The Report - North 24 Parganas

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“I have a neighbour who had three mahogany trees about one and a half footin diameter and he sold the three for twenty five thousand rupees. That inspiredme to plant the same trees. It would pay off later.” “I have planted about twelveor thirteen trees here,” he adds.Mahendra Sardar wants his sons to get a proper education and he hopes to beable to do something for them after the mahogany trees grow and he sells themfor a lump sum of money. “It is not necessary that they do a job. Even if they takeup some sort of business, they need the education to be able to establish themproperly,” he says. “I have no knowledge of English,” he adds. “I want my sons tolearn it and they will be at a greater advantage over many others in this area.”Mahendra claims that he has had a big hand in getting his younger siblingsestablished in life. “My younger brother is a school teacher now and anothersister whom we had married off after she passed the Madhyamik exams, is nowappearing for the primary school teacher’s post,” he boasts. He sacrificed hisown education for the family but he would not let the same happen to any of hissons. His younger brother had to go outside to get a higher education and inspite of the scanty earnings Mahendra managed to let his younger brother takethe B.Ed examination after which he himself appeared for the teacher’s exam,passed it and is now a well established school master. His wife is also a teacher.Both of them respect and love Mahendra for all that he had done for them.Mahendra is very proud of his younger brother.Mahendra is very proud of his younger brother. He recalls how his wife Purnimasuffered from appendicitis and needed to be operated on immediately whichinvolved expenses over three thousand rupees not long ago. He called hisyounger brother who came with the money the very next day and helped him.“He was a great help,” Mahendra recalls and adds that he could not have doneanything that day without the help.Sardar says that NREGA has brought a lot of changes in his life. He has not onlybeen able to lease ten kathas of land for rice harvest but also has been able toopen a savings account in a bank with two thousand and five hundred rupeesfor emergencies. “I had lost faith in the government’s false promises. After Mr.Rao visited the place, things changed and now I think that NREGA Project is verygood.” Sardar adds, “There is one thing that I must say. As I had spoken in thepresence of Mr. Rao about my problems and as he had personally assured me ofeverything, the panchayat always makes sure that I get the first priority. Howeverthe panchayat officers like the BDO sahib did tell me that why I had opened mywoes to Mr. Rao when all this would have been done by the Panchayat. I havecalled Ms. Seth on occasions when I have faced problems and that are theirproblem. They don’t want me to call her. But unless I let her know what problems
I am facing, who will take care of them? I am not answerable to BDO Sahib.”Mahendra is angry that such things should have been said. “There is one moreproblem that we are facing and that is of electricity. We’ve been told that thepermission has been granted but I see no trace of the poles being set up or anysuch thing,” Mahendra adds. The roads also need to be made properly, he says.Presently the roads are laid with bricks and that is a relief but they are properroads. Mahendra wants proper roads for the village. When asked about whatother things would the STs of Sardar’s village want the NREGA to do for them,Mahendra says that there are a few ponds in the village that need to becleaned from time to time to keep them useable. “It would be a great help if theNREGA does this,” he says.Mahendra wants NREGA to work on the roads and the ponds. He also says thatthe ponds being dug by NREGA is about eight feet deep which is not enough tokeep water in it for long. He says that if the ponds were at least ten or twelve feetdeep then they would survive during the dry seasons. He adds that as the waterwould be used for irrigation, water in the pond would finish soon.In conclusion it can be said that at higher executive levels of the Gram Pnchayator the BDO office the NREGA Project for the STs has and is perhaps still is beingneglected. Job cards are being issued to show to the people that something isbeing done but in reality no concrete steps are being taken or even if so, theyare taking far too long to execute them, long enough for the ST community tolose faith in the government’s promises. If, as has happened with this particularrespondent, the NREGA Project is undertaken swiftly and efficiently instead of thepersonal interventions of Mr. Raos and Ms. Seths then perhaps the hand to mouthsituation of the ST community would see some relief.Another point to be noted is the fact that the depths of the ponds are only eightfeet, which according to the villagers would not be enough to hold water duringthe dry seasons. It remains a question therefore that why the officials who aredeciding these factors at the government level or at the NREGA level, are notmaking a proper survey of the actual situation before issuing work orders? If theponds dry up during certain seasons of the year then what is the use of havingdug them at all?It has been mentioned by Mahendra Sardar that some of the existing pondsneed to be cut and cleaned on a regular basis so that people could use them.The NREGA should look into the possibility of having this done to further help thevillagers.
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Prepared for:NREGA CELLNorth 24 Par
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The people of the village were dire
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pond. He also says that the people,
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3. LAXMAN SARDARNREGA has improved
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have enough fish to sell as well as
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The Sardar family used to live in a
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“My younger son could have come h
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and that has helped improving the h
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sold in the local market but due to
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7. SUBHADRA SARDARNREGA has offered
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She could have said that the six mo
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give him and his wife food. They on
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9. MAMATA SARDARNREGA has made vill
Page 27 and 28: 10. SAHADEV SARDARVillagers depend
Page 29 and 30: also says that their own pond took
Page 31: any money for the basic food items
Page 34 and 35: 13. BISHNU SARDARNREGA has been eff
Page 36 and 37: 14. RABIN GHOSHNREGA has generated
Page 38 and 39: 15.RAICHARAN SARDARNREGA has assure
Page 40 and 41: some temporary interim project that
Page 42 and 43: occurred,” says the aged farmer,
Page 44 and 45: two able sons who work in Barrackpo
Page 46 and 47: has not yet been received, Sujan st
Page 48 and 49: Rabindranath has approached the pan
Page 50 and 51: he does not belong to the party in
Page 52 and 53: was continuous family feuds and Jog
Page 54 and 55: 21. RADHAKANTA GAYENNREGA has incre
Page 56 and 57: 22. ANUKUL MONDOLEmployment on NREG
Page 58 and 59: 23. PRABASH CHANDRA MONDOLNREGA app
Page 60 and 61: The NREGA program has sponsored pro
Page 62 and 63: usually buy about 1 kg of oil but w
Page 64 and 65: “My husband sends me money on a m
Page 66 and 67: Abhilash has been working as a labo
Page 68 and 69: 27. ANIL MONDOLNREGA has provided h
Page 70 and 71: 28. DHIRENDRANATH SARDARNREGA is mo
Page 72 and 73: 29. KARTIK MUNDANREGA : Boon for un
Page 74 and 75: are able to work and the Panchayat
Page 76 and 77: nine hundred that he earns from bir
Page 80: The roads project should also be un
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The Report - North 24 Parganas

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