European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Al the human Rickshaw a More than a vital Means of transport in Calcutta Lor pullers the Choice la to work or to starve. The Rickshaw thrives As a necessary evil i Calcutta by Seema Sirohi associated press e of Hoar. Rickshaw Drivers, through teeming pol a j Marcels. Mired m garbage and choking Wilh exhaust Lumos of the world s second for Mien daily bread they pull the Burden of humanity singing school children prosperous matrons with oils of fat and Itie skeletal Pool bound Lor the  and Rwjr Aveyard Only m Calcutta is the human Rickshaw a vital Means it transport a necessary evil even or inc no Shaw pullers. Their Choice is to work or 1o starve. Eighty thousand pullers draw 40.000 rickshaws in at least Avo Shilts a Day making 700.000 passenger trips. Each earns the equivalent of about $40 a month. The chinese communists banned the Rickshaw in 1943 and called i inc ultimate Symbol of human degradation. But m 19m chinese immigrants had introduced the Rickshaw to Calcutta and it has become Par of the landscape. The human Rickshaw is especially ironic there since Calcutta is run by marxists and communists but they arc in a bind they cannot abolish the Rickshaw a shout giving the pullers other work and Here Are no extra jobs in Calcutta. Calcutta is known or pavement dwellers who arc born and die on the streets slum residents who live in squalor. Bui the Rickshaw Puller s plight is one of the  i the Rickshaw owners plague us. The police hound us unions cannot help us it is hell bul still bolter than  said Flam Swaroop Singh a Puller from neighbouring Bihar stale. I1 run like an animal on the a Reoli. Bul i have to do this of my children said Mohammad Ismail a 35-year-old Puller also Dom Bihar. To supports his wife and three children Back Homo in their Village with meager earnings of 500 Rupee �42 a month almost 33 percent of the pullers come from Bihar notorious Lor constant caste wars and police brutality. But Calcutta is not much better. They Start the Day taking child in to school the Burden gets heavier Wilh Middle class patrons who want to avoid the jostling and suffocation of crowded cily buses. Foreign tourists take rickshaws out of curiosity when roads Are flooded during the Monsoon Rains Only rickshaws can navigate although the pullers sometimes fall Inlo potholes. The passengers i eat us like thieves Ismail said squatting by the Long wooden poles of his no Shaw. Some Don l even pay the full  a Metal Bell he holds in his hand is his Only Means to sound a warning in the chaotic traffic of buses trams taxis scooters bicycles and people. Ismail like most other pullers sleeps on the pavement in abandoned Cement pipes meant Tor sewage and sometimes in foul slum hovels his Day begins Early and usually without breakfast he rushes to the it Tea Feudal Trade but unemployment is  Rickshaw owners and stands in a Tong queue to get his Carl. He pleads begs and even offers bribes ownership of More than 10 rickshaws by one person is banned by City Taw As exploitation. So owners registered rickshaws in Many false names and names of their children. Most pullers Wear Only threadbare Cotton sarongs or pyjamas and most Are Barefoot. Meals Are usually a ground lentil paste and onions. If they Are Lucky they May gel Somo bread and Pickle. Most Chew tobacco and Betel nut for mild intoxication to make the daily ordeal a Little More bearable. Police recently launched a drive to remove All unlicensed vehicles from the roads and almost 7.000 rickshaws have been seized and locked up in cily police Stalions. The three Rickshaw pullers unions Are nol recognized by the state government almost half the 40.000 rickshaws Are unlicensed. Government critics say the communists Are applying Subtle pressures on the pullers by seizing Carls. If they can t help them in any Way at least let them survive said Subrata Mook Harjoe. A legislator from prime minister Rajiv Gandhi s Congress parly and president of one of the pullers unions. He said most pullers suffer from lung disease mainly tuberculosis and cannot afford medical treatment. But social groups and leftists cite the employment rickshaws provide. It is a Leudan Trade bul unemployment is harsher said Arun Deb a member of Unayan a Cal Cuha based social organization which did an authoritative study on no Shaw pullers. Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday september 23,1986