The Report - North 24 Parganas

18. RABINDRANATH GAYENBenefits generated by NREGA has in part helped in absorbing thenegative effects of Aila stormRabindranatha Gayen, 37 years old has only been educated till the Class X leveland has not been married. He lives with his parents and is therefore only a threemember family. He is the principal earning member in the family. The family isrunning on aid from relatives. “We donot have enough money for survival.”Rabindranath has been able to build a house on about one bigha of land that isclose to his current place of residence – “this is an old place owned by the familyfor ages from his grandfather’s time. It has been partly damaged by the Ailastorm”. In addition, Rabindranath shares the property with his elder brother whohas been married and has a family.The single crop land does not have enough produce for the family’s well being.“NREGA project has therefore helped me a lot. I have received about Rs. 14000for the work on pond excavation. But the size of the pond is not very big and notsufficient for rice cultivation. I can do vegetation but the pond needs to beexcavated a bit more for rice as rice is the most important produce we have.”In the past, Rabindranath had a sari shop from where he had adequateearnings. Due to natural catastrophes he had lost his shop, money and businessto floods. This has been one of the greatest shocks in his lifetime. Thereafter hehad applied for many loans which never got sanctioned. The final devastationon all his establishments was caused by the Aila storm. Thereafter, despite takingseveral trainings at Barasat on handicrafts, he couldnot revive his old work onbusiness. Finally, he has been forced to resort to cultivation. There areoutstanding loans of Rs.50000 to Rs.60000 that he has to take care of. These loanshave been the result of loss of property and investments.“I think even more than work, I need to have a huge loan which is going to helpme revive my old business. The manager from the Bank says I have to pay 20%interest and that is beyond my capacity.”The alternative piece of land has a pond and some area for vegetationcultivation. By means of the NREGA project, the pond has been excavated onthe alternative piece of land that the family owns from about a year ago.Rabindranath says that he has introduced fingerlings into the pond very recentlyfor fish rearing – “I have introduced tilapia fingerlings and only a few othervarieties because the pond is new and shallow. Although it has not beenaffected by the storm, the water inflow into the pond has not been regularisedand therefore I have chosen not to be too much ambitious.”