[sustran] Re: Bicycles and literacy in India

[Pardo]

Right, but wait: in Bogota, the local govt once replaced windows of houses near the airport for soundproof ones. The week after, every family had sold them. Does that mean they weren't annoyed by the horrible noise of turbines? I think it's a broader economic and education problem when someone exchanges something for money (neglecting use value totally). Ok, the govt should have gotten them houses away from the airstrip...

But i do agree that bicycles may sometimes have a political weight: two weeks ago I was asked by a mayoral candidate of a small city in Colombia if I could help him get one thousand 50-dollrs bikes that he wanted to give away as his first action as mayor - if he was elected. I reminded him of Mao's China, Fidel's Cuba and Peron's attempt at associating bicycles to political values and how it is now backfiring - not sure if there is any research on this. 

But the girls' project seems to be nice, and if properly monitored and away from politics it should yield good results anywhere if conditions for cycling are ok. It's similar to public bike systems: plan them properly, find suitable financing, develop a solid operational and maintenance system and don't pay attention to the mayor's political timeline and you should be ok. 

Pardo

Typed on keyboard projected onto a glass surface. Please excuse typos. 

On 7/06/2011, at 6:06, Sunny Kodukula <sunny.enie at gmail.com> wrote:

> Totally agree with Ravi here. 
> 
> In developing cities, i think, the approach has to be, creating an environment where people "want" a bicycle and then on the long run they will "need" it. Right now the focus is more on the car. 
> 
> cheers
> sunny
> 
> 
> On 07-Jun-2011, at 4:19 PM, ravi gadepalli wrote:
> 
>> 
>> There was a similar initiative in Tamil Nadu a few years back. I dont have the exact statistics of the dropouts after that but I remember reading news articles on how these free bicycles were later sold to the same organisation which was responsible for distributing them. Presumably these are families whose household income is so low that they are willing to sell the bicycle for Rs. 1000-1500 at the cost of their child's future. 
>> 
>> While I agree with the idea of distributing bicycles as a method of empowering women/girls, I just want to bring to your notice that there are instances of politicians using this along with other freebies before elections. In such cases there are no proper guidelines to ensure that they are actually given to people who need them the most. 
>> 
>> Hence, such projects need to be properly monitored both for the intentions behind them and also to ensure that the people who are benefiting use them properly.
>> 
>> Ravi Gadepalli,
>> iTrans Pvt. Ltd.,
>> IIT Delhi, New Delhi.
>> 
>> --- On Sat, 4/6/11, ashok datar <datar.ashok at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> From: ashok datar <datar.ashok at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: Bicycles and literacy in India
>> To: "Lloyd Wright" <lwright at vivacities.org>
>> Cc: "Sustran" <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
>> Date: Saturday, 4 June, 2011, 9:54 AM
>> 
>> yes . focussing on providing bikes to girls is a high yield investment in
>> empowerment of women and sustainable mobility for people and countries.
>> it is great and worth continuously tracking, improving and replicating
>> ashok datar
>> 
>> On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 1:18 AM, Lloyd Wright <lwright at vivacities.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> http://www.grist.org/list/2011-06-02-how-bicycles-are-solving-illiteracy-and
>>> -empowering-women-in-indi
>>> 
>>> 
>>> How bicycles are fighting illiteracy and empowering women in India
>>> 
>>> 
>>> by Jess Zimmerman <http://www.grist.org/people/Jess+Zimmerman>
>>> 
>>> 2 Jun 2011 9:23 AM
>>> 
>>> The Indian state of Bihar has only a 33 percent literacy rate for women --
>>> the lowest in the country. But the state government, headed by Chief
>>> Minister Nitish Kumar, is turning education for girls around -- with
>>> bicycles. In 2007 Kumar instituted a plan
>>> <
>>> http://alttransport.com/2011/06/india-empowers-students-with-free-bicycles/
>>>>  to give schoolgirls money to buy bicycles once they successfully
>>> complete
>>> Class 8 (eighth grade). With girls now able to easily get themselves to
>>> school, Bihar swelled its Class 9 enrollment by 170,000 in the program's
>>> first year.
>>> 
>>> The state gave out 871,000 bikes in its first three years, and dropouts
>>> among girls have dropped from 2.5 million to 1 million per year. The
>>> program
>>> has been so successful that other states in India are launching similar
>>> initiatives, and Bihar is expanding the program to include boys too.
>>> 
>>> Viva
>>> 
>>> Changing the world.one street at a time.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Lloyd Wright
>>> 
>>> Executive Director
>>> 
>>> 6 Solan Road
>>> 
>>> Gardens
>>> 
>>> Cape Town 8001
>>> 
>>> South Africa
>>> 
>>> Tel. +27 21 465 3942
>>> 
>>> Cel. +27 76 735 3942
>>> 
>>> Email Lwright at vivacities.org
>>> 
>>> Web www.vivacities.org <http://www.vivacities.org/>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Ashok R.Datar
>> Mumbai Environmental Social Network
>> 20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016
>> 98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.org
>> 
>> * I hear, then I forget.  I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.*
>> -------------------------------------------------------- 
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>> -------------------------------------------------------- 
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> 
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> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South').