The Report - North 24 Parganas

Laxman Sardar is sending his son to a kindergarten school nearby and hopes toeducate him – something that he himself missed out on in his life. When askedwhat he would like his son to be when the child grew up, Sardar replies that it isnot for him to say. “I cannot say anything. I don’t expect him to do much but atleast he must not be a daily labourer like me. He must do something a little betterthan that.”Laxman had seen hard times once during his father’s time and the second timeafter his father’s death when his son was a baby. “There were days when I justhad to get work to be able to get something to eat or just had to borrow ricefrom other people,” says Laxman Sardar and recalls how his two older brothershad extended help as they used to work outside. The brother in the middle is inNew Delhi right now and works there as a guard while his sister in law works inpeople’s houses there. They have no children and sometimes sends some moneyto Laxman. The brothers help each other in times of need.The job card was issued to Laxman two years ago but no work had been givento him till Mr. M.V.Rao visited the village. After which Laxman got some work onthe card. He says that he has worked on ponds. Laxman says that he had got toknow of the job card two years ago from the Panchayat member of the areawho guided him to apply and get the card. Laxman explains that he hadworked for some days on people’s ponds and that apart from the daily wage ofeighty one rupees he earned a little more when he worked extra. The extra workwas paid in terms of how many feet he had been able to dig in a day.“I have spent the money to buy supplies for the house and for my daughter’streatment,” says Sardar. He also says that the problem with the Project was thatthough work and money were not lacking yet the money came in one and ahalf months later. That was a very big problem as daily labourers like him mustget their wages regularly. Consequently he was unable to save any money. In2009 Laxman had work for about a month and a half. He says that this problem isacute for not only his own family but also for other families like his. “We have tobring home money every day and if we don’t we don’t get to eat,” he explainsand adds, “So if we are sitting without work, we have to fall back on our ownsupplies which never lasts too long. We have to buy everything. I used to ownsome land but lost it in mortgage due to my daughter’s treatment. If I got the jobcard work for at least twenty or twenty five days then I could have done better,”he adds.Laxman had an existing pond on his land and under the NREGA Project, he hadit made bigger. He has already started the fish breeding process by releasingsome fisher lings in it. He has silver cup, ruhi and some other small fish in the pondnow. Silver cups survive well in these waters. Laxman hopes that soon he would