The Report - North 24 Parganas

times and agrees to the fact that the project has improved his situation. “Wecould not allow the children to go hungry,” he adds.Mahendra’s pond was worked on first. If a person is able to dig a ten by ten holeof one foot depth each in the ground ten times then he would be doing a‘hundred soil’ work for which he gets paid eighty eight rupees. In other words forevery ‘hundred soil’ (eksho mati) a labourer working with a job card would geteighty eight rupees. So if a person is able to do twice the amount of digging thenhe would get one hundred and sixty rupees at the end of the day. Mahendraworked this amount each day like the others on his pond as well as on others’.“I’ve earned more in a day on the card than I get from biri making and I havegot a good amount of work as well. I have worked on others’ ponds as well as onthe river after Cyclone Aila hit this area,” he says. He is not able to say the exactamount he has earned on the card but says that it was a good amount. Thework continued a little over three months and he has all the money he workedfor. The NREGA Project did a lot of good for the village and the villagers he adds.As he got a lump sum of money from the digging, he used the amount to lease aten katha of land for himself. The local term for this lease is called ‘ekraal’. Aperson in need of money would lease out his land for the amount required toanother villager through a legal and written agreement and if the amount isreturned within the Bengali month of ‘chaitra’ then the land has to be returnedto him. “The timing is set according to the rice harvest and one works in theleased land and enjoys the profits,” Mahendra explains. It has not been a yearsince he has taken the lease and he and his family are working hard for the riceharvest. It had cost him ten thousand rupees for the ten kathas. The moneycame from the NREGA Project. The pond has proved to be very useful. It makes iteasier to eat fish from one’s own pond and over more one does not have to buythe expensive fish from the market. Then the water problem has also beensolved. The family gets enough water to bathe and do the household utensil andclothes washing there. The dug up soil is being used to plant vegetables whichagain would suffice the previously scanty meals that the Sardars had beenhaving. Mr. Rao had promised that the owners of these newly dug up pondswould get fisher lings (macheer chara) as well as some plant seeds to start thecircle of success but the villagers have received nothing from the governmenton that front yet, says Mahendra. “I am waiting for the promised seeds as I haveinvested all my money in the rice harvest this year but if I don’t get any then Ishall have to think of buying them myself which again is a costly affair. If I am notable to enjoy the fruits in my lifetime then at least my sons would be able to doso.” He has already planted ladies fingers, cucumbers and such othervegetables and apart from his immediate family he has distributed thevegetables to his mother and other brothers. He has also planted somemahogany trees which are now a little more than a closed fist right now he says.