The Report - North 24 Parganas

none sacks were got which was hardly enough. Apart from the land the Sardarsalso own four cows used to give milk for the children of the family.The Sardars have been through very hard times before the job card was issuedand Kuloboti remembers the times around fifty years ago, when they wereunable to see rice in the fields. Now at least they get some harvest and are ableto get some rice from their own fields. Now they are getting some more moneyas the government is giving her husband, Sahadev, an unemployment stipend ofthree thousand and five hundred rupees a month. “We pull through, somehow,”Kuloboti says.The pond dug under the NREGA Project was dug in the month of ‘baishak –jaishtha’ this current year. The Sardars have planted egg plants, tomatoes andbanana trees along the pond’s shores in the dug up soil. The bananas sell well aswell. They also have some mango trees that give good mangoes and that sellswell too. Kuloboti says that the family does not use the pond water for drinkingbut they do cook rice with it. The pond was very small before and under theNREGA Project, it has been dug to a larger size – to about five kathas. The waterfor irrigation comes from this pond and goes to the fields with the help of apump.Sahadev Sardar is a job card holder and has worked for twenty two days on hisown pond and as his wife says has also got to work on others’ ponds for fifteen orsixteen days each. The soil dug up from the pond has been distributed in theharvest fields and to prevent the soil from being washed back into the pondduring the rainy season, the Sardars have made an ‘aari’ around the pond. Thenew soil will help in smaller vegetable or fruit harvests. The Sardars have three jobcards but only the son and Sahadev have worked on the ponds. Kuloboti did notdo the work. The son and father have worked together. The son deals with themonetary matters of the family and the aged couple is unable to say how muchthe duo earned from the NREGA Project. The money that was earned has beenentirely taken by the son and his parents have no idea what he has done withthe money. It was not spent on anything. Kuloboti says that she has small ruhi fishin the pond which were bought from the market and released in the pond tobreed. “The fish are not ready yet to be eaten or sold. We must wait for somemore time before we can do so,” says Kuloboti.Kuloboti’s daughter in law says that her husband and father in law have earnedfour thousand and five hundred rupees from the NREGA Project but that all hadbeen spent on household expenses. Nothing could be saved. She says that it isgood that a lump sum could be got after the work. It is easier to run the familythat way. The previous year’s money was also given and that included, hasamounted to the four thousand and five hundred rupees. The daughter in law