Did you know that the ‘hand-pulled rickshaw’ was designed in the year 1870? A light wooden cart with large wheels probably for the royal people. It was in 1914 that the hand-pulled rickshaws was launched in Kolkata, most of them are Biharies migrants on the busy city streets. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced a ban on these meaningless and degrading means of livelihood. Will this solve the problem? There are around 25000 'human horses' that runs on the streets of Kolkata. After all, isn’t it time that the human horses experience real freedom…58 years after the British rulers left Indian shores? It is not only the fact that these men carry other human beings for earning a few rupees, in the process they lend their bodies to unnatural forms of exploitation. Kolkata -- most densly populated city of India -- experience enough toxic gas and pollutants to choke the lungs of these rickshaw pullers who compete with buses, trams, cars, and scooters for their place on the streets. The chief minister plans to bring cycle-rickshaws or motorized auto-rickshaws in place of the hand-pulled variant. Along with the uneasy inequity of man pulling man, these rickshaws today, deserve a place in the Calcutta Museum, not on the roads. After all, isn’t it time that the human horses experience real freedom…58 years after the British rulers left Indian shores?
AZMI
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