Rickshaws For Weavers

In India, it is very common to see rickshaws. In the country, it is also common to saree, the traditional female garment in India. But you might ask what the connection between these two.

You see, the saree industry in India is on the downside. With more and more Indian buying modern dresses, it is not surprising that the saree industry is down. Now, a non-governmental organization Janmitra Nyas decided to help out those weavers of sari to cope up with the slump in the saree industry.

And the NGO decided that it would help sari makers have their own rickshaws. I stumbled upon this news at Daily India while I was looking for Acura wheels for a project. The said NGO announced that weavers would only have to pay 25 rupees everyday for about a 18 months and they would own the rickshaw. But before that, they have to plop down about 350 rupees as down payment.

Shruti, a trustee for the NGO said: "Within one-and-a-half year, they will become the owners of their rickshaws. They just have to deposit their daily installment in the bank. They have opened a bank account also. After that they will not have to work under anybody. They will have a rickshaw available with them for 24 hours of the day so that they can use it any time. Generally, rickshaw pullers have to pay double the rent for crossing eight hours duration. Now, they will not have any such problem."

And the rickshaws that will be provided for weavers are not your ordinary rickshaws as these are designed to be more aerodynamic than existing contraptions. Dr. K. C. Chakravarti, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Punjab National Bank said: "This is the modified version of the rickshaw, so it will make it easier to pull rickshaw. An IIT professor has designed this model of rickshaw. The NGO's are providing the rickshaws on reasonable rates. The NGOs involved in assembling this rickshaw are non-profit organizations."