Farmers use guns to guard water in drought-hit Bihar

Bihar has declared 26 of the 38 districts drought-hit and the water crisis in the state in now turning dangerous with farmer guarding their water sources with guns.

After scanty rainfall in many districts, the battle for water is being fought with guns.

"We are farmers. It has not rained properly this year. There is little water in the canals that we use. So we have to protect the water. We carry our agricultural equipments and guns together. When we are in the fields we use our agricultural equipments and when the need for the guns arises, then we use the guns," says Bal Bhushan Sharma, a farmer in Aurangabad which is one of the worst-hit districts.

Sharma is voice of desperation and of little hope. They are no robbers or henchmen but farmers.

With no rains and most canals drying up, water is more precious than gold and the farmers have now chosen to risk their lives to guard it.

They are ready to kill and get killed to protect their water.

"There is very little water. The villagers from neighbouring areas are on the lookout to divert the water in the canals towards their fields. We are trying to stop them. We don't want a fight but if some one diverts the canal water then how will we irrigate our fields," says another farmer Narendra Singh.

Farmers with guns in their hands are just a reflection of how bad the scene is at the ground. For them it's a question of their survival as the scarce rainfall has made the water flowing out of the canal the most precious commodity for them.

Canals irrigate most of central Bihar and the prolonged dry spell means no water for cultivation.

Out of 79.46 lakh hectares of land under cultivation, only 45.67 lakh hectares are irrigated.

"Just 20 per cent of canal system is functioning and the remaining 80 per cent are not functioning. The report of the Planning Commission has also pointed this," claims agricultural and social scientist Dr Ssachidanand Sinha.

With 39 per cent shortfall of rain, only 40 per cent canals have water and their water level is much below the normal.

Life has changed and farmers have little hope of revival. Celebrations have been postponed

More than half of Nand Kishore's 10 acres of land is barren and he struggles to feed his family of 12, to arrange food for cattle.

Even his sister's wedding will now have to wait for another year.

"If we don't have money then how will we survive? We are not able to sleep and keep on think about how we will get our next meal," says Nand Kishore's mother Sushila Devi.

Drought resulting in food crisis has not only affected the kitchens but has upset the entire life of millions of farmers who even otherwise live on a threshold.

Managing one full year without a penny being generated out of farming is a situation they have never faced before.

Foodgrains are cultivated in over 90 per cent of the fertile land in Bihar and little or no rain only adds to the farmers' woes, perhaps leaving the only option of fighting their destiny with guns.

But while farmers fight each other with guns, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad has fired the latest salvo blaming the drought on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for eating during the recent solar eclipse, an act considered an omen by some.

"Bihar Chief Minister, my younger brother Nitish, was eating bisuits in front of everyone during a solar eclipse. He thinks he can take on the Sun God," says Lalu.

An angry Nitish has called Lalu's superstitions and indulging in petty politics.

"He (Lalu) is desperate enough to use superstition to come into power again," says Nitish.link

Precautions needed while watching eclipse

A workshop on total solar eclipse of 2009 was held at Patna University (PU) physics department here on Monday in which more than 80 students and teachers participated. Patna Science College principal Kashi Nath inaugurated the workshop.

PU physics teachers U N L Mathur, Rohit Raman and S K Sinha presented their views on topics relating to the total solar eclipse which will be visible in different parts of Bihar, including Patna. Amarendra Narain spoke about necessary precautions while watching the eclipse. Rakesh Kumar presented the scientific details of the eclipse. Swetambar Das explained the phenomenon of solar eclipse using photographs and animation.

Symposium on development: The Central University of Bihar (CUB) is organizing a symposium on "Development Studies and India's Development" at A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies here on Tuesday. Chief minister Nitish Kumar will be the chief guest and eminent social scientists like Jean Dreze, Pradeep Bhargave, Chandrakala Padia and Ravi Srivastava will address the symposium.

CUB vice-chancellor Janak Pandey said that the new university seeks to educate and develop human resources for the development of the country, establish linkages with industries for the promotion of science and technology and to pay special attention to the improvement of socio-economic condition of the people.

Employees' agitation: About 33,000 non-teaching staff of colleges and universities in Bihar will remain on mass casual leave and stage dharna before the state legislature from July 21 to 24 in support of their long-pending demands, including new payscales, payment of arrears and removal of pay anomalies, said Bihar State University and College Employees' Federation general secretary Ganga Prasad Jha.link

Solar eclipse popularises astro-tourism in India

After space tourism, it is astro-tourism that is catching up people's fancy, courtesy the ensuing total solar eclipse.

Air charter and tourist operators in India are receiving an overwhelming response for chartered flights to view total solar eclipse of longest duration in 21st century.

All set to take place on July 22, the eclipse holds special interest for scientists and general public as its path of totality passes through thickly populated western, central, eastern and northeastern regions of India.

Cox & Kings, a travel agency claims that both amateur astronomers and others are booking for the Boeing-737 that they have hired for the two-hour journey from Delhi to Gaya in Bihar to watch the rare total solar eclipse.

Each ticket is priced at rupees 79,000 (around $1,618). "Well, we have got very strong response. The airline that we are flying has 21 seats facing the sun and 21 more window seats, which are facing away from the sun, facing the earth. We call them the ''''sun side seats'''' and the ''''earth side seats''''. The sun side seats, which will have direct view of the eclipse, cost about 79,000 rupees. We are actually getting very strong response form the amateur astronomy circles in India, from the corporate world and a wide variety of audience," said Nikhil Pawar, Scientific Officer, Space Technology and Education Private Limited, Mumbai.

On July 22, the moon will totally eclipse the sun after a decade. The next total solar eclipse will take place again only in 2034.

People on board these chartered flights can watch the eclipse for almost 10 times more than those on ground. And, there are reasons attributed to such a phenomenon.

"Theoretically the totality (of the eclipse) can be only 7 minutes 30 seconds. So that is the maximum you can get, if you are stationed at one place and during that period, by chasing the moon shadow they (people in airplanes) increase the time to 74 minutes that means almost ten times than the theoretically maximum possible," Piyush Pandey, Director, Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai.

Meanwhile, hotel owners in Patna are preparing to welcome the rush of astro-tourist guests expected to halt here. "The solar eclipse on the 22nd can be seen from Bihar. The tourists will come on the 21st and 12 rooms have been booked for them in our hotel," said Vinay Pandey, owner Hotel Republic, Patna.

In India, the eclipse will commence soon after sunrise.

Surat and Vadodra in Gujarat, Indore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh apart from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Patna in Bihar are stated to be the ideal locations for good views of the total solar eclipse.

It provides a rare opportunity to view and study this grand spectacle of nature. The partial phase of the eclipse will be visible throughout the country.

Astro-tourism comes as a surprise in a country where people for ages have been considering eclipses especially solar eclipses as bad omen.

The belief that the sun is at the mercy of two evil planets, Rahu and Ketu causing the eclipse, still prevails among a large section of people despite propagation of scientific temper among the masses.link