SATHI, India (UCAN) -- As rains continue to lash Bihar state, some women in the eastern Indian state have demanded bank loans to fight looming poverty, not just temporary relief.

These women, about 3,000 strong, belong to 105 Church-sponsored self-help groups in the state's West Champaran district.

"Everyone is talking about relief for us, but how long will they feed us?" asks Tara Devi. She heads a self-help group in Sathi, 990 kilometers east of New Delhi, one of 43 severely affected villages in the district.

The rains that have drenched northern Bihar since July 14 have disrupted the life of thousands of people living in areas served by Bettiah, Muzaffarpur and Purnea Catholic dioceses.

Devi, a Hindu, told UCA News Sept. 1 that the villagers face starvation, because floods have washed away rice crops and vegetable plants. They now survive on stored grains and relief materials supplied by government and voluntary agencies, including the Church.

All this will stop after the floodwaters recede by October, Devi warns. "There will be no rice paddy to harvest and consequently no money to buy wheat and vegetable seeds for the winter crop." In northern India, winter begins around mid-November.

Mobina Khatoon has an answer. The Muslim woman, who heads a self-help group in the neighboring village of Parsauna, is calling for government bank loans to help start income-generating programs.

A Catholic center has already taught the women goat- and cattle-rearing, vegetable farming and some trades, she said. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart manage the center, which has coordinated programs to empower women in 50 villages since 1996.

Khatoon says the women's groups have around 1 million rupees (US$24,450) in banks. They pooled their resources as financial backing in "the hope the banks would then provide loans," according to government rules for fostering self-reliance among the poor, she explained. But they have received no bank loans.

They have been managing various programs on their own, but the flooding has upset everything, Khatoon continued. The groups requested loans since their bank savings are not sufficient to ward off starvation.

The women's groups met on Aug. 22 and "unanimously resolved" to seek bank loans as their "right" under government policy, Khatoon said. But when they applied for loans, the banks remain apathetic, she added. The women took up the issue with state Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi when he visited the area on Aug. 26, and he assured them he would intervene in the matter.

Sacred Heart Sister Celestine, who directs the self-help groups, says local banks have garnered billions of rupees from poor women. They loan out such deposits to rich industries for huge interest, and refuse "our poor depositors in time of crises," the nun told UCA News.

Ajit Pandey, a local economic sociologist, confirmed the nun's claim. He quoted government records showing state banks have "a cumulative deposit" of 570 billion rupees. Of this, some 370 billion are from depositors in the 19 flood-hit districts, he told UCA News. The women "are not seeking alms, but their right," he said.

According to Sister Celestine, leaders of the self-help groups in flood-hit districts are now networking to fight for their right to borrow.

"The state government can't afford to ignore our concerns," she said.

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