The Report - North 24 Parganas

“My husband sends me money on a monthly basis and that is how I run thefamily expenses. We could have some savings but because of the loanrepayment factor, we have little option. If there are any additional expenses onhealth and other things, we usually have to take loans,” Anita says. Anita is alsopart of a SHG where she deposits Rs. 20 every month and from where she hadtaken loans for rebuilding the boat. But due to a severe storm the investmenthad gone down the drain.The pond excavation work took about 100 days. It took more time becauseworkers were not willing to work for long periods of time without direct hand tohand remuneration in cash. It was getting more and more difficult to find workersfor the work towards the end. Anita says that she could work on this project foronly 3 days as women are not employed very often. Her husband was on theproject for only 16 days. Besides this work, there have been other smaller projectssuch as road construction and brick layering where Anita found employment.NREGA has only partly contributed to additional earnings in the family becauseAlok has only been able to work for 20 days on NREGA sponsored employment.However, there have been several benefits to the community. In total, threeponds have been excavated for which people have found employment. Therehas been source of water apart from cultivation opportunities and fish rearing.Infact “some people have also dared to think about cultivating rice in thesummer with water from the ponds”, Anita says. Previously, there were nopossibilities of such earning. She says it was virtually impossible to have sustainedincome from the piece of land that she owns for the kind of family size she has.So pond excavation has helped immensely.There has been definite improvement in the village surroundings in terms ofsanitation facilities, cleanliness and better roads. Even women have been ableto earn better means of living. They have options of alternative employment –such as jari work and other things. Anita herself has been able to get someThe NREGA program had not gained much popularity in the beginning becausethe daily wages were not directly distributed. “If there is so much delay inreceiving the money, then what shall we eat?” Anita complains. Obviously,people left their work and joined other forms of employment. After earning someamount of money, they would return to pond excavation as this work providedby the government pays well.