Patna:
Avinash Kumar’s life changed in the blink of an eye. It was on April 10 at 3:30 pm. Avinash, a 27 -year -old truck driver, was at home that day. His two children – Anush Raj (9), and Raj Nandini (6) – were playing outside the Shiva temple in Nagwan village of Nalanda, Bihar. And then lightning fell – he saw the flash before hearing the crack of thunder. His two children, laughing a few moments ago, lay dead, hit with lightning. At a distance of a few meters, four more villagers were killed, the killers fell from lightning.“My world is destroyed. Life has lost all colors, and I can’t find any happiness,” Avinash says, pointing to dozens of logs, falling from huge palm trees that are nearby. “Lightning strikes us now. It was never bad before. ,In the rural Patna and Nalanda, there has been a keen correlation between liquor ban – about a decade ago (April 5, 2016) – and power deaths, with such an exponibility, in a few years, in a few years, since a few years.Scientists and villagers say that this can happen because people are cutting palm trees filled with long, water-and sap, as they can no longer be used in traditional toddy business. When these trees were valued to their role in the manufacture of Todi, they served as their own electric rods, which driving the electric fury away from more weak goals such as human life and property.Former chief Karu Paswan says, “People are cutting palm trees because they have lost interest in them.The then Grand Alliance government implemented total prohibition, apparently under the pressure of women, who staged a continuous protest against the men’s tendency to overcome their money on the drink. Although the ban was widely seen in almost all quarters, Bihar came for sharp criticism, when Bihar did not mention liquor smuggling from Jharkhand and Bengal, after increasing the fatal elevation of electrical power, with large-scale failing of palm trees.More power diesAccording to a report by Bihar Economic Survey and Disaster Management Department, electrical attacks have claimed 2,446 lives in the state between 2016 and April 2025, in which rural people are the most affected.A close analysis of data shows how fatal electrical attacks have received a dangerous ratio since 2016. According to the report, Lightning Strike lost only 133 people in 2015 and only 133 people in 2015, but as palm trees were cut for money, they claimed 253 lives in 2019; 459 in 2020 (despite Covid -19 lockdown); 280 in 2021; 400 in 2022; 242 in 2023; 303 in 2024; And 76 so far this year.Dr. Skih Singh, an agricultural scientist at Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Samestipur, says, “We cannot ignore the large -scale chopping of palm trees.” “It was always going to prove to be destructive, as we are watching now. The trunk and roots of palm trees naturally moisturize, allowing them to operate electricity on the ground without obstruction. It creates an effective natural electrical conductor.“Singh feels that the requirement of the hour is a large-scale palm plantation. Then, he says, the deaths of the lightning-the dangerous ratio that can be considered-can be done.The annual Lightning Report, 2023-24, states that electrical attacks have claimed 2,937 lives in Bihar between 2014 and 2024.Government reports identify South-Madhya Pradesh as more prone to electrical attacks. In 2024, 72% of the deaths (219 out of 303) from electrical attacks were reported from these areas only, such as Gaya, Jahan, Jahan, Jahan, Jahan, Jahan, Arawal, Nawada, Aurangabad, Patna, Naland, Kamur, Rohta, Bhojpur and Baxur were the worst affected.The report mentions that most of the power deaths occurred between 12.30 pm and 4 pm when most of the rural folk remains out of their homes for agricultural work or to do cattle. July has claimed the highest toll with more men, hoping that there is a victim of electrical attacks.Plant more palm treesUday Kant Mishra, vice president of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), said that he was encouraging farmers to plant more palm trees, raising awareness about their unique ability to reduce power attacks. “It is well known that if there is a tall tree, electricity will strike first,” says Mishra. “The leaves of a palm tree are spread like a umbrella, which provides a large area for electricity.“Another BSDMA official said that” millions of palm trees “fell after total prohibition as they have lost their” utility “. Many palm trees were found to be damaged from above and still standing on the ground during a recent visit to rural areas.Ranjit Kumar Verma, former Vice Chancellor of Munger University and expert in atmospheric phenomena, associates the increase in electricity related deaths with environmental decline. Verma said, “The reduction in the number of trees and the number of trees groups is constantly contributing to the increase in power attacks,” Verma said
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Recommendation of the growth of groups of dense trees, especially species like Palm and Mahua, to help destroy electrical discharge in clouds and reduce the possibility of electrical attacks.Verma said that the planners should work as strategies to grow groves at regular intervals to provide continuous wastage and neutralization of electrostatic allegations, which are built in the sky, thousands and even millions of volts are deposited. They say that high trees such as traditional local Bihar palm are appropriate.Counting lossThe Bihar National Pasi Army, a platform of the people of the PASI community involved in traditionally tapping, has found that the area covered by palm tree gardens in Bihar has reduced by 40% in the last nine years.“Palm tree plantation is almost closed after the ban of liquor, as farmers or toddy tapers have lost interest in them. In fact, palm trees are also being cut, as they are almost useless in the new system,” Sujit Kumar Chaudhary, National President, President, President, President.Many toddy tapers that could not do expensive LPG cooking gas use wood for fuel. In addition, the wood of palm tree is widely used to manufacture homes due to its availability, versatility and durable properties.Neera tappingA concerned Bihar government has launched an ambitious plan to tap 2 lakh palm trees and generate 3.9 million liters during the toddy season to promote the production and sales of Neera (non-alcohol palm SAP). Around 20,000 Toddy tapers will be engaged for this. The scheme will be managed by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited (BSBCL).Bihari Prasad, the national general secretary of Akhil Bharti Pasi Samaj, says, “There is no doubt that the government claims to promote Neera, but it is a fact that the government does not want to gradually lose interest in traditional business to a large population, which has been their bread and butter.” He said that 90% of the PASI community was landless and depended on toddy business for survival, but the toddy ban pushed him to the brink of starvation.This idea may again attract this community to their traditional business. According to the Bihar caste survey, the total population of Pasi caste in Bihar is 12,88,031, which is about 1% of the state’s population.But until this happens, the Department of Excise and Prohibition is seizing smuggled liquor from other states, between April 2016 and March 2025, 3.9 million liters of liquor has been seized across the state.Back to his village in Nagwan, Avinash says that no change is now for any use for him by the government to encourage the cultivation of palm tree. “I got compensation, but we are alone now. My wife keeps thinking about children all the time, it’s too late,” they say.Why are villages more weakAn electric bolt carries a large -scale electric charge. Even though it disintegrates when it is a hit on the ground, but people can still be electroked in a given radius of the strike, a senior national disaster management expert told TOI, saying that direct hit thunder is not worried during the activity.
