by Jamal Anwar
Dec 18, 2004

World Bank for Removal of Rickshaw

Introduction

O my child, my darling one.
I could not give thee even a drop of milk.
No right have I to rejoice.
Poverty weeps within my doors forever
As my spouse and my child.
Who will play the flute?
Where shall I get the happy smile?

by the famous Bangladeshi poet, Nazrul Islam

"When death looks greener than starvation"
Dukhimon Begum, a 40-year old mother of four from Durgapur Upazila of Rajshahi district, had a quarrel with her rickshaw-puller husband, Manik Chand, because she bought a saree for her niece on the occasion of the latter's marriage. The family did not have any food to eat that night and the husband went to pull his rickshaw next morning hungry. Faced with starvation, Dukhimon fed her two small daughters pesticide-laced biscuits and took some herself in order to be free from the misery. Little Moni, 6, and Mitu, 8, died, but the mother survived.

The Daily Prothom Alo (Bengali Daily Newspaper)of 18 September 2004 published another report under the headline "Mother said, 'no food, eat poison'; the haughty girl did so." As the story goes, Motalab Matubbar of Hajikandi village of Madaripur district left home six months ago in search of work. His wife, Chandra Banu, has been supporting the family of two daughters and a son by working as a maid in neighbours' houses. During the recent incessant rain, Chandra Banu could not work or get any food for her children. In Shibchar Hospital, the mother told the newsmen that for the last two days she had no food to cook. Starving Rumana asked her for food. Frustrated, she told the girl to take poison. That night Rumana drank pesticide to take her life.

The above incidents represent the most cruel and ultimate solution to hunger. However, such incidents are not common, although there is a commonality in them. The commonality is that girls and women usually take their lives because of hunger, while boys do not. Boys normally have other options -- other than committing suicide.

Millions of poor earn their livelihood by rickshaw pulling and now their existence is threatened by the new banning of cycle rickshaws in downtown Dhaka. The rickshaw is the only environmentally sustainable and zero emission mode of transport in Bangladesh.

Monga is a sort of famine that stalks the northern region during the lean period when there is no work for farmers or agricultural labourers. The jobless people lose their food purchasing capacity. "As the local economy is not enough to keep the locals in their own areas, they roam around and finally migrate to the capital as part of their coping mechanism," the economist said. There is no official or unofficial data on how many people migrate to Dhaka each year during Monga. But economists said this time the number of migrated people would definitely be higher than the number in yesteryears. A World Bank report titled "Bangladesh: Development Policy Review" released recently reveals the picture of urban poverty and says the number of poor among the city population has increased 7.2 percent from 1995-96 to 2000. Based on statistics from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank report says about 36.6 percent of the people in cities live under the poverty line while it was 29.4 percent five years ago.

Displaced men, women and children are seen waiting on city pavements, railway stations and launch terminals. Some flock to the district and upazila towns for jobs. Many sell their domestic animals, household goods and other belongings to survive. Most of the newcomers have taken shelter in city slums. Some of them have become rickshaw pullers (M. Rahman, November 3, 2004).

Kamala Khatun, 35, was seen begging at Karwan Bazar intersection taking her three-year-old daughter Lipi on her lap. She came to the city from a remote village in Rangpur two weeks back with her husband, who has pulled a rickshaw to sustain their living.

"If we were in the villages we would have died. There was no food, no work. For a few days we managed with arum (kachu) and its leaves. We moved here just to save our daughter," sobbed Kamala.

A near-famine situation the northern districts - Story of Rafique and Others

Landless Peasants - Population Migration
Only from 1974 to 1981 the population of Dhaka city increased by 200 per cent. Unlike other developing countries, this influx was not accompanied by industrialization, but rather due to the increase of more landless peasants. The present economic development increasingly widens the gap between the rich and the poor. With the introduction of chemical fibre and plastic bags in industrial countries, jute and jute products declined in importance by nearly 50 per cent between 1981 and 1988 - from 70 per cent to to 31 per cent of total exports. Landless small farmers as well as urban informal groups constitute 50 per cent of Bangladesh's population. Fifty three per cent of the rural population are virtually landless and the result is that a very large percentage of urban population live in slums. For example 30 per cent of the population (about 2 million) in Dhaka live in more than 1500 slums and squatter settlements, where density of settlements is over 6178 persons per hectare, and per capita living space available is lower than one square meter.

People in remote areas after the recent severe floods of July-August 2004 have also taken rice as loan against the advance sale of labour. They allege that a section of rich people ganged up to exploit the value of their labour, taking advantage of and exploiting their acute misery. The monga-hit (famine) people in the north, who constitute a third of the country's population, are dependent on farm-work and have to leave their homes in search of work during monga. As they become unemployed around this time every year, many sell their labour in advance and stay with their families. Some start begging and plying rickshaws while many leave for Bogra, Dhaka and other places for jobs (New Age, October 27, 2004).

Rickshaw or Ricksha
Rickshaw pulling is a popular and easy profession in Bangladesh. A rickshaw puller earns about US $2.00-3.00/day. He can either own a rickshaw or hire one from his master. A rickshaw must be registered at the local municipalitym and during the evening and night the rickshaw must equipped with a Hurricane-lamp at the back and a small headlight at the front. Rickshaws are comfortable and a cheap transport system, and definitely do not pollute the environment.

Should we feel proud about the rickshaw – as an inhuman vehicle? It shocks people in other countries when a plump of flesh (two-three women) boards a rickshaw with heaps of luggage and orders the aged rickshaw puller to run fast. But do we even offer a glass of cold water to the rickshaw puller who is far more thirsty than the passengers?

Traffic Rules
People in Bangladesh do not follow traffic rules properly because most drivers are not trained. They are illiterate and got their licenses by bribery. Thus, they do not even know the traffic rules. Even if they know the rules, they do not bother to follow them because there is nobody to enforce them. Besides, roads are also congested and narrow. Most of the roads are damaged because they are constructed with faulty materials like low quality bitumen or tar and not enough stones. After construction, the roads cannot withstand the load of the heavy vehicles.

Rickshaws and baby taxis mainly disregard the red light. To make the people follow traffic rules, the government has assigned traffic police to see that nobody breaks the traffic laws. But the traffic policemen are not always present when there are traffic jams. Even if they are present, they either get bribed or do not bother to enforce regulations.

There are zebra crossings but none of the vehicles actually slow down or stop. The pedestrians cross the road whenever they like or through a little gap between the cars. This causes accidents. The government has constructed over-bridges, but pedestrians hardly use them to cross the road because they get tired of walking up and down. The over-bridges seem only to serve the purpose of advertising. Because people drive on the wrong side, the road separator has been constructed all though the middle of the road. Some reach the height of three feet!

The climate is another factor in traffic congestion. In Bangladesh, the rainy season usually lasts for more than six months. The sewage system is also faulty. Drains remain blocked with garbage and they do not pass water easily. Downpours continue for several days. This causes the roads to be flooded because of the poor sewage system.

Most of the drivers in Bangladesh just don't obey speed limits, and the police, who are on foot, can't catch them because they don't have modern equipment. Even though more regulations and rules are put, the condition of the traffic stays the same. The poor are invariably to blame!

The major traffic congestion factors are complex, and include mixing of traffic and heavy concentration of irresponsible vehicles, absence of adequate public transport, inadequate road infrastructure and poor enforcement of traffic rules.

For more information on this and many other topics, please go to the excellent website of geological engineer, Dr. Jamal Anwar, at http://www.sos-arsenic.net.

One world, One humanity, One family!