Sayantoni Palchoudhuri

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In the low-lying lands of Saharsa district in north Bihar, people have adapted their farming to constant flooding – by  cultivating summer paddy or garma dhan . This crop is traditionally grown in low-lying areas, river basins and deltas where water accumulates during the monsoons but cannot be drained.After  embankments were constructed, in order to productively utilise their flood-locked land, the farmers turned to summer paddy because of its high yield. Garma dhan is sown around February and harvested in May, thus ensuring that  food grain and cash are regularly available in their homes during the off-seasons.

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The film featured here was shot from July to September 2015. It was made as a part of Sayantoni Palchoudhuri's 2015 PARI fellowship. Camera and editing by Sambit Dattachaudhuri, a self-taught cinematographer and editor. Over the last two years, he has been collaborating on working on stories related to farming, public health and education.

Living with floods

पुरासोबत जगणं

ବନ୍ୟା ସହ ବଞ୍ଚିବା

سیلاب کے ساتھ زندگی

Kandaha

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Living with floods

While farmers in many parts of the world are learning to manage with less water, Vinod Yadav and his neighbours in north Bihar are trying to farm in constant flood water

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