Agriculture in India is subject to variety of risks arising from rainfall aberrations, temperature fluctuations, hailstorms, cyclones, floods and climate change. These risks are exacerbated by price fluctuation, weak rural infrastructure, imperfect markets and lack of financial services including limited span and design of risk mitigation instruments such as credit and insurance.

Conventional thinking has it that floods are caused by excessive rainfall. ARCHITA BHATTA finds out that wasn't necessarily the case this year While people in the flood-affected areas are

The Task Force for Flood Management and Erosion Control Report of 2004 iterates what the Centre For Science and Environment publication (State of the Environment 1991) had said. It notes that the

This year in mid July, the Baghmati, Budhi Gandhak and Lakhandai went into spate in Bihar. In Assam, several districts were engulfed by the waters of the Brahmaputra. Uttarakhand experienced flash floods and waters surged in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat