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A lower-caste man treads through a flood pool en route to an aid distribution center in Muzaffarpur district.
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A villager bearing a relief package from CARE International listens on as relief workers offer advice on food preparation.
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NGOs have dealt out ration cards to ensure the flood-affected families know what aid they’re entitled to and how much.
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Ram Thagan, father of 14, has spent the last month living in a tarp tent at the side of the road waiting for a government handout after his village was flooded.
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Sub-caste women angry at absence of government help.
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Man hustles two 50 kg. sacks of wheat grain, standard issue for a single family, from a government depot.
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Tractor driver Pankaj Thakur delivers sacks of rice to government distribution points but says “powerful” village leaders “take lots for themselves.”
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Laborers off-load sacks of wheat grain near government storehouse.
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Doctor distributes water purification tablets and other medicines to poor flood victims.
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Laborers bear sacks of grain across make shift bridge after road was destroyed by flood waters.
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A musahar, or “rat-catcher” family, who belong to the lowest sub-caste in Indian society and are often the last to receive help in times of crisis.
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Chaitu Sahahi, a 75-year-old fisherman, and his wife say they fled their home six weeks ago and have yet to receive government aid despite living on a main highway.
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Published August 1, 2007

No stranger to hardship, northern Bihar state – India's poorest and most corrupt – is faced with some degree of flooding each year. But none in distant memory compare to this year's monsoon deluge, a symptom of climate change that has affected tens of millions, killed hundreds and exposed the extent of state neglect rooted in class politics.

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