In its bid to get out of poverty, the Bihar government has finalised a plan to drain out lakes and convert them to farmlands. But it seems to be unaware of the ecological consequences of such moves.

Bihar is a predominantly agricultural State with 86 per cent of her population depending upon agriculture. In my study of the National Income of Bihar published in the Indian Journal of Economics, July 1951, I had estimated the gross agricultural income of Bihar for the year 1846-47 at Rs. 230 crores, basing myself on the statistics published in the Season and Crop Report, and at Rs. 272 crores when based on the statistics contained in the Crop Survey Report.

On Monday the 15th January 1934 Calcutta experienced an earthquake shock of fair intensity which lasted for over three minutes. News from the country was available only next morning, showing that Patna, Monghyr and Jamalpur had suffered severely. News from the most affected region arrived only two or three days later. It was then learnt that the area enclosed by the Ganges, the Gandak and the Kosi, in which lie the districts of Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur had suffered most severely.