The Report - North 24 Parganas

Abhilash has been working as a labourer since early childhood. Most of the timeshe has been working in and around the Barasat area as a daily wage laboureron PWD projects. Naturally, he and his wives have not had an opportunity toattend school and have proper education. However in the last four years he hasnot been able to continue working as a labourer for health issues. “My nephewhas suggested that I should only be working within the village as a van puller andnot leaving the village for work at all. He himself has tried to manage thehousehold expenses with work outside. With the money he has sent, we havebeen able to buy a van as well.”It has been very difficult for Abhilash to find work within the village. ‘Employmentopportunities only exist outside the village’, he says. “There are very few peopleliving in the village right now. So who would even choose to use the van fortransportation?” He also states that there are some opportunities for work in thevillage when there is road construction, repair, pond excavation and other kindsof labour oriented work. But these opportunities are so rare and uncertain that itis pointless for villagers like him to wait for the same.In cultivation, rice crops are the primary yield. Besides, Abhilash uses his field alsofor producing vegetables in small quantities like okra, bitter guard and spinach.“I was told by the panchayat members that the government is providing work tothe poor people and if one is interested in joining then one should join. I don’thave much understanding about work. The committee members gave me thekinds of documents I needed for appropriate work. They are the ones who mademy job card. Thereafter they took the initiative to excavate the pond.” It took 9days to excavate the pond and 28 men. Whatever money we had earned fromworking these days were deposited in a bank. None was given to us directly.About Rs. 13000 was spent in excavating the pond.The SHGs in the village constituting women are able to save some amount ofmoney. Abhilash’s wives have also been able to take some loans by beingmember of the lotus group and the money has been returned. However theseloans provide temporary relief as they have to be returned eventually, he says.Without proper work, loans are useless. “I don’t want to take loans for rearing fish.It will be difficult to return money.” But the pond has been useful for earnings tosome extent.Our daily earnings amount to Rs. 100 per day of which I can earn about Rs. 30 aday. The rest of expenses are taken care of by my wife and nephew.The 100 day’s work is very beneficial for workers. But the timing of the work isuncertain. It has its pros and cons as well. Government sponsored schemes paywell. There is no risk of workers being cheated.