Rickshaw Pullers: Bihar, Socio-economic Condition and Evaluation

Background

In the cities and towns of third world countries, especially, where the streets are narrow, one medium of transportation for social elite has been Cycle Rickshaw. Since 1880s they’ve played a pivotal role in the intra-city transport system since they are the only medium to provide point to point travel (Jabir Hasan Khan, 2010). Many studies have been done on the life of rickshaw-pullers discussing their health conditions, socio-economic conditions, their vulnerability and other aspects.

The most disadvantageous section of the people engaged in transportation activities for getting their livelihood means is Cycle rickshaw pullers. They are not able to fulfil their basic needs of life despite performing the most laborious job where they are either engaged in waiting for passengers or pulling rickshaws to carry passengers or commodities. The income from the job is much lower, that most of the times they are not able feed themselves and perform such arduous task in an empty stomach, also most of the rickshaw pullers are not owners and they have to make daily payments to the ultimate owner (Jabir Hasan Khan, 2010).

An estimate says, around 8 million people are rickshaw-pullers (RP) and 95 per cent of them do not own the vehicle due to its higher price that they cannot afford. Most of the RPs belong from below poverty line section and doing this job seems better for them than to suffer the poverty. They generally migrate from village, to at-least ensure the food security but their expectations are rarely realized.

Despite such rapid development in India, the country has lacked behind in planning an inclusive development plan for all the sections of the society. The reasons behind selecting such hazardous job are illiteracy, unemployment, lack of money and skills and discrimination regarding distribution of resources. Other common reasons include being a victim of natural calamities, migration, caste-discrimination which deprives them of taking respectable job and victims of socially supressed sections (backward caste, religious conflict etc.) (Ali, 2013)

Cycle-Rickshaws are the cheapest mode of transportation which made it popular in the since past, however, the developing status of the country demands a quicker version of commutation and hence it is mostly ignored by the passengers who are going to office or home or another essential visits. The 21st century scenario has highly discouraged this particular means of transportation which leaves the RPs with meagre and highly fluctuating earning patterns. Most of the Indian cities like Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Vishakhapatnam have abolished the use of manual rickshaws considering the physical exhaustion it involves with a meagre earning.

This section of the country is deprived of the basic facilities of life and they are mostly excluded from the policy documents. Hence, it is important to study their living patterns, living standards, economic conditions, social status in order to prepare an inclusive policy for social development.

Rickshaw Puller’s of Bihar

Bihar is counted in one of the poor states of India from where people mostly migrate to get a job of labourers , (Shrivastava, 2017). The state’s inclusive development has lagged behind and most of the villagers suffer poverty, specifically the backward caste section that is deprived of decent jobs in their community or town. These people migrate to cities like Patna, Gaya to become a rickshaw puller so that they can at-least ensure a day’s meal which becomes difficult once they arrive in cities and witness the reality. This study tends to provide a micro analysis in terms of discovering and compiling many facts about the life of RPs. Rickshaw is the cheapest mode of transport which has made it popular, however in the present situation people generally opt for a quicker mode of transport as most people going to office commute daily, and a fewer people opt for rickshaw these days when they are going for casual visits which makes the market for RPs fluctuating. Hence, their daily income fluctuates from INR 200/- to INR 600/- which is a meagre amount to sustain. As stated above, 95 per cent of the RPs are not owners and hence they pay a daily charge of using the rickshaw to owners which on an average is INR 50/-. There is no uniform regulation or guidelines for Rickshaw-owners, some owners pay for the maintenance charges and some do not, and since the RPs are of backward caste and underprivileged, their voices are suppressed ignored, also mostly they avoid raising their issues because of their vulnerability. At the end of the day, RPs are able to save around INR 250 which barely helps them in sustenance and mostly they pedal Rickshaw in an empty stomach. On an average, RPs cover 6-7 km from their starting point and most of them sleep on the footpath. The Raen Baseras setup by the government, where they get shelter is poorly maintained and extremely unhygienic of which they have become accustomed now and along with the health, that impacts their social status as well. Their children suffer from chronic diseases because of their vulnerability which they are not able to treat sufficiently due to high charges of medical facilities. The issue of fleet owners is much rooted and worse than it seems. It is an informal setup where various owners rent their rickshaws to pullers and collect daily charges. The owners pay for the maintenance cost of rickshaw as well however, some owners are careless about the issue and they refuse to pay the maintenance charges. These owners collect the daily rent regardless of what RPs earn; whether they earn or not during the day, RPs have to necessarily pay the rent every-day. It is very difficult to eliminate any informal setup which involves muscle power, dominance, indirect political support, etc and fleet owners are formed out of similar patterns. This specific issue highly impacts the RPs’ ultimate income and their social status as well, as they are treated not more than a slave. A survey conducted in Patna shows that a majority part of the RPs are not the owners of the vehicle.

Such economic condition of RPs despite performing one of the most physically exhausting jobs raises concerns to provide them an alternative. Their social status is impacted highly because of the nature of their job and income. The streets of Patna are not much wide and thousands of rickshaws occupies the streets which become problematic for other vehicle owners or anyone on the street and because of their social vulnerability, people have a tendency of abusing RPs, they are mostly abused by other vehicle owners or pedestrians or even customers.

Economic Condition of Rickshaw Pullers

There is no authentic figure on the numbers of RPs in Patna; however the Rickshaw and Auto-rickshaw union leader mentioned about 11,000 RPs here in Patna. As discussed above, the daily income of RPs fluctuates from INR 200 to INR 600, out of which they pay the daily charge of using the rickshaw to the owners, from the remaining amount they pay for their meal which is mostly unhygienic. At the end of the day they are not able to save more than Rs100/- or sometimes not even that. The lower limit i.e. 200/- and upper limit i.e. 600/- represents the income insecurity. Through such jobs, they cannot feed their family members and education becomes a faraway goal. They suffer many chronic diseases but are not capable of getting medical treatment or medicines. The annual cost of maintenance of Rickshaws is around INR. 25,000/- and their annual income is around 1, 40,000. This amount, as discussed, is highly fluctuating and there is no fixed amount of charges hence to earn for their meal they pedal for a kilometre in just INR 30/- sometimes and for the same distance an auto would charge less in lesser time as well. This has made people to discourage the use of rickshaws impacting their economic security. A significant number of people are seasonal RPs, who are generally farmers and travel to urban areas for few weeks or few months to earn more through the job. Family planning is generally not followed amongst RPs, and thus the numbers of dependents are more. The economic condition impacts their health, social status, future aspiration, life goals and social security.

Age

The age of RPs varies from 17 years to 58 years in general; mostly RPs are young however, there is a significant number of people in their 50s and for them pulling rickshaw is a mandatory task to earn a living. They hardly earn INR 100 by the end of the day as they feel tired after 2/3 trips of pulling rickshaws. Age is a determinant of strength, energy, immunity and health of any person. A study revealed that around 75 per cent of RPs are between the age of 25 to 45 .

Migration

Migration is another factor that impacts the economic status of people. In Bihar, people generally migrate from villages and other districts to the city of Patna in search of livelihood and end up jobs of labourers other jobs of ilk due to the illiteracy and lack of industrial skills. Migration to urban cities is becoming a major problem as people from low income group find it hard to get shelter and hence they spend their nights on footpath and live in a pitiable condition. These people then become homeless and are barely able to manage a day’s meal. Thus, migration of unskilled people creates more chaos in the city hampers their life as well as economy of the urban cities. A study analysed the data of Uttar Pradesh from where most of the people migrate to other states as per the study. Though, there is lack of uniform data on Bihar’s migration, it has witnessed similar patterns like Uttar Pradesh (UP). The table below, shows migration data of UP from the report cited here- (Ali, 2013)

Social Status of RPs

At many conferences and meetings with government representatives and other stakeholders, the Auto-rickshaw union leader of Patna has extensively talked about the social status of rickshaw pullers which has to be improved for the sake of dignity of an individual. People do not consider it as a respectable job and they are abused by either motor vehicle drivers or pedestrians or even customers. People behave rudely with them, bargain a lot and hence they are paid unevenly because of their vulnerability and status. Social status is highly impacted by income and living standards of people and due to their low income they are not able to maintain their living standards and thus deprived of the respect any individual deserves. Their contribution to the society and economic development is mostly snubbed.

Caste

Caste is a major determinant of social status of any person in Indian social setup and mostly the backward caste people are the RPs, however, a significant number people belongs to general category as well. Traditionally caste prescribed the nature of jobs people should perform and usually backward castes were more involved in such exhaustive tasks. The current trend shows that even higher castes are RPs which reveals the status of unemployment, illiteracy and unsound economic background. A study stated that 33 per cent RPs belonged to Scheduled Caste, 51 per cent Backward Castes, 84 per cent General Castes and 10 per cent Scheduled Tribe. The data is an amalgamation from the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Disorganized Sector

As discussed, 95 per cent of the RPs is not an owner of the Rickshaws; there are many owners in different localities and areas who provide the three-wheeled vehicle based on various set of clauses. Generally, the RPs are charged INR 50/- per day by their owners, from their meagre amount of earning. Some owners pay for the maintenance cost of Rickshaw, some do not pay, due to which they witness high level of fluctuation in eventual income or saving. This unevenness in the income pattern impacts the overall sector and the lives of RPs.

Conclusion

The study has revealed that the working condition of RPs is unsatisfactory; they work for long hours and suffer many problems. All most all RPs earn very low income which they use to consume at the end of the day leaving them with no savings. The concept of family planning is not followed and hence the numbers of family members dependent on them are more.These days, people travel through a quicker version of transport medium that includes auto-rickshaw. RPs do not own the vehicle as well. This section of the society is not economically sound and they are not generally benefitted from the schemes of the Government which are initiated for the backward classes (Rajkonwar, 2017). Such scenario calls for an overhaul of the existing system or at-least some modification. Major cities like Pune, Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam, & Mumbai have totally discouraged the use of rickshaw; similar patterns can be followed considering their socio-economic condition, vulnerability, income insecurity, fluctuating market and highly fluctuating earnings.

Hence an economically viable intervention is the need of the hour since it would create a market which has a higher cost to benefit ratio and is also environmentally sustainable rather than an enforcement- intervention model.

Evaluation

There is no officially recorded data on the numbers of RP; however, the Auto-Rickshaw union leader gave an approximate figure of 11,000 RPs in the city of Patna. The option of providing an alternative to the RPs would require a detailed analysis of the current scenario and future scenario that policymakers want to offer. The report mentions poor condition of RPs in the city, and the policymakers are inclined of providing them the alternative of E-Vehicles. The first argument is- the government is working enthusiastically to make E-Vehicles order of the day. The Indian government is ready to bring around 80 lacks E-Vehicles in the market by 2020, and 5 crores by 2030. The prices of lithium battery is rapidly going down which will make E-vehicles cheaper in coming years. The table below shows estimation related to E-vehicles (EV) (Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicles Manufacturing Policy 2018) .

This would make RPs willing to buy EVs on loan if some amount of subsidy is provided by the government. Furthermore, auto-vehicles are preferred these days for their fast mode of transportation and hence RPs will have better income if they get EVs. An EV driver earns around INR 700/- per day, if the RPs would own the EV, the issue of deposit money would be eliminated and it will majorly contribute in the betterment of their health as they will be saved from direct scorching heat and chilling winters of Bihar. The modification of roads and transportation system is a basic phase of overall development and a policy of providing RPs an alternate of E-Vehicles would target two problems at a time. First, improvement of the living standards of RPs as they are deprived of the basic needs as well and second, modifying the transport system in Patna- a city which is aspiring to become a metro city. Improvement of their living standards again includes multiple aspects like improvement in their social status, better income, reduction in hazardous physical exhaustion leading to reduction in multiple health issues and upliftment of this section of the society. Once the idea will be floated in the city, similar changes can be designed to eliminate the autos running on petrol & diesel, thereby targeting the carbon dioxide emission and fuel consumption. Hence, this small scale change would become the platform for an overhaul of transportation system in Patna. For the planned implementation of policy, many factors have to be kept in mind, like making available the charging points for huge number of EVs and discouraging the existing informal system of fleet owners as one of the major ideas of bringing EVs in the policy statements is to improve the living standards and income of RPs which can only happen if they own the vehicles. Thus, the plan has multifaceted benefits, if it is implemented. This policy will certainly contribute to the economic growth of the city as it will uplift the economic condition of around 11,000 RPs, if implemented as planned. Thus, a comprehensive study on this issue is required and support from all the sectors (state actors, non-state actors) of the society, to initiate a dialogue on the upliftment of living standards of RPs.