Calcutta to ban hand-pulled rickshaws.

crvlvr

whatever happenned to fre market and free world? no one is forcing the rikshaw pullers to do that job. They don't have any other option. If the govt or the economy creates alternate jobs, the rikshaw puller will be happy to goive it up. Fact, is their are no other options for them. So for all you who say ban them they are cruel etc, how do you expect these people to survive?

sadhuji

during the monsoons, when kolkata roads are flooded, these souls appear on the scene to ferry people through the waters. they become saviours at that time. also, when negiotiating crowded lanes and bylanes in the burra bazar and college street areas, the rickshaw is the only means of transport - especially for movemnent of goods. obviously, they have their uses.

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mooning over a moon journey

cyberhippie

Phew what a spirited and meaningful debate guys!!
Not much left to say really, I go along with others who have said in the best of worlds, no one should be expected to do such a job but we don't live in the best of worlds and for millions in India including the rickshaw pullers we are light years away from a fair and regulated world to live in!
Rickshaw pulling, like families handing over kids to be endentured labour, or beggers and touts, offer a way out of chronic misery into something less so.
By taking away choices we are simply massaging the concience, potraying an idea of equality for all but without a system that replaces these tawdry desperate ways of life all we are doing is consigning yet more people to the dustbin of poverty.
Nuff said!

amyl

o yea i see what u are saying and fully agree with u. by banning they are indeed leaving these ppl with no choice but to starve unless they provide some other means (and this is highly unlikely to happen because, i reiterate, this is India and no improvement i do hope from those bloody b**rds sitting in the chairs). oh!! i better stop talking about these reckless govt. blokes who are just after money and position(this is not a banal statement but a hard and sad fact). talking about them and spoling my mood on a nice morning wud not be good for me.

so....

i am speechless here...u r absolutely right!!

thats why i said 'in my dreamland' coz whatever i have said will never materialize in india. and as cyberhippie rightly said we(India) are light years away from a fair and regulated world.

India will never improve at the hands of these politicians.

but pragmatically ...given the mess of the two Ps ...politics and population i feel it wud be best in everybody's interest if they do not ban and have a lower and upper age limit on the ric-wallahs along with a physical fitness certificate....aaha so very ambitious of me haan!! (amyl this is India...chill!!!)

btw i am still not clear. what is govt's exact intention behind this ban. Inhumane profession or traffic problem caused by these ppl???
any clarifications on this??

sadhuji

one reason could be that foreigners who plan to invest in the state do not want to see such inhuman treatment of men.

there was a movie of the fifties titled 'rikshaw wallah' directed by satyen bose. it had a melodious song - 'mein rickshaw wallah, mein rickshaw wallah.... mein do taang wallah.... kahan chaloge babu, kahan haloge lala ..... '

i could not get the link on the net!!

Mandsaur

Very well said. Every country in the developing world would do well to enscribe this idea into their constitutions.

ddevadatta

Due to the population in India such changes when dramactic can cause an upheavel. Don't get me wrong: there are tremendous changes going on in India.

But when a mass number of people have their livelihood taken away, with what seems like no real alternative, the potential for chaos looms near by. This does happen all over: industry, consumer demands etc. shifts and people do get displaced. But that is the work of the market dictating such shifts not the work of any perticular government.

I am for limited government that sticks to the basics like infrastructure building, defence of the nation, and such matters not a government that excessively intrudes into the lives and livelihood of people.

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Ayurvedic cure for an Indian headache

sadhuji

it is all about perception. when computers were introduced in banks and governmernt offices, there were revolutions of sorts, everyone was apprehensive of the outcome. today, the very same persons have embraced the computers for any number of reasons.

reluctance to change is always there. we must learn to accept those changes that will benefit us.

Paagla Dashu

Who will this change benefit? The rickshaw-pullers?

It will certainly benefit "us". We will no longer be troubled by our conscience.

vramas

Rickshaws in Calcutta

The Left Front Govt of West Bengal wants to get rid of the Image – of man’s inhumanity to man – rather than the reality of an inhumane society with inhuman living conditions for the labouring poor.

There is actually no humanity in the govt, for that would have meant working out a proper rehabilitation programme for the rickshaw pullers. Inhumanity, and vanity.

Creating an image, or dispelling an image versus actually erasing inhumanity.

Banning rickshaws without successfully arranging alternatives for the pullers means actually inflicting cruelty on the pullers, in the name of creating an image of humanity.

Hand and cycle rickshaws are appearing in cities in Europe today. One can visualise a regulated trade in Calcutta, where the puller derives a fair and humane wage.

There are also other forms of inhumanity – domestic servitude, working conditions in the unorganised sector, living conditions of the urban poor in slums and shanties. On none of these is the govt doing anything.

The govt is also displaying its parochialism – the pullers are predominantly Bihari. They are insecure, unorganised. Hence they are an easy target. Such biases can also be seen in Howrah station, in the conflict between the red-shirt (licensed, Bihari) porters and the (unlicensed, Bengali) blue-shirt porters.

Rickshaw pulling does not relly disrupt traffic. It is a meaningful mode of transport in particular localities, for particular functions, for both passengers and freight.

The ergonomics of the hand rickshaw are superior to that of the cycle rickshaw (the model used in Calcutta).

Cycle rickshaws are more of a nuisance, their conditions are pathetic, the plight of the cycle rickshaw puller is worse than that of the hand-puller, they represent a greater inhumanity, far greater numbers of cycle rickshaws exist. The health profile of the typical cycle-puller is far worse than that of the hand-puller. Though they are also periodically harassed in various localities, yet they are more organised than the hand-pullers.

Legality and illegality – what are all the illegal activities flourishing in the city organised by political cadres? Flagrant violation of law is found in every sphere of life. Like the bus-owners now, threatening public disruption if efforts are made to implement pollution control norms!

The auto-rickshaw is entirely unwholesome and undesirable. Is a prime instrument of air and noise pollution. They are a menace to traffic. Unsafe, severely harmful. Part of a noxious lumpen under-life of the city. Most autos are illegal. Permits are given to party cadres. Beneficiaries have let out the vehicle to a driver, and often the actual driver is twice-removed from the owner, for whom the auto has become a means to derive an income from others’ labour. No civilised city should have auto-rickshaws.

The pretext of freeing roads for cars – raises the question of how long the unchecked growth of private cars will continue. There has to be a long-term plan, both of expanding roads, but also limiting and controlling private cars – as London has successfully demonstrated.

Traffic flow is severely impeded by hawking, markets and shops on pavements and roadsides, which are organised and profited from by political cadres.

Public transport is in a shambles.

When will the people of Calcutta rise up against their ugly rulers?

sadhuji

the problem deserves to be studied in the proper pespective - there are 25,000 persons affected. in case a corpus is created by the big houses to grant them allowances of 500 rupees per month, it will mean an outflow of only 1.25 crores of rupees per month. houses like the peerless and sahara could sponsor - it will be a one time effort for the existing group of rickshaw wallahs. our captain of team india could think of diverting some of his profits from the hotel business towards this noble cause. no question of carrying forward the liabilities.

in exchange, these houses will have at their disposal a work force of 25,000 strong who can sport their emblems on their banians.

lotus blossom

in the northwest where i live the issue was the loss of timber jobs a decade back. it caused quite a stir between the environmentalists and the loggers, who felt that it was the fault of the "tree huggers" and the spotted owl who was losing its habitat. they were all displaced from their work, a gig that had been in many families for generations, but in the end they were all retrained in something else.

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Paagla Dashu

Welcome to IM. Interesting first post!

About your accusation of parochialism - thats almost ridiculous. Anyone who lives in Calcutta or has been there knows that most businesses and trade belong not to Bengalis but to people from many states of India. And that has been the case since last 150 years. The "blue shirt porters" you refer to are not the creation of the government - they are created by the political opportunism of a certain firebrand opposition leader.

Calcutta is a very tolerant, inclusive and diverse city.

ddevadatta

Yes I agree that leftist leaning govt/ folks design policies that makes us feel good about humanity, environment, you name it and yet has a terrible effect in the real world. As indicated changes that come from market realities happen all the time and people do adjust over a time. But such changes imposed by the government is a very different matter.

cyberhippie

A bit of nostalgia from the lense of a friend back in '94'

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