Calcutta's Rickshaw Crackdown

"[Calcutta's] hand-pulled rickshaw trade is almost entirely done by rural migrant workers from one of India's most troubled and impoverished states, Bihar. They come to the city for work, leaving behind families with promises of monthly earnings.

In early December, the West Bengal State Assembly called [such] work inhumane and outlawed rickshaws.

Concern about inhumanity, however, may obscure a more pressing governmental preoccupation: presenting a modern Indian face to the world. West Bengal's politicians have been trying to attract foreign investment to the state. Many believe that rickshaw pullers reflect negatively on the city's image.

Rickshaw pullers are fighting back. The Calcutta Hand Rickshaw Pullers Union recently asked West Bengali Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to draft a retraining package. They were told that licensed rickshaw pullers would be appropriately taken care of. Although there were about 6,000 licensed rickshaws in Calcutta several years ago, thousands more ply the city's streets unlicensed. Their ability to operate comes from the area's many police officers who give them free passage in exchange for monthly bribes.