The Report - North 24 Parganas

5. SUBOL SARDARNREGA has initiated formal use of the system of banking among poorvillagersSubal Sardar is 62 years old and had moved to Bailani, Hinganlaganj from Halda,Banshtala along with his parents. The family resorts to farming as their primaryoccupation and has about 7 bighas of land. As one of the elder children in thefamily, Subol had to often find work in areas of Hedua and Gopalpur. “With lot ofdifficulty and hard work, I am able to manage three square meals a day for allthe members in the family.” His family constitutes of his two sons, two daughtersand grandson. Subol’s elder son works in a chowmin shop where he earns Rs.2500. “I haven’t been able to educate my children in the way I wanted to,”Subol says. This is his greatest failure he believes.Subol works as a zonal officer in Bishnupur area and supervises the operations ofHingalganj project Tagore Society. “Whatever facilities I get being part of thisproject, for example with pond excavation and vegetation efforts, I wish to shareit with the people of my own village.”Subol has other kinds of work experiences as well. For many years he has beenworking in an electric power house named River Research in Kalyani, Nadia andhas also had the training on the haringhata milk farm. This is in addition to thetrainings he has received on animal husbandry matters vis a vis training programsarranged from the BDO office. Apart from these, the very enthusiastic Subol hasreceived training on the SSA program, farmer’s training program and has beencertified on it. His wife is a member of the Sonamoni SHG.Currently Subol has several different engagements---planting and groomingvegetation on his household premises, working as a laborer and being a NGOworker. He is also involved with selling homemade mats for some additionalincome. Subol’s daughter-in-law is in the biri business and Subol has also tried toget her involved on NREGA work with an ID card.Currently Subol has about 4 bighas of cultivable land and a total of 5 bighas ofland property. The pond has been excavated on his house premises and he hadreceived Rs. 15,400 for the work. The excavated mud from pond has helped invegetation and fruit plantations such as supari, mangoes and bananas andthere has been lot of fishes in the pond as well. Lately, Subol has been able tomake some investments in baby prawns and other fingerlings.Subol is also very supportive of using bio-fertilisers. “I think the NREGA programhas helped in many ways. The sanitation system in the village has developed