has visited, there were very few instances of visits of government officials to analyze the loss in Dalit and minority locations. 24

There are large number of cases of corruption, bribe from local officials. Most of the government officials visited the locations which are easily accessible with transportation and are dominated by Dominant caste people. Survey team have found that PRI members have given preference as per there socio-political influence in the villages in post flood assessment and provision of relief items. In their assessment most of the government officials have focused on the damage assessment of people having land, pucca houses etc. Dalits and Minority population have complained cases of asking bribe for assessment of Loss of houses by local officials and PRI members. Government has neglected assessment of the large number of families i.e. landless labourers, sharecroppers, people having Kutcha houses, jhopdi etc. Even in cases of compensation related to deaths most of the families were still concerned families are still waiting for the complete announcements and proper compensation. 8- URGENT DEMANDS FROM AFFECTED COMMUNITIES Immediate Food Assistance Due to the low coping capacities of affected Dalit, Minority communities there is an urgent need of Dry ration supply for next 3 months at par minimum standards of relief guidelines Government of Bihar. Immediate distribution of Baby Food, Milk powder and Nutritional Biscuits items to order to take care the needs of pregnant mothers and children. All the distribution must be done through local community volunteers and affected community members/ Special focus to the affected children, women, elderly, differently able etc should be given during the provision of food assistance. 25

Due to lack of fuel in villages, Government Should provide 1 free refilling of cylinder under Ujjawala scheme. Provision of Immediate Shelters And Household Items Immediate assessment of all the losses related to Kutcha houses and provision of temporary shelters for the communities of Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis with special attention to all differently able persons and elderly headed households. Urgent supplies of tents and shelter materials for the affected Dalit locations and HH with proper size and quality to save them from upcoming winters. Immediate provision of Household Items, Blankets and other items for the families who have lost their complete houses and Belongings. Health Effective provisioning of Health facilities to women, children and elderly should immediately start with proper follow up. Organizing Mobile health camps in for health checkups for women and children. Under National Health Mission ( NHM ) Immediate hospitalization of all the pregnant women in government hospitals and nearby Pvt hospitals. Urgent initiation of health camps in affected areas to control the possible outbreak of waterborne diseases. Distribution of hygiene kits to adolescent girls and women to address menstrual hygiene. 26

Immediate restoration of all the public health facilities to stabilize the health situation of affected families. Education Immediate counselling of all the students in remote locations to save them from Child Trafficking, Sexual Abuse etc. Immediate restoration of all the government schools in affected locations. Due to huge number of child labour and drop outs from Dalit and Minority community, efforts are needed to have special attention to restore schools. In absence of restoration, immediate provision of Temporary Schooling for Children in Affected Dalit Locations through provision of Mobile Schools in the affected areas. Distribution of Books and stationary items ( Books + Pencil + School Bags + Uniform) to all the students from affected villages. Psycho Social Care Regular Trauma Counselling for the severely affected Households should be organized in the affected Dalit & Minority locations. Immediate organizing condolence meetings and programmers of grief sharing for effective trauma relief within the communities from Dalit & Minority villages. Immediate Compensation In the post flood scenario there has been a major loss to the daily wages and dependent livelihood of Dalits, taking that in concern there should be relief package for the lost livelihood opportunities as per NDRF/SDRF norms. Immediate setting up of a district level for enumeration of losses occurred to Dalit & Minority and Adivasi villages. There should be separate window for disbursement of adequate Compensation for the losses occurred to Dalit, Minority and Adivasi families. 27

9- RECOMMENDATION FOR DIGNIFIED IINCLUSIVE RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION Implementation Level Immediate Damage assessment of all the affected villages, giving priority to Dalit, Minority and Adivasi hamlets and locations. Immediate disbursement of compensations for all the losses occurred during floods 2017 ( as per NDRF/SDRF norms 2015-2020 ). Provision of Concrete houses to all the Dalit, Minority and Adivasi families who have lost kuccha/mud houses in Bihar floods 2017 in time bound manner. Immediate restoration of the entire public infrastructure in affected Location on priority basis. Sustainable livelihood support of Rs 200000 to the families of deceased persons under Pradhanti Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Creation of Community Shelters in the affected Dalit, Minority and Adivasis locations for their future safety during any disasters. Restoration of all the Schools, health, public buildings etc on priority basis in Dalit Locations. All the agricultural loans pertaining to affected Dalit, Minority and Adivasi families should be waived off. Provision should be made for every victim to register his complaint on the government website and getting a receipt for the same and assurance of relief within the prescribed time frame. PRACTICE LEVEL Involve community people and community level organization especially of Dalits and indigenous peoples in all efforts of rehabilitation and reconstructions. Initiate multi-stake holder and rights holder dialogue with the authorities including the central and local governments, private sector, civil society, media, financial institutions and international aid agencies. 28

Proper accessibility to public infrastructure facilities public buildings i.e. Schools, Colleges, Shelter and Others is needed for the better sustainability of the communities living in disaster prone Areas. The government should appoint a committee to look into the matter to investigate the reasons as to why Dalit, Minority and Adivasis were most badly affected in the Bihar Floods 2017 ; why there was a delay in providing relief and rehabilitation to the Dalits and thereby, recommend measures to address and prevent caste and religion based exclusion in flood management in future POLICY LEVEL Social audit of Bihar Flood response 2017 in Dalits, Minority and Adivasis locations. Immediate Review of State Disaster Management plan and SOP for flood management in Bihar with the lens of Inclusion for Dalits, Minorities and Adivasis. Urgent initiation of task force to Review Bihar Road Map disaster risk reduction 2015-2030 with lens of Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction. There should be a separate cell to see any cases of Discrimination on the name Caste and Religion during Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation. ( as per the NDMA act 2005 ). Formation of a State and district level vigilance team to see any matter of future discrimination pre-during- post disasters. Proper pre-assessment of the assets and belongings Dalits, Minorities and Adivasi Communities living in the floods Prone Areas. There should be mandatory representation of Dalits, Minorities and Adivasi in Disaster management team for inclusion of Excluded communities. 29

Annexure 30

List of Relief Camps List of Relief Camps in Araria Namr of Relief Camp Gram Panchayat Block 1 Primary School Bramhdeo Tola Koshka Pur Raniganj 2 Primary School Koshikapur North Koshka Pur Raniganj 3 Middle School Parihari Parihari Raniganj Upgraded Middle School Kelusara 4 Goth Parihari Raniganj 5 Upgraded Middle School Belsara Goth Parihari Raniganj 6 Upgraded Middle School Belsar Goth Belsar Chandi Ghasi Raniganj 7 Middle School Bairakh South Kosikapur Raniganj 8 Primary school Kothi Haat South Kosikapur Raniganj Panchayat Bhawan, Bistariya 9 Kothia Haat Bistariya Raniganj 10 Bajrangbali Chowk Divia Raniganj 11 Anganwari Kendra Muslim Purb Tola Bistariya Raniganj 12 Upgraded Middle School Belsar Sukhsena Araria 13 Middle School Jamua Jamua Araria 14 Middle School Dabra Sharanpur Jamua Araria 15 Middle School Chewakhuri Barauna Bhojpur Araria 16 Middle School Bhagpureni Kismat Khabaspur Araria Bright Public School Tarawari 17 Chowk Arariya Sharanpur Araria 18 Middle School Perwakhuri Sharanpur Araria 19 Mukhiya's House Sharanpur Araria Assessment Team 1. Pintu Paswan 2. Manohar Paswan 3. Bhola Kumar 4. Abdul 5. Mukesh 6. Rovin Murmu 7. Umesh Hansda 8. Mohd Rafiq 9. Manish Kumar 10. Jaynarayan Paswan 11. Mithun 12. Arun Rishidev 13. Vikas Kumar 14. Chandani 15. Ashish 16. Gaurav 17. Krishna Kumar 18. Dharamdeo Paswan 19. Rajeshwar Paswan 20. Mahendra 21. Ashish Ranjan 22. Rajesh 23. Brahamanand 24. Kamayani 31

Contact Information National Dalit Watch- National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights 8/1, Second Floor South Patel Nagar New Delhi-08 Ph No: 01125842249 Email - nationaldalitwatch@gmail.com, rajesh@ncdhr.org.in & pauldivakar@ncdhr.org.in 32