46 Die While Celebrating Jitiya Parv in Eastern India

AFP/APP

Patna: At least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned while celebrating a Hindu festival in eastern India, according to a local government official. 

The victims lost their lives in separate incidents across Bihar state while ritually bathing in rivers and ponds, which had been swollen by recent flooding.

“People ignored dangerous water levels in rivers and ponds while bathing to celebrate this festival,” said an official from Bihar’s Disaster Management Department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to brief the media.

The drownings took place between Tuesday and Thursday, spanning 15 districts of Bihar, as devotees celebrated the Jitiya Parv Hindu festival, which is observed by mothers for the wellbeing of their children. Efforts are still ongoing to recover three additional bodies, the official noted.

Jitiya Parv is celebrated over several days and is also observed in neighboring states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, as well as parts of Nepal’s southern plains. The Bihar state government has announced compensation for the families of the victims.

This tragedy follows a similar pattern from last year when 22 people drowned in Bihar during a 24-hour period, most of whom were also participating in the Jitiya Parv festival.

Deadly incidents often occur during large religious gatherings in India, where millions of devotees make pilgrimages to holy sites. Earlier in July, at least 116 people were crushed to death at an overcrowded Hindu religious event in Uttar Pradesh, marking the deadliest such incident in over a decade.

India is regularly affected by torrential rains and flash floods during the June to September monsoon season. While monsoons are essential for agriculture and the livelihoods of millions of farmers, they also lead to widespread destruction in the form of landslides and floods, which kill hundreds of people annually across South Asia.

In July, more than 200 people died in Kerala, in southern India, after landslides, caused by monsoon downpours, buried tea plantations under tonnes of rock and soil.

Experts have linked the rising frequency of such extreme weather events to climate change, with factors such as damming, deforestation, and rapid development projects in India exacerbating the human toll.

A 2021 study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research noted that monsoon patterns have been shifting since the mid-20th century, becoming more intense and erratic, further increasing the risks posed by the season.