Economic transformation in the wake of flood: a case of the lower stretch of the Mayurakshi River Basin, India

Abstract

The flood hazard is very severe in the lower stretch of the Mayurakshi River Basin (MRB) in West Bengal, India. During the last 20 years (1998–2017), average flood frequency accounted for 9–12 times in the different community development blocks of the lower MRB. An empirical socio-economic survey has been executed over a randomly selected 2382 households across 43 villages of Murshidabad District to assess the impact of the flood on the economic conditions of the villages. The economic transformation is reflected through the increasing occupational diversification (e.g. Herfindahl–Hirshman index: 1.94 in 1998 and 2.26 2018 in Kandi), increasing per capita income (e.g. 1998: Indian National Rupee (INR) 502.23; 2018: INR 1203.70 in Kandi), decreasing poverty level (e.g. head count ratio 63.41% in 1998 and 42.42% in 2018 in Kandi) and more savings and lesser amount loan due to flood. This typical economic transformation is driven by five major in situ factors (decreasing cropping intensity and diversity, seasonal unemployment, increasing flood-induced expenditure and damages to properties and assets) that act as push factors for the traditional agrarian economy and one ex situ factor (international labour migration) that acts as the pull factor for the non-agrarian economy. The per capita per month receipt of remittances for the families having the labour migrants in the Middle East countries ranges from INR 2000 (Ibrahimpur) to INR 5375 (Dakshin Gopinathpur) that absorbs the shocks induced by flood. Thus, local economy flourishes in the areas of frequent flood and consequent labour migration compared to less flood-prone areas.