[sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study

[bruun at seas.upenn.edu]

Jonathan

Thanks for taking the time to paint a graphic picture of what life is  
like for the
riskshaw pullers.

Eric Bruun

Quoting Jonathan Richmond <richmond at alum.mit.edu>:

>
>
> First, I think it would be important to clarify exactly what take-home pay
> is, after all costs.
>
> But secondly, no, this income is insufficient for anything like what
> Westerners would call a normal living standard. The income is sufficient
> to live in a substandard building where there will be no bathroom, perhaps
> six to ten people in a single house with kids all thrown into one bed and
> a communal toilet shared by perhaps 50 or more people.
>
> There will generally be no ceiling fan let alone no airconditioning, and
> plenty of flies and mosquitos. The water supply will likely be
> contaminated.
>
> Generally there will be enough money for food, but little else in a very
> basic subsistance lifestyle. Depending on the number of people to be
> supported by the income, some children may go to school for some time but
> will likely drop out and instead work to support the family. Children are
> regularly abused in work environments with hard labour and little pay.
> Even if they stay in school, admission for public universities is so
> intense that children from poor backgrounds have little or no chance at
> success. There is a major industry in low-quality private universities for
> the children of the rich who do not score sufficiently well to go to
> public university, but there is no chance that a poor family can pay for
> such a luxury.
>
> What is a luxury for a family of this income level? As I have discovered
> from visiting such houses, it is a bottle of Sprite or Coke to be shared
> amongst perhaps a dozen people. Unlike in the West, this is not a casual
> item to be consumed at will -- a measure of real income is that soft
> drinks are not generally sold around rickshaw stands but instead vendors
> will sell rickshaw pullers tiny cups of tea with the merit that the water
> has at least been boiled.
>
> A medical problem will generate an intense crisis. Public hospitals are
> overcrowded and offer poor levels of care. Supplies of medicine are
> generally absent and drugs have to be paid for in cash or patients are
> left to die. The patient's extended family will generally pitch in to help
> if someone goes to hospital: it is not unusual for 50 or more reltives
> near and distant to contribute in such circumstances, but the costs can be
> overwhelming, and even if they can be paid they can reduce whole groups of
> people to financial ruin.
>
> The rickshaw puller's wife may work as a maid to earn some extra money.
> Maids work long hours and rarely see their own children. They are paid
> little and often work in degrading and abusive situations.
>
> So by no stretch of the imagination can the rickshaw puller's situation be
> regarded as adequate or "normal." He is living a medieval subsistence
> life, a tough one, and one with little opportunity for escape, either for
> his children -- who will remain locked in poverty -- or for his wife and
> himself --Jonathan!
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 27 Dec 2009, Ahuja, Sonal (Capita Symonds) wrote:
>
>> My question to the group will be, is that money enough for a man  
>> with two kids to be able to bring a good healthy family, educate  
>> and get yourself out of powerty? Probably not. This earning is  
>> about £63 a month.
>>
>> The income must be measured with its purchase power. And normalised  
>> to see the real income. It would be very wrong to admit that that  
>> rickshaw pullers have a good standard of living let alone  anywhere  
>> a standard comparable to minimum wage earners in Europe leave alone  
>> rickshaw pullers in London.
>>
>> I agree with Aashish, in our resarch on richshaw pullers in Old  
>> Delhi conducted in I999 we found that 98% of rickshaw pullers take  
>> this profession not out of choice and more than 73% pay a rent for  
>> it. So what is meaning ful let as an income is debatable.
>>
>> I know the reserch is old but I don't things have changed a lot in  
>> India and in Banglsdesh.
>>
>> With warm regards
>>
>> Sonal
>>
>> Sonal Ahuja
>>
>> Associate Director, Development Transport and Infrastructure
>>
>> CAPITA SYMONDS
>> 86 Fetter Lane
>> London EC4A 1EN United Kingdom
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Kind Regards Sonal +447788666523
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From:  
>> sustran-discuss-bounces+sonal.ahuja=capita.co.uk at list.jca.apc.org  
>> <sustran-discuss-bounces+sonal.ahuja=capita.co.uk at list.jca.apc.org>
>> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
>> Sent: Sun Dec 27 04:08:16 2009
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6,300 per  
>> month: 	JICA study
>>
>> I wrote this to Sudhir earlier, thought I must share my response to the
>> others.
>>
>> While I am able to appreciate the finding that Rikshaw Pullers earn 6,300 Tk
>> from us, it must be mentioned that Income earned might not be a good
>> criteria of whether the lives of Rickshaw pullers are 'deprived' or not.
>>
>> Consider for instance that most will lack any form of insurance - health,
>> life, assets etc. - which means that one accident or illness and their
>> savings are wiped out, plus the fact that they cant work for the time they
>> are ill; most live in squalor which increases health risks and is a form of
>> degraded living. There is much inclusion from social services (one form of
>> deprivation) as well as a high level of livelihood risks - some emanating
>> from the occupation itself.
>>
>> Just to clarify, while we are supportive of Rickshaws in cities, we must
>> recognise that even when they earn a good income, there are many avoidable
>> risks and hazards which they face.
>>
>> In this context, Sudhir recommended the following link -
>> http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html
>> -------------------------------------------------------- To search  
>> the archives of sustran-discuss visit
>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------- If you get  
>> sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to  
>> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the  
>> real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
>>
>> ================================================================
>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,  
>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing  
>> countries (the 'Global South'). This email has been scanned for all  
>> viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service.
>>
>> This email and any attachment are intended solely for the  
>> addressee, are strictly confidential and may be legally privileged.  
>> If you are not the intended recipient any reading, dissemination,  
>> copying or any other use or reliance is prohibited. If you have  
>> received this email in error please notify the sender immediately  
>> by email and then permanently delete the email. Copyright reserved.
>>
>> All communications, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded and are  
>> monitored for legitimate business purposes. The security and  
>> reliability of email transmission cannot be guaranteed. It is the  
>> recipient?s responsibility to scan this e-mail and any attachment  
>> for the presence of viruses. The Capita Group plc and its  
>> subsidiaries ("Capita") exclude all liability for any loss or  
>> damage whatsoever arising or resulting from the receipt, use or  
>> transmission of this email. Any views or opinions expressed in this  
>> email are those of the author only.
>> -------------------------------------------------------- To search  
>> the archives of sustran-discuss visit
>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------- If you get  
>> sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to  
>> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the  
>> real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
>>
>> ================================================================
>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,  
>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing  
>> countries (the 'Global South').
>
> -----
> Jonathan Richmond
> Transport Advisor
> Dhaka Transport Coordination Board
> Ministry of Communications
> Government of Bangladesh
> Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor
> Dhaka-1000
> Bangladesh
>
> Phone: +880 (0)1714 179013
> Fax:   +880 (0)2 956-8892
>
> e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
> http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/