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Ranjita Sada, a 15-year-old from the Musahar settlement in Janakpurdham-7, sat with her seven-month-old son in her arms. The fatigue of early motherhood was etched across her youthful face, which still carried a childlike innocence. Ranjita was married two years ago, when she was only 13. She was married off within a year of her first menstruation and became a mother just a year and a half after that. For not conceiving sooner, she says, she had to endure harsh abuse from her family.

Sumitra Sada, slightly older than Ranjita, was married at the age of 12 in the same settlement of Janakpurdham Sub-metropolitan City-7. Now 17, she already has two children. Conversations about her marriage had begun at home as soon as she began menstruating. “My daughter became an adult after her period,” recalls Sumitra’s mother. Sumitra herself adds, “After my first period, everyone started talking about marriage.” She feels that menstruation is not something to be discussed openly. Listening to their stories, it becomes clear that in the Musahar community, menstruation is not seen as a natural stage of growth; it marks the end of childhood.

In this community, where families live in small mud huts and cramped spaces outside the main city, women have little understanding of menstruation. They neither recognize menstrual discrimination as a form of violence nor see it as a human rights issue. Menstruation remains a subject of shame and silence. “No one talks, no one understands,” says 55-year-old Sukaiya Sada. “We Musahars don’t worship the cow during menstruation, but we still have to work in the fields and wash utensils. How can we afford to stop working for four days a month?”

Like most rural women, Musahar women use pieces of cloth during menstruation, as they cannot afford sanitary pads. With few toilets and poor sanitation, the use of unclean cloths has caused serious reproductive health problems. The culture of impurity and silence surrounding menstruation has deeply entrenched the belief that “a girl becomes marriageable after her first period.” This mindset deprives Musahar girls of education and pushes them toward child marriage.

Many girls drop out of school within months of menstruation. “If we get our period in school, there’s nowhere to change clothes,” recalls Sumitra. “After that, we just stop going.” According to Dr. Radha Poudel, an activist working to end menstrual discrimination, associating menstruation with impurity and shame has helped normalize child marriage. Her study notes that “the traditional practice of viewing a menstruating girl as a bride rather than a child disrupts the life cycle of thousands of girls.”

Due to the lack of education and awareness, Musahar women also do not effectively use family planning methods. Most give birth while they are still children themselves and pay little attention to menstrual management or reproductive health. As a result, they face recurring health complications.

Manju Sah, a health worker in Janakpur, says, “Musahar women do not pay attention to hygiene, rest, or diet during menstruation. Most of them use dirty clothes, which causes infections in the genitals and uterus.” She adds that their lives remain at constant risk due to early marriage, early pregnancy, and poor health conditions. “Failing to manage menstruation properly and live with dignity during this period not only harms their health but also violates their human rights,” she says.

According to the National Census 2021, Nepal’s Musahar population is 264,974, of which 179,153 live in Madhes Province. However, the literacy rate among Musahars above the age of five is only 35.8 percent, and in Madhes it drops to just four percent. This widespread illiteracy perpetuates ignorance about menstruation, health, and rights.

Studies show that 63 percent of Musahar women marry between the ages of 15 and 19, a figure that reflects the prevailing notion that menstruation marks adulthood. The National Census 2021 further reveals that in Madhesh Province, over 50 percent of girls are married before the age of 20. Of these, 27.7 percent marry between 15 and 17 years, 9.3 percent between 10 and 14 years, and 0.2 percent before the age of 10, bringing the total of underage marriages to 37.2 percent. An additional 39.5 percent marry between 18 and 20 years. Although the legal age of marriage for men is 20, the average age for women in Madhesh is only 17, meaning that more than half of all marriages involve underage brides.

To address this, local governments have begun awareness campaigns in collaboration with social organizations. They conduct school programs, street plays, and child-friendly activities to educate children and parents about the harms of child marriage. However, despite these efforts, the provincial policy and programs of Madhes have yet to recognize the issue of ‘dignified menstruation.’ Apart from distributing sanitary pads in schools, there are no targeted programs that reach Musahar settlements.

As Dr. Poudel notes, menstrual discrimination reflects deeper structures of power, culture, and gender inequality.

The lives of girls like Ranjita and Sumitra are not isolated stories of personal suffering. They mirror a systemic injustice rooted in silence and stigma. For them, menstruation did not mark a beginning, but an end of childhood. Until menstruation is recognized as a matter of dignity and rights, not shame and silence, girls like Ranjita from Musahar Basti will remain trapped in the cycle of child marriage and deprivation.

The closed Janakpur Cigarette Factory lies within the premises of the Madhes Provincial Government’s office, Madhes Bhawan. Its old warehouse now holds around 4,000 bicycles—purchased in 2022 to be distributed to schoolgirls under the ‘Beti Bachau, Beti Padhau’ program, a flagship “Province Pride Project.”

That project, however, was shut down after corruption was uncovered in the bicycle procurement process. Even the bicycles that had already been purchased were left undistributed, with officials dismissing them as “waste.”

Nearly eight years have passed since the formation of provincial governments. During this time, the Madhes government announced ambitious projects such as the Agricultural University, the Madhes Institute of Health Sciences, Beti Bachau, Beti Padhau, and the Ram Janaki Stadium. Yet some have been halted due to budget shortages, some stalled mid-way, and others continue at a sluggish pace.

“Pride projects are not for individual leaders or governments, but for fulfilling citizens’ needs. In Madhes, they became centers of corruption and irregularities. The people were humiliated,” says Bhogendra Jha, former Vice-chair of the Madhes Provincial Planning Commission. “Ironically, these projects were discredited by leaders who called themselves true sons of Madhes.”

With frequent changes in leadership, government priorities also shifted. Projects launched under former Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut of the Janata Samajwadi Party were not carried forward as “provincial pride” by his successor, Saroj Yadav, even from the same party. “I admit that during my tenure I could not advance some of the pride projects,” says Yadav. “But it was not for lack of will. Those projects were mired in corruption cases, some even filed with the CIAA. That’s why they could not move forward.”

Yadav says he tried to establish 50 MBBS seats at the Madhes Institute of Health Sciences, but argued that major projects can succeed only with cooperation from employees, political parties, and stakeholders. Without such support, he said, progress was impossible. His government also announced plans to build the Ram Janaki Multi-purpose Stadium in Janakpur, with a promised Rs 2 billion investment. That too never progressed beyond paper.

In November 2020, the Province Transport Program was introduced under then-Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Jitendra Sonal. Five modern buses were purchased for Rs 39 million to run on Janakpurdham–Birgunj and Janakpurdham–Rajbiraj routes. But after Sonal’s removal, his successor, Congress leader Ram Saroj Yadav, showed little interest. The buses sat unused for 16 months before being handed over to various institutions, including health and agricultural institutes.

“A clear procedure should have been prepared before purchasing the buses,” says former minister Yadav. “It was an immature decision to buy them without planning, feasibility studies, or staffing arrangements. Without these, the money is wasted and projects collapse.”

Former Finance and Transport Minister Sonal blames a culture of political rivalry: “The transport plan was abandoned because of the mentality that others should not get credit. When I was minister, I launched programs like water in the fields, work in the hands, and provincial transport, but subsequent governments ignored them.” A CIAA complaint over alleged corruption in the bus purchase is still under investigation, according to the Commission’s Bardibas office.

The Beti Bachau, Beti Padhau campaign, once launched with great fanfare by Lalbabu Raut, was touted as a foundation for women’s empowerment, introducing schemes from education insurance to bicycle distribution. Today, the campaign has vanished. On 1 Feb 2024, the Special Court convicted then-secretary Yama Prasad Bhusal and engineer Bhagwan Jha of corruption in the bicycle procurement process. “Our daughters could have benefitted greatly,” says Arun Sah, a parent from Janakpurdham-4. “But corruption stole their rights. Even today, more than 5,000 bicycles are rotting in warehouses.”

The Madhes Institute of Health Sciences, established in March 2020, is also struggling due to limited funding. “This year our budget increased by Rs 20 million compared to last year, but it is still not enough to expand quality health services and education,” says Rector Dr. Ramnaresh Pandit.

Of the Rs 170m allocated, Rs 120m goes to salaries, leaving little for operations or improvements. The institute offers undergraduate programs such as MBBS, BNS, BSc Nursing, BPH, and BSc MLT, and postgraduate programs in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and General Surgery. By law, the institute should provide 100 percent scholarships at the postgraduate level and 75 percent at the undergraduate level. However, since it falls under the provincial government, the federal government has not released the required scholarship funds. With only 12 fee-paying students generating Rs 18m annually, the institute cannot cover its scholarship commitments, Pandit says.

Provincial Health Minister Shatrudhan Prasad Singh acknowledges the challenge: “Provincial support alone is not enough. The problem arises when the federal government withholds funding.”

The Madhes Agricultural University, another pride project, is also in crisis. Only eight professors currently teach across four faculties. Though inaugurated in Nov 2021 with much fanfare by Chief Minister Raut, JSP President Upendra Yadav, and other provincial leaders, construction of its main campus in Rajbiraj stalled for lack of funds.

The government initially provided Rs 317.6m in 2021/22, but subsequent budgets shrank drastically. “This year we requested Rs 400m but received only Rs 40m. Last year we got just Rs 1m after being promised Rs 10m,” says Vice-chancellor Baidyanath Mahato.

“The Agricultural University has fallen victim to political neglect,” argues JSP spokesperson Manish Suman. Political analyst Roshan Janakpuri agrees: “Projects launched by one party are abandoned when another comes to power. If properly run, this university could transform Nepal’s agricultural sector, but the government has not invested.”

“All governments should prioritize pride projects, but here priorities shift with each administration,” adds economist Surendra Lav. “The projects themselves were important, but instead of being implemented, they were used for party propaganda and personal glory. That is why the situation has worsened.”

When the constitution was enacted in 2015, Nepal had dozens of political parties representing diverse castes, classes, languages, cultures, and regions. Many of these parties had mushroomed in the decade between the People’s Movement of 2005–06 and the promulgation of the constitution, claiming to speak for the “voiceless.” Today, many have vanished, while those that remain struggle to stay relevant.

The parties that rose to prominence through people’s movements and street protests gradually abandoned their agendas in the pursuit of power. This eroded public trust and weakened their organizational strength. In the 2017 elections, the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum led by Upendra Yadav and the Rastriya Janata Party led by Mahantha Thakur formed an alliance and emerged as a decisive force in both the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies. But the coalition soon collapsed under the weight of internal power struggles, and by the 2022 elections, both were compelled to seek alliances with larger parties just to field candidates.

In the 2017 House of Representatives elections, the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) was the largest in Madhes, winning 10 seats. By 2022, its tally had dropped to six, while the CPN-UML, which had secured only two seats in 2017, rose to nine. The Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) also declined sharply, from nine seats to three. The Nepali Congress, meanwhile, slightly improved its standing from six to seven, becoming the second strongest party in the region.

The CPN (Maoist Center), which had won five Madhes seats in 2017, was reduced to one in 2022. The newly formed CPN (Unified Socialist) gained two seats, while the Janmat Party, positioning itself as an alternative to traditional Madhesi parties—won one seat. Other smaller parties collectively secured three.

Upendra Yadav, once celebrated for elevating Madhes politics, won Saptari-2 in 2017 with a huge margin and went on to lead federal ministries five times. But many in the Madhesi community now accuse him of prioritizing power over their demands. “The people now see repeated ministerial stints with forces that suppressed Madhes as betrayal,” said Arun Jha, a Janakpur-based youth leader active in the Madhes movement. “Personal interests, greed for power, and arrogance have sunk the parties here.” In 2022, Upendra Yadav lost his Saptari seat to CK Raut of the Janmat Party but managed a comeback from Bara-2 with Congress and Maoist backing.

Other prominent leaders also suffered setbacks. Rajendra Mahato, who once defeated veteran Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi in Dhanusha-3, lost heavily in 2022 after contesting from Sarlahi-2. Active in politics since 1990 through the Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Mahato has served multiple terms as lawmaker and minister.

“The colonial mindset of big parties is behind the weakening of Madhesi parties,” said JSP whip Ram Ashish Yadav. “Greed, fear, intimidation, and the politics of protection prevent small parties from standing tall. Those aligned with big parties escape accountability, while those in small parties face prosecution. This compulsion has frustrated both the spirit of the constitution and the rights of the people.”

Madhes-based parties have also lost ground at the provincial level. In the first Madhes Provincial Assembly (2017), JSP held 30 of 107 seats, the largest share. By 2022, this dropped to 19. The UML increased its tally from 21 to 25, while Nepali Congress rose from 19 to 22. The LSP fell from 25 to nine, and the Maoist Center also lost its seats in Madhes. New entrants like the CPN-Unified Socialist and Janmat Party together secured 13 seats. Three others—Nepal Federal Socialist Party, RPP, and Nagarik Unmukti Party—entered through proportional representation winning a seat each.

In the federal parliament, Madhes-based parties are opposing the government’s new Land Bill, calling it anti-Madhes. Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Balram Adhikari, presented the bill to amend several laws, which passed with majority support. JSP chair Upendra Yadav denounced it as “a design to turn Madhes into a desert,” citing groundwater depletion and Chure destruction. The Rastriya Mukti Party, led by Rajendra Mahato, also opposed it. General Secretary Anil Mahaseth alleged it served land mafias under the guise of helping squatters.

Amid their decline, seven Madhesi parties have recently formed the Federal Democratic Front to safeguard their political existence and raise Madhesi issues collectively. The alliance includes the Janmat Party, JSP Nepal, LSP Nepal, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Rastriya Mukti Party, Janmat Pragatisheel Party, and Tamalopa. “We’ve learned hard lessons from disunity,” said JSP spokesperson Manish Suman. “This front will emerge as a force.”

Meanwhile, Madhes politics has once again been shaken by renewed investigations into the 2007 Gaur massacre, which killed 27 people during a clash between the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum led by Upendra Yadav and the Maoist supporters. On April 20, 2025, police began investigating 130 accused, including Yadav. DIG Uma Prasad Chaturbedi confirmed the probe, noting that death certificates of 11 accused were under verification.

The case resurfaced after a 2022 Supreme Court order responding to a writ filed by victims demanding their constitutional right to redress. JSP leaders have dismissed the move as political revenge. “If the state has evidence, prove it. If not, Madhes will oppose such conspiracies,” said JSP leader Jitendra Yadav.

Despite multiple inquiries by the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies, official reports on the incident remain unpublished. Rights groups have criticized the government’s failure to deliver justice, while survivors continue to demand accountability nearly two decades later.

The population of the Dalit community in Madhes Province is larger than in any other province, making up about 18 percent of the total provincial population. Yet, despite systemic changes aimed at addressing the plight of Dalits—who remain socially, economically, politically, educationally, and culturally marginalized—their situation has barely improved.

In 2019, the Madhes Province government introduced the Dalit Empowerment Act to uplift the community. The law, brought forward under then Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut, was designed to formulate and implement programs safeguarding Dalit rights and advancing their interests. As part of the Act, the provincial government established a Dalit Development Committee tasked with creating and implementing empowerment plans across the province.

The committee was structured with the Minister for Social Development (now Sports and Social Welfare) as chairperson and a vice-chairperson selected from among Dalit community members with at least a bachelor’s degree and a record of contributing to Dalit upliftment. It also included four members—two of them women—appointed for a four-year term. However, the tenure of the last committee expired in Feb 2025, and since then, the provincial government has failed to appoint new office bearers.

Under the Act, the Council of Ministers is empowered to form the committee, drawing members from the Policy Commission, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, and the Ministry of Social Development. The vice-chairperson’s position carries the same facilities as an 11th-level officer of the provincial government. Appointments are to be made by the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of the Minister of Sports and Social Welfare.

Despite Minister Pramod Kumar Jayaswal recommending candidates to the Chief Minister’s Office two months ago, the process has stalled. Political wrangling and lack of priority accorded to Dalit issues have prevented new appointments.

“Until recently, we had only forwarded the recommendation for the vice-chairperson, but now we are preparing to send the names of all office bearers at once and finalize them in the upcoming cabinet meeting,” Minister Jayaswal said. “It has been delayed, but once new office bearers are appointed, work will move forward smoothly in the new fiscal year.”

Provincial Assembly member Lalita Tatma, however, accuses the government of neglecting Dalit issues.

The Dalit Development Committee was mandated to be consulted on all Dalit-related programs at the provincial level. It was also tasked with running income-generating and skill-development programs and carrying out research and publications on Dalit issues. But due to weak structure, poor implementation, and absence of leadership, it has achieved little.

Dalit leader Rajkumar Paswan of Saptari argues that the state’s indifference is evident in the vacant posts across commissions and institutions, including the Dalit Development Committee. “Dalits are subjected to violence, discrimination, and social oppression in Madhes Province. The committee was supposed to monitor, document, advocate, and resolve these problems, but it has been without office bearers for a long time. This reflects the government’s prejudice and political apathy,” Paswan said. “The government, which talks of inclusion, justice, and equality, has left the Dalit Development Committee headless and ineffective.”

Two years after the Dalit Empowerment Act was passed, Madhes Province formed its first Dalit Development Committee. Ram Pravesh Baitha was appointed vice-chairperson, with members including Rajkumar Das from Rautahat, Shyam Sardar from Parsa, Devi Das from Shewa, and Sunita Marik Dom. However, the committee faced criticism throughout its four-year term for failing to achieve much.

Outgoing vice-chairperson Baitha blames the government for undermining the body. “We were left stranded for a year after our appointment. In the second year, a budget of Rs 20m was provided, from which we managed to set up an office, purchase a vehicle, and conduct small-scale awareness programs. Beyond that, there was little support,” Baitha said.

The preamble of the Dalit Empowerment Act declares its aim to ensure Dalit participation in the social, cultural, political, civil, economic, and educational spheres while eliminating caste-based discrimination and untouchability. Yet in practice, the law remains largely unimplemented. The Act envisioned four monitoring committees to oversee issues of caste-based discrimination. Among them, the Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Monitoring Committee was to function at the provincial level under the Chief Minister, with responsibilities to study incidents, monitor laws, and ensure enforcement. Members included the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Law, Social Development, Dalit Assembly representatives, the Chief Justice, and others.

But according to activist Bhola Paswan, the committee has been inactive since Chief Minister Satish Singh assumed office. “The provincial committee led by the Chief Minister has not met even once. He has no interest in Dalit issues,” Paswan said. “The government treats Dalits as nothing more than a vote bank, without taking real steps for their upliftment.” The Act also required each rural municipality and municipality to establish a local monitoring committee under the mayor to tackle discrimination at the grassroots level. Yet, only 35 of Madhes’s 136 municipalities have formed such bodies.

Dalit leaders say that the hopes raised by the 2019 Act have been dashed. “When this Act was passed, Dalits in Madhes felt hopeful. We believed federalism had finally delivered for us. We thought committees would reach all eight districts, listen to our problems, and design proper programs,” said Manoj Ram, a Dalit leader. “But the reality is the opposite. Officials appointed to the committee cared more about salaries and allowances. During their four-year term, they did little for Dalits. They blame lack of government support, but the community gained nothing from leaders occupying positions just for the sake of it. Even now, I see no commitment from the government to act in favor of Dalits.”

According to the National Census 2021, Nepal’s total population is 29.1m, of which Dalits make up 13.4 percent. Madhes Province, with a population of 6.1m, has around 1.06m Dalits—about 18 percent of its residents. Data from the National Dalit Commission show a literacy rate of 77.9 percent for Dalits in Madhes, while 91 percent are considered economically active.

The Act promised a future where Dalits in Madhes Province could meaningfully participate in society and benefit from targeted programs. Instead, weak institutions, lack of political will, and half-hearted implementation have left the community frustrated. For many Dalits, the Dalit Empowerment Act of 2019 remains little more than words on paper—its committees underfunded, underrepresented, and largely inactive. Leaders and activists alike argue that without urgent government action and sincere prioritization, Madhes’s Dalit community will continue to face discrimination, exclusion, and neglect, despite making up nearly a fifth of the province’s population.

The Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project, which holds significant potential for boosting agricultural productivity in Madhes Province, is progressing slowly due to delays by contractors and technical challenges. Despite its importance, only 36.83 percent of the project’s physical work has been completed so far.

Originally slated to begin in the fiscal year 2019/20 and be completed by 2028/29, the project has an estimated cost of Rs 49.42bn. Of the allocated Rs 19.33bn budget, Rs 16.5bn has been spent. While approximately 53 percent of the dam construction is complete, overall progress remains slow. The project aims to divert 67,000 liters per second of water from the Sunkoshi River into the Marin River, providing year-round irrigation to 122,000 hectares of land across Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara districts. Additionally, it is expected to generate 31.07 megawatts of hydroelectric power, with potential annual revenue of Rs 1.55bn from electricity generation.

The project involves constructing a barrage about one kilometer downstream from the Sunkoshi-Tamakoshi confluence in Sindhuli district, with water to be transported through a 13.316 km tunnel into the Marin River. So far, tunnel construction has been completed using TBM machines, and environmental impact assessments (including supplementary studies) have been approved. Compensation has been distributed for 46.61 hectares of land, and construction on 2 km of the Marin River Control Work is underway. The project has also issued a second contract package and initiated lift irrigation in flood-affected areas.

According to Project Chief Achutraj Gautam, coordination with the Department of Roads for the Madan Bhandari Road Realization Design is ongoing, and transmission line work is also in progress. The cost estimate for electromechanical components has been finalized, and a pre-feasibility study is underway to explore additional power generation from a cascading system between the Marin and Bagmati rivers.

The project’s overall progress stands at 36.83 percent physically and 33.39 percent financially. Mobilization funds totaling Rs 1.214bn have been issued, while Rs 2.135bn (approximately 15 percent of the total) has been paid to contractors.

Multiple construction companies have been awarded contracts for various parts of the project. China Overseas Engineering Group, responsible for the headrace tunnel and related structures, has completed 97 percent of its work. In contrast, Patel Raman JV, tasked with civil and hydro-mechanical works, has completed only 10 percent since the contract was signed.

The project office has issued 22 letters to various contractors concerning work delays. According to the project chief, over 600 letters have been sent regarding different issues, but many remain unanswered, violating the 28-day response time outlined in the contract. “The negligence is evident—we received the same drawing 28 times,” said Gautam. “Despite several management meetings, Patel Engineering has not met its commitments.”

Raman JV representative Naveen Chaudhary cited weather-related difficulties for the delays. “Due to continuous rain and unstable soil, our machinery cannot function properly. Workers are unwilling to continue in such conditions. We plan to resume full-scale work after November,” he said.

The project has also encountered several instances of non-compliance by contractors, including the use of unapproved materials, lack of transparency regarding stock, and failure to adhere to safety protocols and technical specifications. Contractors have not built the engineer-employee camp that was due within six months—even after two and a half years. Additionally, repeated demands for extra payments have been made without fulfilling contractual obligations.

Under one contract package, only 7,000 cubic meters of the required 48,000 cubic meters of work have been completed. The project office has also cited delays in submitting proper method statements and inefficient use of mobilization payments as further obstacles.

Despite being in the midst of the monsoon season, Madhes Province continues to face severe drought, leaving farmers in deep distress. With irrigation facilities available on only 49 percent of the province’s total cultivable land, the impact on agriculture is becoming increasingly dire.

The provincial and federal governments have declared Madhes a drought-affected and crisis-hit area, respectively. However, farmers and local officials report that no substantial action has yet been taken to address the crisis.

According to the Madhes Province Dry Zone Study Report—submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to Singha Durbar on July 28—poor management and a lack of maintenance of irrigation infrastructure lie at the heart of the problem. Of more than 1,000 deep tubewells installed since the Panchayat era by both the government and the private sector, over 50 percent are no longer operational.

The Kamala Irrigation Project under the Samruddha Tarai Madhes Irrigation Special Program has also faced major setbacks. In Saptari, Siraha, and Mahottari districts, only 98 out of 236 installed deep tubewells are functional. The remaining 138 are idle due to incomplete infrastructure, such as pump houses and electrification. Additionally, 68 deep tubewells constructed in fiscal year 2024/25 remain nonfunctional because their supporting structures have yet to be built.

Adding to the challenges, 13 deep tubewells in four districts have been rendered unusable due to the theft of key components like transformers and panel board wires. Others are blocked by debris—stones, bricks, and sand—or remain idle due to disputes between local water user committees and farming groups.

Older irrigation systems have also broken down. Under the now-defunct Janakpur Agricultural Development Plan, only 85 of 242 deep tubewells remain functional. Many of the rest—installed between 1984 and 1994—have failed due to issues such as clogged filters, outdated diesel engines, or overall technological obsolescence.

In rural areas, the need for shallow tubewells has become urgent, as surface irrigation systems like canals and dams remain insufficient or unevenly distributed.

Out of Madhes’s total 542,580 hectares of cultivable land, only 52,224 hectares are currently under cultivation this season. Rainfed rice, which relies entirely on monsoon rainfall, has been planted across 362,344 hectares, while Chaite rice covers 20,839 hectares.

Although rivers, canals, and lakes provide some irrigation, the main sources remain underground—primarily shallow and deep tubewells. The Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives has warned that without urgent upgrades and investments, these systems will continue to fail farmers.

Districts like Saptari, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Bara, and Parsa are served by major canals such as the Koshi Chandra, Bagmati, and Gandak. However, large parts of Siraha and Dhanusha remain dependent on increasingly unreliable underground systems.

As the drought worsens and food insecurity looms, farmers are calling for immediate government intervention—repairs, subsidies, and the construction of new infrastructure. Without such action, Madhes could face a severe agricultural collapse in the coming months.

In Madhes, climate change is reshaping daily life—from dwindling water sources to declining rice yields. Locals say they feel increasingly alienated from the very elements that once sustained them. “Neither the rice feels like ours anymore, nor the water,” many say, as the region struggles with dried-up springs, parched fields, and water scarcity so severe that families must walk miles just to fetch a bucket.

The crisis has intensified to the point that the Madhes government has officially declared the region a drought-hit zone. With no monsoon rains this year, paddy planting has been severely disrupted—deepening the struggles of a region that relies almost entirely on rain-fed agriculture. While the provincial government plans to request relief funds from the federal government, there is still no long-term strategy in place to address the growing water crisis.

“I remember when it used to rain nonstop for two months,” recalls 65-year-old Sumitra Sada from Mahottari district. “Back then, every man, woman, and child would be busy in the fields planting rice. But now the season has come and gone without enough rain. We try to pump underground water through borewells, but whenever we do that, the hand pumps across the village run dry.”

The crisis is not just environmental—it’s cultural. Traditional Madhesi meals, once celebrated for fragrant aged rice, homemade ghee, and fresh backyard vegetables, are disappearing. “Fifteen years ago, we used to store large quantities of aged rice for weddings and rituals,” says 75-year-old Bedananda Jha from Janakpur. “Now the granaries are empty. We’re forced to buy polished, tasteless rice from across the border.”

According to government data, Madhes currently produces 2.77m metric tons of paddy. But to meet national demand and reduce imports, the region would need to expand rice farming by nearly 190,000 hectares. Similar production gaps exist for corn and wheat, posing a serious threat to food security.

The region’s once-abundant water sources—rivers, hand pumps, and wells—are drying up. In places like Birgunj, groundwater levels have dropped so drastically that families must now dig as deep as 400 feet to install a hand pump, at a cost of over Rs 150,000. “Water that once came from 100 feet now requires machines and generators to access,” says local resident Umesh Mandal.

To cope, Birgunj Metropolitan City has begun distributing water through tankers and temporary tanks. But experts warn these are merely short-term fixes. “The water crisis will only deepen unless we invest in groundwater recharge and proper conservation,” says hydrologist Pratap Singh Tatar. “People used to share hand pumps; now each home wants its own. There’s no regulation on irrigation borewells, and water is being over-extracted without recharge.”

Only three percent of Madhes residents use piped water from the national utility, while over 70 percent depend on hand pumps and tubewells. But with groundwater levels falling even in rural areas, the future looks bleak.

Experts also point to the degradation of the Chure hills—once considered the “lifeline” of Madhes. Forests that used to absorb rainwater and replenish underground aquifers are being destroyed due to logging, grazing, and encroachment. As the hills go bald, less water flows down to the plains.

“If we fail to protect Chure, Madhes could turn into a desert,” warns environmentalist Vijaya Singh Danuwar. “Chure is our mother. It traps monsoon clouds and releases water gradually. Without forests, there’s no mechanism to hold or distribute the rain.”

Farmers across Madhes are being pushed to the brink. With unreliable rainfall and limited irrigation, they now spend up to Rs 500 an hour to pump water using fire trucks just to transplant rice seedlings. By early July last year, 45 percent of paddy planting was completed. This year, it’s just 25 percent.

Although irrigation coverage increased slightly to 273,410 hectares in 2023/24, most of it depends on canals, ponds, and borewells—many of which are now failing due to water shortages.

Once known as Nepal’s rice bowl, Madhes now struggles to feed itself. While the total area under cultivation may have grown slightly, yields have declined. Agricultural economist Devendra Gauchan blames climate change: “We’re seeing more droughts, heatwaves, floods, and pest outbreaks—all of which reduce productivity. This region, which once exported rice, now imports it.”

Experts say the water crisis in Madhes is not just a natural disaster, but a human-made one—driven by poor planning, unchecked groundwater extraction, climate change, and government inaction.

“We can’t stop climate change,” says hydrologist Tatar, “but we can minimize its effects. What’s happening in Madhes is a warning. If we don’t act now, the cost tomorrow will be unbearable—for food, for water, and for life itself.”

Members of the Madhes Provincial Assembly have accused the government of allowing middlemen to dominate the fiscal year 2025/26 budget. Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties claim the budget was influenced by external forces and is not people-oriented, with excessive manipulation by intermediaries.

The assembly has not held proper discussions on the budget, as six opposition parties have continued to protest, demanding a rewrite. On Monday, lawmakers obstructed the session, forcing its adjournment to Tuesday. In June, a budget meeting was abruptly announced just an hour before it was to be held. After an 11-day break, a session was held on Sunday but again adjourned due to joint protests by Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal (JSPN), CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist), Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

“Looking at the budget book, it’s evident that the plans were prepared by middlemen,” said Ram Ashish Yadav, chief whip of JSPN. “This year’s budget is deliberately skewed, impractical, and guided by intermediaries. It offers no direction for the province. One example is a 20-year-old project listed in the red book under the name of the Chief Minister’s father, for which Rs 18m has been allocated.”

The red book for 2025/26 shows that Chief Minister Satish Singh has allocated Rs 18m for an unfinished girls’ hostel initially funded by the Indian Embassy. The project, located at Mahendra Bindeshwari Multiple Campus in Rajbiraj, Saptari, was launched in 2005 under the chairmanship of Singh’s father, Shekhar Kumar Singh. Despite receiving Rs 19.6m from the Indian Embassy, the hostel remains incomplete two decades later.

“This budget lacks priorities, principles, and is entirely unprecedented,” said Ram Saroj Yadav, a Nepali Congress leader in the provincial government. “The Chief Minister publicly promised to exclude projects below Rs 10m, and the Finance Minister pledged not to include those below Rs 5m. Yet, the red book is full of such projects. It contradicts the very commitments made by our leadership. There’s no doubt the budget is influenced by middlemen.”

The provincial government has presented a budget of Rs 46.58bn for 2025/26. Notably, the Ministry of Sports and Social Welfare has allocated Rs 3m across two schemes named after Indian godman Asaram Bapu, who is serving a life sentence in India for raping a minor.

“There are serious disparities in project allocations,” said Sunita Yadav, a CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker. “If this is truly a provincial budget, all MPs should have ownership. But here, middlemen override the MPs’ recommendations. We demand a complete rewrite of the budget—otherwise, we will not allow the Assembly to function.”

This is not the first controversy surrounding the budget in Madhes. In July last year, the 2024/25 budget was mired in scandal after allegations surfaced that outsiders had obtained a secret Finance Ministry password and inserted unauthorized projects into the red book—ignoring MPs’ recommendations. A parliamentary committee was formed with a pledge to investigate the breach. However, no investigation has taken place, and the individual behind the password leak remains unidentified.

Chief Minister Singh has acknowledged some errors in the budget but denied the involvement of middlemen. “We’ve repeatedly invited opposition parties for dialogue,” he said. “I want to assure the public that this budget is transparent.”