In our way to Tantipara, we met Bindubasini Dasi, an old resident of the village. Now Bindubasini can afford to spend one thousand rupees for luxury items like pant piece, ornaments, cosmetics etc., which she could not even think of just two decades back. Bindubasini repents that her husband was once badly exploited by village moneylender from whom he had taken loans. Now her sons get loans from the Government, an opportunity which their farther could never avail of. It is the left front government of West Bengal, which has changed the entire scenario in only two decades of time.

In our way to the village, we saw a well decorated shop selling cold drinks. Next to that was a godown of cement and a fertiliser shop. The villagers get their daily requirements from these shops. Ajit Mondal, a villager of Tantipara told us that the daily wage of the agricultural workers is now rupees forty as against rupees four twenty-two years back. "It is extremely hard to find out anybody in the village who does not own a plot of land", he said.

In 1976, the correspondent of the Statesman talked to Kalipada Das and Gour Das, whereby they came to know about the sorry state of the village. Kalipada Das, a teacher by profession, had told the correspondent of the Statesman about their problems and the need for change. Kalipada Das now leads a happy life in Seuri where he owns a house. He told our correspondent that Tantipara had been chosen by Mihirlal Chattopadhyay, a veteran freedom fighter, for making it a village which would be self-sufficient and Birbhum Public Welfare Institution with the help of his nine associations. Now, as the time has changed the activities of this institution have changed as well. Now, they generally organise health camps. Tantipara now has four primary schools; one high school and one girls' school and the percentage of attendance in those schools are quite high.

The main occupation of the villagers of Tantipara is however weaving and they weave Tussar clothes. Earlier as there were no arrangements for government assistance for the weavers. They had to depend solely on local moneylenders. As the interest rates were high and their wages were meager, the weavers could hardly produce anything. After, the Left Front Government came to power the situation started changing and now it has changed completely. The government through the village panchayets and the departments of the forests has undertaken large scale programmes for social forestry and now Tusser is getting cultivated in these forests. The government purchases the final product form the producer, weaver at a reasonable rate to help them. The head of the village panchayet of Tantipara told our corespondent that almost all the villagers depend upon Tusser there for livelihood. However, because of inadequate rainfall Tussar cannot be cultivated more than once in a year. To overcome the problems the ruling left front government over the last two decades had developed eight co-operative societies for the promotion of Tussar cultivation and as a result the weavers of Tantipara can still work. "If the earlier situation had prevailed the village would have become a desert by now," believes the head of the panchayet.

The weavers of Tantipara are very careful in maintaining the quality of their product, as it is heavily demanded in the market. At the same time, the government also takes active interest in further improvement of the product quality. Khadi commission has already taken steps to find out new techniques for improving the quality of Tusser clothes and it has selected Tantipara as its centre of operation. A member of the village panchayet told our correspondent that the government gives financial assistance to the weavers. Besides several government organisation like Tantusree, Tantuja, Manjusha etc. help the weavers by purchasing their products at a reasonable price and marketing them.