India: Farmers demand government action as death toll in lightning strikes crosses 90

Farmers in the eastern states of India are demanding government action after lightning strikes killed 93 people. In two days the death toll in the state of Bihar has reached 56, while 28 others have been injured.

The states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have 37 deaths. Most of those who have died in the four states were farmers working in fields when lightning struck.

"Work is work. We can't stop because of the weather. We have to keep working in the fields. But we feel scared when we see so many clouds, so much electricity in the sky," Lal Babu Usvaha, a farmer from Kanti Butiya village near the city of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, said.

Usvaha wants the government to take action in favour of farmers and their families, who are adversely affected by some natural calamity or the other every year.

"We need help, but what will the government do? What has the government ever done for farmers? We have so many problems, but they don't care," he added.

"We can't stay at home and we can't go out. We're stuck. We are willing to do anything, if the government can help us. We're prepared to do what they say," Saffan Kumar, another farmer from the village, said.

According to Rakesh Kumar Singh, the secretary of a Bihar farmers' collective Jan Nirman Kendra, the storm began at 3pm local time (9.30am GMT) on Tuesday (21 June) in the Samastipur district of Bihar.

He said, earlier farmers were worried about drought, the rain being inconsistent for the past two years. However, now it is the rains and lightning strikes that farmers are more worried about.

"There are many more deaths all around Bihar, and the farmers are very worried," he said and added many of them have lost faith in the government because of its apathy.

"There are hundreds of thousands of farmers in Bihar ... The government can't do anything. Whatever has to be done, we will have to do ourselves."

Meanwhile, the Indian government has announced a compensation of Rs 400,000 (£4,000) to the families of each of the lightning victims.

Like India, Bangladesh too has been affected by lightning strikes this year with 261 people reported to have died due to it.