[sustran] Re: Bicycles and literacy in India

[Karthik Rao-Cavale]

In the Tamil Nadu case, one possibility is that the bicycles were sold
because they were not needed. The girls might have already had cycles for
their use (not uncommon in Tamil Nadu to see girls cycling). Or they might
have lived close to school and might not have needed bicycles. I don't think
we should read into that any lack of "want" for a cycle.

The interesting point is that Bihar took a very bold step in distributing
cash rather than bicycles. The government claims that more than 90% of the
recipients did buy bicycles for their daughters. (Even though they recieved
cash and they could have easily spent it on anything they liked)

I think what is important here is that we should be trying to find the best
solution to achieve the desired goals. Designing a scheme intelligently
requires that we pay a lot of attention to the following:

a) what is being provided?
b) in what quantity?
c) to whom?
d) and how is the benefit delivered to the recipient?

Providing cycles is just one of many options. If one wanted to encourage
school attendance (especially among girls) then one could do one or more of
the following:

1) provide breakfast and lunch for children (this was a runaway success in
Tamil Nadu, and it is being implemented nation-wide now)
2) improve the toilet facilities (poor toilet facilities discourage girls
from going to school)
3) improve teaching (more teachers, better training, improving teacher
attendance, teaching aids etc.)...
and so on.

Providing cycles would be useful only if it is determined that there is an
accessibility problem. But the same problem could also be tackled by
building more schools closer to current habitations. This would be a better
solution because the distance to school is perceived not only as an
accessibility problem but also as an issue of safety. For instance, one
evaluation in Afghanistan showed that attendance was much higher in
"community schools" because they were percieved to be safer than formal
schools on the outskirts of the villages. On the other hand, building more
schools is heavy on capital investment and difficult to scale up quickly.

Providing bicycles also has its benefits. It increases the mobility of
girls, which is intrinsically valuable in conservative societies where girls
are discouraged to go outside often. The cycles can be used for purposes
other than going to school - for exercise, to go to markets and playgrounds
etc. But bicycles also need infrastructure in the form of paved roads -
where roads are unpaved, bicycle tyres can quickly get punctured, and the
maintenance cost might be prohibitive.

It is also important to properly identify target groups and delivery
mechanisms. For instance, should girls be the only beneficiaries, because
their literacy levels are the lowest? Should rural schools be targeted
because they face the biggest accessibility barriers? Should low-income
children be targeted because they do not have the ability to buy cycles of
their own? How easy is it to identify low-income households in the first
place? (If you have been following the debates surrounding the food security
bill in India, you would know that identifying the poor is virtually
impossible) As for delivery mechanisms, we might choose between cash
transfer, direct provision, or we could go for supply-side subsidies (where
the subsidies are given to bicycle manufacturers rather than the buyers of
the bicycles).

The entire process is not very different from ordering a sandwich at a
Subway outlet.

On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Pardo <carlosfpardo at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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> >>>
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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').
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> 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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> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
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> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
> >
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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').
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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').
>