American India Foundation

Rickshaw Sangh   

Kaushalendra Pratap Singh: Master of Social Work Tata Institute of Social Science submits a case study:

Sabnam is a 19-year-old woman from Pardhi, a village in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. About 3 years ago, she married Mohammed Jamil, who worked as a weaver in a small saree-making unit, earning about Rs.100 per 8-hour-workday. In course of time though, many of these small saree-making units either closed down or moved to other more profitable parts of the country, leaving many – not excluding Jamil – unemployed. Jamil was further impacted by his lack of alternate sources of income. Holding neither agricultural land nor any other asset in the village, he decided to migrate with Sabnam to Lucknow, which promised a  better livelihood opportunity.

 Their initial days in Lucknow were quite hard for the couple. They used their exiguous savings towards procuring the most basic food needs – two small meals a day. Consequently, Jamil began to ply a rented trolley to meet the mounting expenses. Even the earnings from his new job, however, were inadequate, with Rs. 30 of an uncertain daily income of Rs. 150-180 going towards the rental for the trolley. Apart from the rental of the trolley, majority of his monthly earnings of Rs. 6000 were allocated towards meeting expenses, including necessities such as food and electricity, eventually leaving the couple with no savings. The couple’s woes were exacerbated on the birth of their daughter and therefore another mouth to feed.

As they were looking for ways to meet their increasing expenses, they came in contact with a loan officer of Bharti Micro Credit (BMC), who informed them of the Rickshaw Sangh scheme, run by the American India Foundation (AIF) in conjunction with BMC. Along with a few settlement members, Sabnam and Jamil decided to become a part of the Rickshaw Program. They took a trolley that cost Rs. 9000, with a package included 2 sets of cloth, a Municipal permit/license, and individual as well as asset insurance. The weekly installment of the loan came around Rs.196, for 52 weeks.

Currently, they have paid 11 of the 52 weekly payments, while their income has increased from Rs.180 to Rs.250 per day. As they move closer towards completing the payment for the rickshaw, the joy of creating an asset of their own can be seen with in their eyes. Now, Jamil is able to freely ride his trolley at his own convenience, with no pressure of returning it at a particular time; additionally, the couple is now able to save Rs. 400 per week. This has inculcated in them a new confidence to be able to provide a good education to their daughter as well to avail themselves to any other opportunities that would help them enhance their income. They plan to use their increased savings to open a small grocery store in the settlement, which will be run by Sabnam. In addition to making them more financially secure, this will also provide Sabnam the opportunity to share an equal part of the financial responsibility for the family.

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Malati Devi, 27, and her husband Mohan Lal, comes from Dhaporva village of Sitapur district. They have two sons, aged five years and seven years. Mohanlal used to work as an agriculture laborer in the village, but while working on someone else’s farmland he could only manage to earn a daily income of Rs.40, or even sometimes Rs.60 for an entire week. Like many other people of this area he and his wife decided to migrate to Lucknow for better livelihood opportunity and a better future for their children.

They migrated to the city seven years ago. Mohan Lal initially had little luck in getting any kind of work, so he started earning his livelihood by riding a rented rickshaw, for which he paid a daily rental of Rs.30 to Rs.40 for 8 hours. But even after pushing himself hard, he only managed to earn about Rs.200-250 in the fixed hours that he rented the rickshaw. After paying towards the rickshaw rental and his daily expenses, he managed to save just Rs. 100-150, an amount that was insufficient to meet the expenses of his family. In addition, he also had an outstanding loan of Rs. 5000, which he had taken from a money-lender in the village while he was still farming. Time continued to pass by and with little change for Mohanlal.

Seeing the desperate financial condition of the family, Malati Devi decided to help her husband in meeting the household expense. She started working as a domestic worker in the neighborhood houses. She started off working in one house and later increased the number to five, earing Rs.1200/- per month. While working as a domestic worker, she came in contact with few workers who were planning to purchase rickshaws under the Rickshaw Sangh program jointly run AIF & Bharti Micro Credit (BMC). With the help of a loan officer from BMC, she purchased a rickshaw for Rs.10500, - to be paid with weekly installments of Rs.229.

            Now with an asset of their own, Mohan Lal was able to ride the rickshaw for more than 8 hours and increase his earning to Rs.250-300 per day. Having already made 26 weekly installment payments so far, the couple feel extremely happy about creating an asset of their own, something that was previously out of their reach even after plying a rented rickshaw for close to 6 years. With the increased family income, they were also able to pay off the loan which they had taken out while still farming, and plan to take another loan to invest in some small business after finishing payments on their rickshaw. Through AIF’s Rickshaw Sangh program, Mohan and Malati now have hope for a brighter future.

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