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North Bihar is a term used for the region of Bihar, India, which lies north of the Ganga river.

North Bihar
Seal
Coordinates: 26.07°N 85.45°E / 26.07; 85.45
Country	India
State	Bihar
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Lok Sabha	21
Vidhan Sabha	127+2
Districts	21
Main Languages	Maithili and Hindi
Emerging towns	Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, Samastipur, Madhubani, Bettiah, Gopalganj, Siwan
Industrial and Financial capital	Begusarai
Website	northbihar.in

Towns and cities

1. Naugachia is a sub division in Bhagalpur district. It is famous for Banana farming; and known as Kelanchal of Bihar.[1]
2. Purnia is the headquarters of Purnia division and Purnia district. It 2nd largest city of North Bihar by population. It is also known as "Mini Darjeeling" due to it humid climate. This city is called as Gateway of North East India in Bihar. NH 27 also pass through this city that connects North East to whole India. Purnia Junction is the major railway of this city. Gulabbagh agriculture market is the biggest maize market of Asia.
3. Katihar is the headquarters of Katihar district. Katihar is known for Jute production.[2]
4. Kishanganj is the headquarters of Kishanganj district. It is the easternmost district of Bihar. A part of this district of known as chicken neck region of India.
5. Araria is the headquarters of Araria district. NH 27 (Old NH57) connect Araria to other parts of the state.
6. Madhepura is the headquarters of Madhepura district. This district was curved out from Saharsa district. This is a flood-prone district of Kosi region.
7. Supaul is the headquarters & chief town of Supaul district. Supaul is set to get India's largest road bridge sharing some part with Madhubani district. The construction site of the bridge is 6 to 8 miles away from Supaul. A bridge on mighty kosi river was built in 2012 near Nirmali in Supaul, after the inauguration of the koshi megabridge. The bridge which was already a part of eastern-western corridor became operational & hence completing the whole circuit of 3507 km long Porbandar-Silchar highway & providing direct road connectivity to cities like Lucknow & Kanpur[3]
8. Saharsa is the headquarters of Saharsa district and Kosi division.Saharsa is located in the Mithila region, one of the earliest centers of Brahminical civilization in India. Saharsa is considered as the heart of whole Mithila region. It's the birthplace to many legends like Mandana Misra, Laxminath Gosain, Ubhai Bharti, etc. The region of Bangaon and Mahisi is one of the most civil servants producing area of the nation.
9. Khagaria is the headquarters of Khagaria district. Two major rivers of North Bihar Ganga river and the Kosi river flows through the district.[4]
10. Begusarai is the industrial and financial capital of Bihar and headquarters of Begusarai district. Barauni and Begusarai are the main industrial hub of Bihar. Barauni is one of the important railway junctions of Bihar. It is the land of great people like Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Shri Krishna Sinha.
11. Samastipur is the headquarters of Samastipur district. The Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, India's first-ever Imperial Agriculture Research Institute, is located in Pusa, Samastipur district.
12. Darbhanga is the headquarters of Darbhanga district and Darbhanga division. Darbhanga is the cultural capital of bihar.
13. Madhubani is the headquarters of Madhubani district. Jainagar in Madhubani district connects North Bihar to Janakpurdham in Mithila region of Nepal.
14. Hajipur[5] is the headquarters of Vaishali district, located on northern bank of Ganga river, opposite to Patna on southern bank. It is the headquarters of the East Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways.[6][7]
15. Muzaffarpur[8][9] is the financial capital of North Bihar. It the headquarters of Muzaffarpur district and Tirhut division. All the important roadways (like NH 27, NH 28, NH 57, NH 77, NH 102) and railways (like Muzaffarpur-Hajipur, Muzaffarpur-Motihari, Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur-Samastipur) have their junction in the city.[10]
16. Sitamarhi is the headquarters of Sitamarhi district. It has vedic importance as Goddess Sita is believed to be unearthed here.[11]
17. Sheohar is the headquarters of Sheohar district, the smallest district of North Bihar. It was curved out from Sitamarhi District.[12]
18. Motihari is the headquarters of East Champaran district. Mahatma Gandhi had launched non-cooperation movement here. It has been announced to establish a Central University in Motihari. This would be the first nationalized University in North Bihar.[13]
19. Bettiah is the headquarters of West Champaran district. It is the westernmost district of North Bihar and Northernmost district of Bihar state as whole.[14]
20. Chhapra is the headquarters of Saran district.
21. Siwan is the headquarters of Siwan district.
22. Gopalganj is the headquarters of Gopalganj district.

Languages and dialects

• Bajjika is spoken in Muzaffarpur district, Vaishali district, Sitamarhi district and Sheohar district.
• Bhojpuri is predominantly spoken in Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, West Champaran, East Champaran and some parts of Muzaffarpur.
• Maithili is spoken in Darbhanga division, Kosi division, Purnia division and in some parts of Tirhut division as well as in Begusarai district and Naugachia.
• Surjapuri is spoken in Kishanganj, Katihar and in some eastern parts of Purnia district.

Proposed state

There is an ongoing movement in the Maithili speaking region of Bihar for a separate Mithila state. What will be the capital of the state has yet to be decided, however Begusarai , Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga is the most likely candidate.[15]

Economy

Agricultural economy

Agriculture is the main economic activity of the region.

The above industries have generated considerable employment and have also been helpful in establishing a number of small industries including a few cottage industries. The most important item that is manufactured in Muzaffarpur city is railway wagon. While dudhia malda variety of mangoes. Barauni is the prominent industrial Town of North Bihar and Bihar state having Barauni Refinery, Barauni fertilizer, Barauni Carbons, railway yard and Barauni thermal power station and is the industrial capitals of North Bihar. Hajipur is also new emerging industrial area due to its proximity with Patna leading to development of industrial area.

North Bihar is also home to majority of sugar production of Bihar and more than 20 sugar industries are located in Bihar but about a third of it is operational mostly in Champaran belt, Gopalganj, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, etc.

Rivers and floods

There are several rivers flowing through this region from north to south and merge in the Ganges river.[16] These rivers along with floods bring every year fertile soil to the region. However, sometimes government sponsored floods causes loss of thousands of lives. Major rivers of North Bihar are Mahananda, Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Kamala, Balan, Budhi Gandak.[17]

Natural floods

Since the beginning of human civilization, rivers have been an important part of human life. North Bihar has 7 major rivers and several tributaries to them. North Bihar districts are vulnerable to at least five major flood-causing rivers during monsoon – Mahananda River, Koshi River, Bagmati River , Burhi Gandak River and Gandak – which originate in Nepal.[18] All these rivers receive water from the Himalaya. This is the reason that these rivers never have a shortage of water. Every year, any of these rivers had been bringing valuable floods for the people of North Bihar. Flood waters used to enter the agricultural land, leave their quite fertile silt and recede to the river. This pattern of humane flood was a boon for North Bihar. This made her land extremely fertile. But, natural floods are no more in North Bihar.

Man-made floods

Soon after independence, the Congress Government of Bihar made several attempts to domesticate these rivers. High barriers or Bandhs were made on their both banks. This resulted in inhumane and destructive floods. Bandhs caused deposition of silts in the bottom of rivers, because of which, depth of rivers decreased, and so their water holding capacity also decreased. This is the reason these rivers bring more frequent floods now. With flood water, sand comes in force and gets deposited on the land. This way the land of the region in turning barren. Floods, which were once a boon for North Bihar, has now turned to be a curse for it.

Kosi flood 2008

2008 Kosi flood

Flooded North Bihar
Date	18 August 2008
Location	North Bihar
Deaths	434[19] (Dead bodies were found until 27 November 2008)

The 2008 Kosi flood was one of the most disastrous floods in the history of North Bihar, an impoverished and densely populated region in India. A breach in the Kosi embankment near the Indo-Nepal border (at Kusha in Nepal) occurred on 18 August 2008. The river changed course and inundated areas which hadn't experienced floods in many decades.[20] The flood affected over 2.3 million people in North Bihar.[21]

The flood killed 250 people and forced nearly 3 million people from their homes in North Bihar.[22] More than 300,000 houses were destroyed and at least 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) of crops were damaged.[22] Villagers in North Bihar ate raw rice and flour mixed with polluted water. Hunger and disease were widespread. The Supaul district was the worst-hit; surging waters swamped 1,000 square kilometres (247,000 acres) of farmlands, destroying crops.[23]

• 
  The Kosi before it flooded in August 2008
• 
  The Kosi during the August 2008 flood

2017 North Bihar Floods

2017 North Bihar Flood

Date	August 2017
Location	North Bihar, India
Deaths	514

2017 Floods affected 19 districts of North Bihar causing death of 514 people.[24][25][26][27][28] This flood was result of sudden increase in water discharge through rivers- Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati, Kamla, Kosi and Mahananda- due to heavy rain in the catchment areas of the major rivers of north Bihar in Nepal.[29] Araria district accounted for 95 deaths alone,[30] followed by Sitamarhi (34), West Champaran (29), Katihar (26), East Champaran (19) while 22 have died in Madhubani, Supaul(13) and Madhepura(15). 11 deaths were reported in Kishanganj, while Darbhanga accounted for 19 deaths, Purnea (9), Gopalganj (9), Sheohar(4), Muzaffarpur(7), Samastipur(1) and Saharsa(4) registered four deaths each while Khagaria and Saran accounted for 7 deaths each. Around 1.71 crore people are hit by the floods.[31][32][33][34]

See also

• Bihar
• North India

References

External links

• Tirhut
• North Bihar

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