The Report - North 24 Parganas

3. LAXMAN SARDARNREGA has improved the wellbeing of village peopleThe youngest of three daughters and three sons of late Upen Sardar, LaxmanSardar is a thirty year old farmer. His father passed away in 1995 after which thebrother in the middle and Laxman got married and settled down. The threedaughters had already been married off by then and the older brother hadseparated from the family. Laxman lives with the brother just older to him and hissister in law and has a son and a daughter himself. Laxman’s daughter is twoyears old and has a growth under her tongue. The family has been to Kolkata atthe Calcutta Medical Hospital and the doctors there had said that it would costhim about six thousand rupees to get the operation done but they were not ableto give Laxman a proper date. “We are daily wagers and losing a day is a bigloss for us. That considered, how long could we wait there?” asks a sad fatherand adds, “So we came back and my daughter is under treatment since then. Ihave taken her to all the place that people asked me to go but no real help hascome my way.” The three brothers have one bigha of land to share and Laxmansays that he gets work for four or five days in a week and is somehow managingto pull through. Laxman’s son is around seven or eight years old now.The house that they live in now was built by the two brothers together and thefamily itself had settled down in this place since the time the place was a jungle.Laxman is a positivist. He says, “A day passed is passed well. We do not knowwhat is in store for us tomorrow. Our father brought us up somehow and wasunable to give us an education but we manage by working as daily labourersand we sometimes go out to earn more money. That way we are trying toimprove ourselves.” Laxman is able to sign his name though.Laxman’s wife is a member of the local Self Help Group. The group had started apoultry business. The fowls had been kept at the house of the secretary of thegroup but they all died, says Laxman.Apart from the land and the house Laxman has two cows, two of which hadbeen gifted to him by his eldest brother and he has a third one that he has gotfrom another person and must return it once the cow gives birth. At the momentnone of the cows give milk but one used to. The milk used to be consumed bythe whole family, especially the children. The shed for the cows is always readyand the food is no problem as Laxman gets the supply when he works on otherpeople’s rice fields. He does not own any fowl due to the pesticides that he hasto use in his fields and due to the lack of space. He has one female goat thatone of his relatives has forcibly given him till a kid is to be born.