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Varun Kashyap - My Blog
Varun Kashyap - My Blog


Time for Rickshaw Puller Community to Get Organized
Related to country: India

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

It is estimated that close to 10 million cycle rickshaws ply on the Indian roads carrying about 55-60 billion passenger-kilometers/year. They provide employment to more than 10 million rickshaw pullers; in fact they are the only means of living for 10 million families. They are very maneuverable, completely non-polluting and hence environmentally friendly means of transport. In the narrow lanes of towns and cities probably they are the only transport system to provide point to point travel.

Currently, 90% of India’s 10 million rickshaw-pullers rent their vehicles and the vehicle owners who generally have a fleet of anywhere between 10 and 1,000 Rickshaws charge them anywhere between INR 30 per day to 50 per day depending upon the city. The cost of the manual Rickshaw is around INR 7,000 (150US$), thus if the Rickshaw puller with a daily earning of around INR 150 -200 (US$ 3-4) can get a loan at 15% per annum, he can easily be a proud Rickshaw owner within a year’s time.
Just imagine the current scenario where a fleet owner is charging such a daily fees paying which one can easily own a Rickshaw in a year’s time. Shocking, isn’t it?

My idea is to systematize the working of all Rickshaw pullers by bringing them under one roof and to modernize the cycle rickshaw pulling sector (which contributes 30% in urban transport) with small but innovative changes.

For the overall Community development we will take the following initiatives-
1) Micro-Finance for the Rickshaw pullers to buy their own Rickshaws and break the circle of poverty.
2) Proper schooling for their children and coaching classes by NSS-PEC student members, so that they can get better education, break the social barrier and can get better jobs.
3) Micro-Finance for the female member of the family, engaging them to community initiatives like pickle making, stitching etc that can be marketed for overall community development and upliftment.
4) Propagating Community Cooking for better food and availability of pure drinking water.
5) Making the families bankable, opening of Joint Savings bank accounts for each family and ensuring adequate insurance coverage for the family.
6) Educating the overall community about the various government benefit schemes and how to avail them.
7) Investing in low-cost sustainable housing model and educating the people about sanitation and cleanliness.

The project intends to cater to all spheres of life, from education to nutritious food and pure drinking water to enough income generating opportunities for overall development of the a particular community that has not acquired a descent status despite of years of drudgery-the Rickshaw pullers. We intend to bring the following technology and grassroot innovations-
Providing low-cost battery operated Rickshaws on finance with innovation like advertisement space, selling of mineral water, juices etc for additional income source.
Forming of self help groups among the female youth that can produce marketable products.
Community cooking initiative for ensuring proper nutritious diet and access to pure drinking water.
Ensuring proper education of kids that will lead to better job opportunity leading to better status in the society.

“Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come”!!

July 1, 2009 | 4:28 PM Comments  2 comments

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