Transport In Sunderbans - 2: No Safety On Rivers Or Roads

Transportation networks in the Sunderbans are underdeveloped and remain largely dependent on river transport. According to a report on the Sunderbans biosphere, “in 4500 sq.km. inhabited areas, there is only 42 km. of railway line and about 300 km. of pucca road network. The only means of communication between the islands is through the waterways which is poorly organized and people have to depend on the private mechanized boats which are sometimes a serious life-risk. There is acute shortage of well-maintained jetties.”

Details are given in the table below.

Blocks of S24Pgs Ferry Services (Number) Bus Routes (Number) Distance from block HQ to Railway Station (km) Basanti 8 1 16 Canning - I 4 2 1 Canning - II 2 2 13 Gosaba 6 1 36 Joynagar - I 0 2 1 Joynagar - II 2 2 2 Kakdwip 11 3 8 Kultali 2 2 25 Mathurapur - I 0 1 3 Mathurapur - II 0 3 16 Namkhana 3 2 28 Patharpratima 22 1 44 Sagar 8 1 36

River transport

With 37 inhabited islands, all the blocks are heavily dependent on rivers and water ways for traveling. Most of the waterways are catered to by mechanised country boats, all of which are unlicensed. Government run launches are almost non-existent. For example, the only evidence we got of Government run river transport were in Canning where there are 3 Government launches and in Sagar. The unlicensed mechanized country boats are used as passenger boats as well as boats to carry goods. They are most often overcrowded and overloaded and there is no control exercised by any authority (as far as we know) to ensure passenger safety.

In the absence of this, dongas or non-motorized country boats, which are even more dangerous, are used. These are overloaded and often overturn. Shockingly, none of the boats have proper life saving equipment.

Certain ghats or jetties which are the only points of contact with the outer world for vast areas and large islands are catered to by only a few boats during the whole day. Even the country boats are not sufficient in number.We give some examples below. 

In Gosaba, a single motorised country boat is available during the whole day to go to three ghats including Gouranga ghat and  Kochukhali ghat. The boat is therefore very  overcrowded.

For  Palat from Kakdwip, there is only one motorised country boat available during the day.

In Namkhana block from Chaimaguri to Narayanpur there is only one trawler in the whole day which leaves at 9 AM from Narayanpur and comes back at 3.

In Pathar Pratima, from  Ramganga to G Plot, there are only two motorised country boats at 6 am and 7 am, which return at  2 and 2.30 pm. There is no other means of communication. If the boat gets broken down or gets stuck during low tide on a char  there is no other way to travel back.

In Kultali , from Somwarer bazaar to Raidighi, only one boat goes up and down.

In Kakdwip- Pathar Pratima, only a few boats are available on the Gangadharpur to Mandir ghat route

In Namkahna , for the Sasmal ghat, only a small size mechanised country boat runs . It comes every one hour to use the boat to go to school but they complain that they do not get the boat properly in time.There are only two boats in the whole day from Raidighi to Kedarpur Ghat.

Gangadharpur to Gopalnagar- motorised country boats are available only while there is high tide. After that, there are only small wooden boats known as dongas, which are overcrowded and in danger of sinking.

Where jetties have been constructed, these are in a state of disrepair. For example, Narayanpur Ghat, which is the main connecting point between Namkhana block and police station to all areas in the block and beyond is broken. Besides the few constructed jetty ghats, most points from where passengers embark and disembark are often only mud embankments where the passengers have to descend knee deep into the river and then clamber up in mud which is knee or thigh high. This is not just highly uncomfortable and very difficult especially for people carrying headloads or for children , pregnant women and old people, the presence of crocodiles in rivers make this a dangerous enterprise. The boats have no barricades or other systems to prevent crocodile attacks. We give some examples below:-

The route from Kakdwip to Ramgopalpur has about 30 stoppages , all in this condition.

All jetties on the boat routes from Kakdwip to Moipith, Brajaballabhpur and  Ghutiari are broken.

In Kadwip block, there are no proper ghats on the route from Baikunthapur to Takthipur, so when tide falls people have to wade through slush.

The boat from Sasmal to Bagdanga ghat in Namkhana block stops at many places where no ghat is there. At the terminal point itself , Bagdanga ghat is in a state of disrepair. In Gosaba, for  Satjelia 1, 2, 3 and 4,  ghats and separate boats are there but the ghats in bad state. For the crossing at Patibonia ghat in Namkhana, the jetty is broken on both sides.From Namkhana to Chaimaguri,the ghats are broken on both points of embarkation and disembarkation.

The business of auctioning off jetties and ghats seems a very important one for leaders in the Panchayat Samity and Zilla Parishad. However, there is little transparency on this issue. There are rumours that large sums of money exchange hands at this time. The winning bidder does not seem to take any responsibility for the overcrowding and safety of the boats, the state of the ghat or any other problem. In fact, we were told that the auctioning of the ghats was responsible for overcrowding . For example we heard that in Kultali, from Somwarer bazaar to Raidighi, only one boat goes up and down. The bid is Rs.70000 to Rs.1 lakh, so there is overloading to recover this money.

Systems such as fixed rates, rate cards, an association to which wrong doings can be reported are missing. Thus passengers receive no facilities or protection.Transportation for patients (in terms of a river ambulance ) or even mobile medical facilities are practically unavailable . With river transport stopping very early, emergency patients, including delivery cases, have to depend on quack doctors or village dais and are unable to reach medical aid quickly. 

For example,Boats going to and from Raidighi ghat to Kuimuri, Nandeer Ghat, K Plot, Kedarpur  and Bhubaneswari 19 Number Ghat stop at 5 pm.For  Satjelia 1, 2, 3 and 4 ghats, boats run only till 8 pm. For Patibonia ghat from Namkhana, boats stop after 8 pm. From Somwarer bazaar to Raidighi, the single boat that goes up and down stops at 5 pm. All boats in Pathar Pratima block stop at 8 pm.

We quote from a report below :-

“Difficult terrain and broken chain of transportation – especially in the least accessible islands - seem to force the mothers deliver births at home…. Out of sample 569 mothers, who delivered at least one child in the last five years, only 29 percent delivered their last child at public or private institutions.…. The results show that a woman, who delivered birth at home, would have to travel 8 KM on average had she decided to deliver birth at the nearest public hospital. However, the physical distance in the Sundarbans often fails to reflect the degree of inaccessibility as travelling a short distance in some pockets may mean quite a hardship due to broken transportation linkages or unavailable water transportation when it is most required. For example, a woman living at Lahiripur in Gosaba block would be required to visit Gosaba BPHC (hospital at the block headquarter) if she wants to deliver birth at a hospital. The shortest route to reach the BPHC would require her to walk or travel by van rickshaw a distance of 9 KM, cross a river, and then again ride a van rickshaw to cross a distance of 5.5 KM. In addition to hardships of cross-transportation, the whole journey would take about 3 to 3.5 hours. If she decides to avoid break-journeys and to travel by a single mode, she would take the river route (from Lahiripur to Bali, Bali to Gosaba BPHC) and reach the destination after a journey of 6-7 hours. A more viable alternative, in this case, would be to take a risk of delivering birth at home, or to helplessly wait for the morning if the problem starts at night.”

While the lack of regular transportation throughout the day and its total absence at night affects patients, it also means that administration becomes totally inaccessible for people. Thus, there are delays in reporting cases of rape and other crimes. Access to police stations is practically nil in remote areas, making it impossible for people to get protection from local goons when they protest about any corruption. Grievance redressal becomes a joke in such situations, as it takes a day and Rs.50-70 at least to reach the block office.

 Road Transport

As per statistics available from the Sunderbans Development Board, while the 13 blocks in South 24 Parganas have 8248.52 kms of roads , 80.6% of these roads are unsurfaced, kachha roads. All the important “towns”/market places in the area are badly catered to as far as road transport is concerned. Buses, autos , jeeps or trekkers are the main means of transport. Motorized van rickshaws have been started some years back. There is as far as we know, no licencing system for motorized van rickshaws. Fares are also not fixed and tend to be excessive after dark.

Buses and autos do not run at night. After 7 pm, there is no transport available to and from Raidighi. After 6 pm, buses stop from Kkadwip to Daimond Hrabour. Trekkers run till 8 pm only. 

There is no bus fromKakdwip to Gangadharpur  after 6 pm. After 9-10 pm no autos run from Lakshmiknatapur to Kulpi. Namkhana to 8 No ghat – no bus after 8 pm.

Overcrowding , carrying of passengers on the roof, overloading with goods are all common events which make travelling dangerous for passengers. People have to hang outside trekkers. Travelling on rooftops of buses and even trekkers is common. For example, from Lakshmikantapur to Kulpi autos take 8-10 people per auto. The same kind of overcrowding of autos and bsues has also been reported from the Mathurapur - Ghoradal line. Namkhana to Haripur – trekkers are overloaded,  accidents take place leading to stoppgae of the route for some time , after which the same kind of crowded services are resumed.

Drivers of buses complain that they are fined for being late, so they tend to drive recklessly fast at times. For example, buses on the Diamond Harbour to Mandirbazar/ Raidighi  route compete with each other for passengers driving recklessly and making it dangerous for passengers.

Conclusions

We urge the Government to take corrective action on the following:-

Of those who were victims of the Kakdwip boat tragedy, the families of the persons who are missing, numbering 68 to 70 in all, have received no aid at all so far. Similarly , about 16 of the injured persons had got themselves treated from local quack doctors and have also not received no aid so far. Relief for these families should be arranged immediately.

An immediate system for licensing of motorised country boats and motorised van rickshaws in the Sunderbans must be started.

The Government should take measures to encourage more boats to ply in the Sunderbans, so as to stop the present overcrowding. It must also encourage more buses to ply in these routes.

After ensuring that there is a reasonable increase in the number of boats and buses plying, it must set up norms for and systems of monitoring of:

Number of passengers to be carried

Amount of goods to be carried

Safety equipment in all boats

Make carrying of passengers on roofs or hanging outside buses and jeeps a punishable offence.

Permanent well maintained permanent jetties must be constructed and maintained in all stoppages along all boat routes, with safety measures against crocodile attacks.

Transparency on the system by which ghats  are auctioned and on the responsibilities of winning bidders must be there.

Reasonable rates for buses , autos, motorised vans and boats must be fixed and well publicised, and also monitored.

Mobile medical ambulance boats must be provided for all block and sub block level hospitals and must be available free of cost at all hours for all island dwellers.

Related Post: Transport In Sunderbans -1: Dicing With Death 

PBKMS Takes Lead In Organising Against Haripur Nuclear Plant Plan

[This is a report of our earlier mobilisation against the Haripur plant] 

On November 16, 2006, a team of 12 technocrats, all from the nuclear industry and research establishments, arrived in West Bengal on a four-day visit to inspect seven possible sites for a nuclear power plant. PBKMS, after finding out their plans, organised a blockade at  Joonput–Haripur, one of the chosen sites. About 5000 local people led by PBKMS resisted the entry of the officials on the 17th of November. The Matsyajibi Unnayan Samity (a constituent member of the National Fishworkers Forum) was also an active participant. The blockade received the active support of Subhendu Adhikary, the local MLA, members of most political parties including supporters of Democratic Socialist Party (a constituent of the Left Front).

The resistance continued for the next two days, in spite of a huge police presence and repeated threats of police action. On the 19th, attempts by the administration to come into the area were thwarted once again, while the team of nuclear experts met the Chief Minister. In spite of the very vocal protest by the residents of Joonput-Haripur, the Chief Minister and the experts have declared that Haripur is the chosen site for the nuclear plant – without however inspecting the site, due to the blockade!

The PBKMS members in Joonput- Haripur are resisting the land acquisition for two reasons. One, the Government plans to acquire over 5000 acres for the nuclear power plant. This land is rich and multi-cropped. It is used to grow paddy, wheat, mustard, potatoes, betel leaf and chillies. Over 25,000 people depend on this farmland. It also consists of a sea beach which supports about 20,000 fisherpeople. In addition, the buffer zone for a nuclear plant in India to prevent radioactivity has a radius of 1.6 km where no one is allowed to live. In addition, only 10,000 people can live within a five-km radius, 20,000 within a 10-km radius and 100,000 only live in a 30-km radius. All this means massive displacement from livelihood and homes for the residents of Haripur and its surrounding areas, all of which are rich and thickly populated farmland.

Secondly the residents of Haripur are also terrified of the effects of radioactivity and pollution on their lives. The fishermen fear a drop in fish yields due to the heating of the sea water which will be used to cool the reactor. There is also the ever-present fear of leakages and radioactivity, with irreversible effects on people's health.

It should be noted that PBKMS was also part of a successful Statewide campaign in 2000 to stop construction of a nuclear plant in the ecologically sensitive area of Sunderbans. It has been preparing its members in Joonput- Haripur for the invasion by the nuclear industry for the past 4-5 months. Educational meetings with nuclear experts and street corner meetings and distribution of leaflets against land acquisition and in support of the Singur land struggle were organized. A team of five PBKMS members from Haripur also visited Singur and met the agricultural workers there. The villagers were therefore well prepared for the visit by the nuclear establishment.

We seem to however to be headed for a long struggle, as expensive and unsafe nuclear power seems to be part of the grand design for industrialization that the Chief Minister has for West Bengal. On November 20, PBKMS took the lead with all political parties and unions to form a citizens’ committee “Parmanu Chulli Birodhi O Bheete Mati Jeeban Jeebika Bachao Committee” (Committee Against Nuclear Plant and To Save Homes, Life and Livelihood).

We appeal to all of you to send letters of protest to the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the Prime Minister of India stating that:

i) The West Bengal Government must stop acquisition of prime farmland for non-agricultural uses.

ii) Keeping in mind the inherent dangers, nuclear energy should not be one of the choices that India or any other country makes for fulfilling its energy needs

 (Prime Minister: http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm  fax 011-23016857

Chief Minister: cm@wb.gov.in fax 033-22145480)

Related Post: Letter To Medvedev  

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PBKMS Fights For Farm Workers

For 20 years now, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, PBKMS (Association of West Bengal Agricultural Farm Workers), has been working for the rights of the poorest of India’s poor, the farm workers. With a membership of 67,172 -- half of them women -- in 1010 villages in the state of West Bengal, ironically ruled by a party which claims to be of the Left but is nevertheless hostile to this independent trade union, PBKMS fights on several fronts.

PBKMS promotes the rights of agricultural workers to decent wages and that of guaranteed work enshrined in Indian law.  It is part of the broad movement against forcible land seizures by the state of West Bengal to set up large industries while denying the livelihood of the small farmers and agricultural workers. It has resisted land grab for setting up nuclear plants.

The union organises on the right to food, demanding that it be made legally binding while campaigning against misuse and corruption in the public food distribution system. It campaigns for tea garden workers in Bengal, where hundreds of workers have died of starvation or killed themselves as the gardens have shut.

Conscious of the neglected status of women in the agricultural workforce, PBKMS has conscientised itself to the gender question and women have come up through the leadership ranks of the union. Shramajivee Mahila Samity (Working Women's Association), a fraternal organisation of PBKMS works particularly on women's issues, primarily that of trafficking and domestic violence. A natural corollary of poverty and lack of work in the countryside is the trafficking of both women and men. The women are trafficked for either the sex industry or as ill-paid domestic workers and the men are traded as virtually indentured labour in construction sites. Both PBKMS and SMS helps abandoned and enslaved migrant workers, men and women, through its national links and takes up their cause.

PBKMS has recently launched a programme to involve rural youth in constructive social work such as education, popularising science and spreading health awareness. It holds primary health and eye clinics in the villages. It has published affordable informative books and pamphlets and has undertaken several research projects. It is sustained by more than a thousand volunteers and 31 full-time activists, many of whom live in a collective, growing their own food, running creches and providing shelter for women who have had to escape domestic violence.

PBKMS is part of the pan-Indian alliance of agricultural worker and other unions. It is affiliated to the New Trade Union Initiative and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ and is a member of its Agricultural Trade Group and the Asia Pacific Women’s Committee.

PBKMS’ core values are:

In a state deeply divided by political parties, PBKMS speaks of trade unionism that is independent of party politics, and based primarily on workers’ interests;

In a society that is divided by caste and religion, it speaks of workers’ solidarity over and above caste and religious divisions;

In a patriarchal society, it speaks powerfully of women’s rights and promotes women’s leadership;

In a society where domination of the few over the many is the rule, it speaks of democratic functioning and decentralisation;

In a society where people preach but do not practise, it insists that its full-time workers and leaders follow the principles they preach.

PBKMS is faced with the predictable wrath of the state. Its members have been imprisoned, false cases have been registered against them and its donors pressured to withhold funding as a way of strangulating the union.

PBKMS is looking to deepening international links. We welcome trade unionists, civil rights activists and anyone who shares the vision of ‘another world is possible’ to get in touch with us. PBKMS looks forward to sharing experiences, information and skills with its compatriots abroad.

Contact details:

Anuradha Talwar and Swapan Ganguly at

Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity,

1, Shibtola Road , Village Maheswarpur,

Post Badu, Kolkata – 700129,

West Bengal, India

Tel: (0091) 9433002064, (0091) 9433264109

Email: pbkmswb@gmail.com

NREGA In West Bengal: How To Ruin A Working Class Programme

[Press release of February 2, 2009] 

On 2^nd February 2006, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) finally became operational. It was the fruit of three decades of struggle by unions, political parties and people’s organisations all over the country. It was thus with a lot of hope that many of us viewed NREGA.

There were many who thought that a Left Government would take to a programme meant for rural workers like a duck to water. Unfortunately even after three years, West Bengal’s performance remains dismal. A comparison with the national average makes this clear. In 2006-07, West Bengal could create only 14 days of employment while the national average was 43 days. The best performing state, Rajasthan, created 85 days of work. In the second year, last year or 2007-08, West Bengal created 25 days of work, an improvement, but still behind the national average of 42 days and the best performing state of Tamil Nadu which created 82 days.

We seem to be headed for a hat trick – the third year of NREGA also promises to be one of bad performance. The national average is 40 days and one of the best performing states, Rajasthan, has already created 60 days of work. The state level figures till mid January 2009 show that West Bengal had created less than half the national average and only one-third of Rajasthan at 19 days of employment.  With only two and a half months before the year ends, it is doubtful whether there will be any great progress this year in West Bengal. Rural workers in West Bengal are bound to get little work again this year from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

What underlies the recurring poor performance in NREGA? In over thirty years of Left rule, the people of West Bengal have always been told about the neglect of the Centre. Is that true of NREGA also? Has that terrible ogre at the Centre deprived the disfavoured Left Front of its just entitlements? Facts however disprove this myth. On 23^rd January, as per the nrega.nic.in website, the State of West Bengal had funds available of Rs. 96946 lakhs, Central funds sanctioned of Rs. 61684.72 lakhs, and an expenditure of Rs.52212.679 lakhs, amounting to an unspent balance of Rs. 106418.1 lakhs. Thus, more than two-thirds of the funds available remain unspent in January 2009- with only two and half years of the financial year left!

NREGA is a demand driven scheme. The more work the people demand, the more is the employment that has to be generated; or, the better you perform, the more is the money available for you. Improper fund flow from the centre to the Panchayats, the main implementing bodies was one of the teething problems that NREGA had, but since last year each Panchayat has with it a ready sum of money to spend. Still very little employment is being created. Certain Panchayats continue to create not even one day of work. In Bilkumari GP in Nakashipara block of Nadia, a district where NREGA started in 2007-08, there are still households that have not been given their job cards so far- let alone work- though the scheme has been functional for 21 months. It seems we have a Government that is not able to spend money that it has its disposal, but it still keeps cribbing about lack of funds.

What actually underlies the non-performance of West Bengal in NREGA is the class character of the Government that we have. The Left Front may call itself a working class government; it has however become a government of the rich and powerful (as has been obvious in their actions and the sides they have taken during the struggles against displacement at Nandigram, Singur, Katwa, Deganga, Bhangur, Haripur, Kulpi,  – an endless list!). It has also, in spite of being in power for thirty years and in spite of controlling all major unions of Government employees, been unable to change the mentality of Government employees who treat rural workers as if they were sub-human. What is even more worrying is that even after a change in the party in power in some places, those who have been newly elected are finding it difficult to change this anti rural worker trend. Sometimes even the newly elected seem to be as anti worker as those whom they have ousted.

Most elected representatives and the bureaucrats (with few notable exceptions here and there) have therefore tried to spike the NREGA. Just the simple receipt of an application for work has become a gigantic task for rural workers. In Nadia... applicants were forced to sit in a dharna for … hours to get just a work application received. A very common complaint is that even after applying for work, people do not receive work. Or they are given work which is very far away. Applicants from Dobandi village in Singur block of Hooghly were given work in Tarkeswar block. Under the Scheme, workers would have received Rs. 7.50 as travelling allowance in addition to their wages, but it would have cost them Rs.25-30 per day to go to work and come back.

While the Act clearly states that applicants must apply for 14 days of work, in reality people are given work orders for just a few days - even a day. Workers often waste a precious workday, when they reach the work site to find that there is no one to tell them their task- though every scheme formulated under the Act has provision of a Supervisor. The supervisor is generally a party cadre who takes his wages under the scheme, but does no work. 

Wage payments are delayed sometimes for months. The Act entitles workers to compensation for late payment of wages. However, not a single worker has been awarded such compensation. The Act says that if work is not provided within 15 days of application, workers must be provided with unemployment allowance. Except for 7 persons in Namkhana block and 38 persons from Barida village in Egra block, no one has received unemployment allowance in West Bengal so far- though thousands of people have applied for unemployment allowance, after not receiving work. The award of unemployment allowance to these 45 persons also seems totally ad hoc as there are many others who applied under exactly the same circumstances, but who have received neither unemployment allowance, nor an explanation for refusal.

An inherent part of NREGA is the ad hoc treatment of wages. In Keshabpur village under Lakhanpur GP in Hura block, workers have not been paid wages for 24 days of work for over two months now. The workers started a dharna in front of the Panchayat office in protest. After staying there overnight, on the next day, they were informed that wages would be paid immediately – at the rate of Rs.22 per day for 8 hours of hard labour! When the workers refused to take such low payment, a revision took place – they were offered Rs.48 per day. On speaking to the BDO of the block, we were told that the increase had taken place because the Sub Assistant Engineer of the block had not counted a great number of the pits dug by the workers the first time he had measured the work! It seems even qualified engineers forget how to count when it comes to giving wages to agricultural workers! The workers have still refused to take these low wages and have asked for a third count- in their presence. Women workers in Asharu GP have been asked to dig 70 cu. ft. of earth per day which is giving them wages of Rs.35-45 per day. The reason- the engineer there is using a rate which is meant for soft soil, when the soil is actually hard.

The women found that people who worked on the same team were receiving different wages, that even number of days worked differed from one person to the other. When they asked for the muster roll to understand why the differences were taking place, they were shown a long print out pasted on a wall of the Panchayat, which they will now have to copy manually to check the calculations. The Act says clearly that workers rates must be fixed in such a way as to ensure that workers get minimum wages (Rs.81 at present in West Bengal) for a full day’s work; an issued by the Principal Secretary on October 16^th 2006 repeats this. Yet, Panchayat representatives (often irrespective of party affiliation) and bureaucrats are using ways of ensuring that workers do not get the minimum wage.

Delays in payment of wages and low wages are due to the callousness of a set of people who receive their monthly pay packets dot on time and who are paid no matter what their output. Yet, they try very hard to find ways to deprive rural workers of wages that can often mean the difference between starvation and survival for them and their families.

For a rural worker, who generally needs money to buy food on a daily basis, delays in allotment of work and payment of wages or low wages for a day of hard work mean that workers are forced to go in for migration and other forms of precarious work rather than rely on Government employment in the much safer village environment. Nur Mohammed and 20 other workers from Belpukur GP in Kulpi block are at present in Gangapur village in Cachar district in Assam. A labour contractor from Kakdwip took them to work for the ONGC. The contractor has run away with their wages. They have no food to eat and no money to come home. Nur Mohammed’s departure for work in Assam was preceded by an unsuccessful attempt for more than a year to get work from the Panchayat and block. 93 girls and women from almost every second house in Jeliakhali in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas had been taken by unscrupulous agents to Delhi to work as domestic servants. In 2008, fifteen months after NREGS was started in the district, we found that none of their families knew about NREGA. None of them had a job card.  Many of the girls and women who had gone to Delhi had disappeared, many were in situations of bondage unable to return home, and all had been cheated of their wages. In 2006, while investigating reports of starvation deaths in Bamandihi in Belpahari block of Paschim Midnapore, we found that not a single day of work under NREGA had been created in the affected villages.

The relation between starvation, precarious work, forced migration and bondage is crystal clear. The reluctance of most officials and elected representatives to actually implement this law is also equally clear. The enthusiasm that one sees from Government officials and elected representatives for programmes involving large contracts (and large cutbacks) is totally missing in NREGA. That is not to say that there is no corruption in NREGA. To give only one example, in Puncha block, there is a road which has been made once, but has been shown thrice in three different muster rolls. The problem is that even stealing in NREGA requires an effort and it is obviously not worth the effort.

After the 2006 Assembly elections, the Hindu (April 16^th 2006) gave an analysis of vote shares, which showed that the only economic group amongst which the Left Front had shown a loss of vote share in West Bengal was that of rural workers. The 2008 Panchayat vote has shown an erosion of base once again amongst rural voters for the Left Front – many say a result of their anti-poor stand during the land struggles. The recent Assembly elections in 5 states have shown victories for Ramen Singh or Chawal Baba in Chattisgarh and for the BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi- analysts say these are results of their good performance on cheap food and other kinds of pro-poor schemes. These are all signs that the performance and delivery of rights and benefits to the poor are becoming important factors in elections. Let all beware- Left, Right and Centre. The non-performance on NREGA may become factor that determines whom rural workers vote for in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.