**4. Nature's revenge or human's mistake?**

Tracing4 the reasons for the flood in the region, we find a few major human activities that induce disaster. If we blame nature for this disaster it would be an injustice, not only to nature but also to the people of the area. A sudden release of water by the government of Nepal through dams like Gopiya & Girija is one of the main reasons. The people claim if river water comes slowly in a natural way, it is lesser devastative compared to sudden releases from dams. The rapid flow of water comes only after the collapse of dams or highways or such kinds of big constructions, not by the natural processes of the flood. These unplanned and unmapped developmental projects have made hindrances in the ways of floodwater, therefore the water stuck up to 20–30 feet for many days. Apart from these, sand mining is also a major cause of soil erosion and changes in the direction of

**73**

*Question of Livelihood in the Light of Disaster: With Special Reference to Flood of Bahraich, India*

the flow of water. Illegal sand mining in the basin of the Ghaghara is rampant. And astonishingly, the nexus of the local public representatives, contractors and bureaucrats are involved in this activity as villagers claimed and were also deeply

The loss of the community of the region can be best understood through the theoretical lens of Piero Bourdieu's 'capital' that he describes as "accumulated, human labor, which can potentially produce different forms of profit" [14]. Further,

**Cultural capital**: cultural capital can exist in three forms as 'embodied state' (mind & body), 'objectified state' such as books, instrument, etc., and 'institutionalized state' like academic qualification etc. [14]. An around seventy years old man Shankar Kashyap of Jogapurva showed me the pity of the loss of cultural capital. "Till ten years ago we used to make our house by the wild bushes, unfortunately, it is not flourishing due to the annual occurrence of flood, so now we purchase it from other areas to build the houses. Similarly, there were several herbal plants that were useful in curing many diseases, and we also used to make domestic products like toys, pots etc. New generations have neither the knowledge of wild herbs-shrubs, plants and bushes nor have the knowledge of making all that thing". Here, we see flood excludes the community along with

**Economic capital**: "economic capital is at the root of all the other types of capital and that these transformed, disguised forms of economic capital, never entirely reducible to that definition, produce their most specific effects only to the extent that they conceal the fact that economic capital is at their root" [14]. Lakshmi Devi (Jogapurva, 50 years old woman) told the pain of her life how she lost her ornaments while flood water entered into the house. "I had some gold & silver made ornaments that I used to keep within the soil of the room so that no one could steal. I had purchased it by savings from my rigorously earned income. It was kept for the days of crisis or ceremony like the daughter's marriage or disease of the family members, but the spate of water entirely wiped out my house along with my ornaments. When floodwater came in, I was in my farmland that is

**The vulnerability of livelihood**: the term vulnerability is widely used but is basically a vague term and its meaning varies across the disciplines. However, it may be considered as "vulnerability is an individual or group's reduced capacity to cope with,

**Social capital**: "Social capital is the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group" [14]. The displacement caused by flood displaces and damages not only the physical body of a community but also crushes the social institution and relationships like kinship, lineage that has been a product of centuries-old social interactions and behaviors. One villager Kamlesh Kashyap (Baundi, 35 years old man) asked "earlier we used to marry in our own communities, but now it is not possible, since most of the people of our community have migrated towards other states for their survival. We are left here and staying on the dams or roadside, so how is it possible to get a suitable bride or groom?". The structure of kinship and marriage were such kinds of capital they could face and challenge the problems of

he classifies it in three sections as cultural, social and economic capital.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95287*

**5. Loss of capital & vulnerability of livelihood**

observed during the field study.

daily life through.

their traditional knowledge.

why I could not save all that".

<sup>4</sup> *Super Idea, Sept.2012*. It is a local magazine of the district that covers regional news usually.

<sup>4</sup> *Super Idea, Sept.2012*. It is a local magazine of the district that covers regional news usually.

the flow of water. Illegal sand mining in the basin of the Ghaghara is rampant. And astonishingly, the nexus of the local public representatives, contractors and bureaucrats are involved in this activity as villagers claimed and were also deeply observed during the field study.
