KEY POINTS:
Two weeks after their hamlet of 17 houses was marooned by the violent flooding that swept through Bihar, the 200 people of Chak Ganoli are still waiting for help from the Government and aid agencies.
These villagers are members of the musahar - rat-catching - sub-caste, right at
the bottom of the Indian social hierarchy. Outcast, even by other Dalit, or untouchable, groups, they are so accustomed to being marginalised there is barely any surprise at this latest neglect.
Human rights groups say Dalits were the worst hit by the flooding, which has upturned the lives of 14 million people across Bihar and killed more than 2800 in south Asia.
"But relief has not reached them and, if it has reached, it is scanty," said Paul Divakar of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights.
"The culture of discrimination which runs through Indian society intensifies in times of crisis."
Across the grey lagoon that has swamped the rice paddies and lychee orchards around the village, the outskirts of the nearby town of Darbhanga are just visible. Aid agencies are distributing emergency relief there to hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by these floods, described by the UN as the worst in living memory.
But there is no way to get there without a boat and the few canoes navigating the water charge high fares. These landless labourers, the most deprived inhabitants of Bihar, India's most backward state, cannot afford to pay.
Two bags of low-grade rice left more than a week ago by a passing police officer have run out and village children complain of hunger.
Unicef is concerned that child malnutrition in Bihar - widespread even in normal times - will become worse.
Water-borne illnesses are spreading now the flood waters are receding, leaving behind a foul, disease-ridden sludge.
The relative neglect of low-caste villagers is a reflection of how, even in times of profound hardship, the rules of caste dictate how Indian society operates.
Aid distribution is often done in town centres, where upper-caste groups live. Divakar said the concept of untouchability meant Dalits were forced to wait until other groups had aid before queuing up.
The villagers of Chak Ganoli, (known as rat-catchers because their permanent state of near-destitution traditionally forced them to forage for whatever food they could find) may not have been passed over deliberately, but they are ill-equipped to fight for the assistance they need.
No one can read or write and they get no help from their elected leader. The fields are waterlogged so the villagers can't work and unless they get help, they fear they will starve.
- Observer
