Bihar's Wetlands: A Cultural Crisis

Bihar's sacred wetlands are vanishing under concrete at an alarming rate, and it's destroying

centuries of culture along with the environment. Over the past two decades,

more than 60% of Patna's wetlands have disappeared as the capital exploded from 280,000 people

in 1951 to over 2 million today. The transformation is devastating.

Traditional "jalla" wetlands and "bagh" orchards that once formed Bihar's natural drainage system are now

shopping malls and apartment complexes. Communities like the Nishad and Mallah, who've fished these

waters for generations, watch their livelihoods disappear as construction sediment chokes the ecosystem.

During Chhath Puja, thousands still gather along the Ganga's ghats in reverence, but the very