Calling the police would have been pointless, said Ajay, a rickshaw puller from the eastern state of Bihar, India, who asked that his last name not be used. The abusers in question are contractors from whom pullers rent their vehicles each day.
“I have been beaten several times by my rickshaw owner behind closed doors as I was not able to pay him his daily rent of 40 rupees (88 cents),” Ajay said. But "we cannot protest against it ... as we depend on the rickshaws provided by them for our livelihood."
Instead, the students joined with a local bank and created a micro-loan program, Life on Wheels. The loans enable pullers to buy their own vehicles and escape the exploitative rental system, said Abhay Kumar, a faculty adviser of the student group, Students in Free Enterprise. The group is an international non-governmental organization that mobilizes university students in developing the community.
“We took it upon ourselves to rescue them from such torture," Kumar said.
The program helps pullers acquire loans to buy their own rickshaws, which would be challenging otherwise. Most rickshaw pullers leave rural regions to work in large Indian cities then send their hard-earned savings home.
“We have tied up with Punjab National Bank for providing loans to the pullers. SRCC stands as guarantor for them,” Kumar said.
Pullers are loaned about $230, which they must pay back at a rate of about $5.50 per week. With regular payments, they can call a rickshaw their own within 12 months, according to Mehak Nanner, the student group president. The loans also cover the cost of insurance, licenses, and two sets of uniforms.
The new rickshaws are an upgrade from those the pullers usually rent. They have amenities for passengers, such as dust bins, water bottles, newspaper stands and cushioned seats.
“At present there are 42 such rickshaws plying on the roads of Delhi University north campus,” Nanner said.
Students launched their first five rickshaws in December 2009 with the support of Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, said Radhika Goel, the student group's 2009 president.
“It was a proud moment for us as Ms. Dikshit praised the efforts of the youth and encouraged us more,” Goel said.
The group had expected to launch 75 of the new rickshaws before the Commonwealth Games in October 2010 but a ban on rickshaws during the event hindered progress, Nanner said.
Now, the plan is back on track with another 60 rickshaws expected to hit the roads in the next few months, she said.
It’s an initiative that has given a new lease on life to the rickshaw pullers.
“I will finally own a rickshaw of my own,” said Sapan, a puller who also asked that his last name not be used, as he gazed at his new vehicle.
Santosh Sharma, who is at the top of the list to receive one of the new rickshaws, said he is ecstatic.
“This rickshaw will provide me with a particular status within the rickshaw community,” he said.
Kumar said that not all pullers qualify for the program.
“Some criteria have been set for the pullers who would like to own [the] rickshaws,” he said, such as having government-issued identity cards.
Puller Gautam Singh said that while he’s excited about the new opportunity, he regrets the 15 years that he spent pulling a rented rickshaw.
“I was a slave in the hands of my master,” he said. “The amount of rent that I have paid to my owner to date would have easily fetched me around 35 to 40 rickshaws."
Singh, however, is more focused on the present upside of the new rickshaw program than any possible negatives. Taking a firm grip on his new black rickshaw, he offers his passenger a newspaper to read for his short journey and moves smoothly out into traffic.
Source: UPI.COM
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