Alternative Employment for Rickshaw-Pullers
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 3
The Population Problem 3
Economic Migration and the Plight of the Rickshaw-pullers 3
LITERATURE REVIEW 4
The Growth of the “Rickshaw Culture” 4
Rickshaw-pulling as the Preferred Choice of Profession 4
An Employment Generation Case for Rickshaws 5
A Humane Argument against Rickshaw-pulling 5
Arguments for the Existence of Rickshaws in the City 6
Recent News Concerning Bans on Rickshaws and the Importance of Our 6
Research 6
HYPOTHESIS 7
METHODOLOGY 8
DATA ANALYSIS 9
Ideas and insights from the interviews 9
The Survey of Rickshaw-pullers 15
CONCLUSION 23
LIMITATIONS 24
LIST OF REFERENCES 25
APPENDIX 26
INTRODUCTION
The Population Problem
With a population size that is on the verge of crossing 13 million people, Dhaka ranks amongst the most populated mega cities in not only Asia, but also the world. Dhaka is also the capital of Bangladesh as well as its largest city and the primary center for business and finance in the country. However, with its very high population density, Dhaka faces a serious problem today in terms of maintaining and providing new infrastructure for its population, especially in the transportation sector, where the lack of adequate roads and means of transportation have recently led to the creation of severe traffic problems across the city.
As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, perhaps some of these problems are to be expected. However, we believe that this problem has been exacerbated over the years through increasing migration from other parts of the country to the capital for a number of reasons that we will explore further in our research. It has been seen however, that the majority of migrants from the villages who choose to migrate for economic reasons, end up as rickshaw-pullers upon their arrival in Dhaka, and thereby add to the number of vehicles plying Dhaka’s already congested streets. In fact, this phenomenon has become so prevalent over
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 3
The Population Problem 3
Economic Migration and the Plight of the Rickshaw-pullers 3
LITERATURE REVIEW 4
The Growth of the “Rickshaw Culture” 4
Rickshaw-pulling as the Preferred Choice of Profession 4
An Employment Generation Case for Rickshaws 5
A Humane Argument against Rickshaw-pulling 5
Arguments for the Existence of Rickshaws in the City 6
Recent News Concerning Bans on Rickshaws and the Importance of Our 6
Research 6
HYPOTHESIS 7
METHODOLOGY 8
DATA ANALYSIS 9
Ideas and insights from the interviews 9
The Survey of Rickshaw-pullers 15
CONCLUSION 23
LIMITATIONS 24
LIST OF REFERENCES 25
APPENDIX 26
INTRODUCTION
The Population Problem
With a population size that is on the verge of crossing 13 million people, Dhaka ranks amongst the most populated mega cities in not only Asia, but also the world. Dhaka is also the capital of Bangladesh as well as its largest city and the primary center for business and finance in the country. However, with its very high population density, Dhaka faces a serious problem today in terms of maintaining and providing new infrastructure for its population, especially in the transportation sector, where the lack of adequate roads and means of transportation have recently led to the creation of severe traffic problems across the city.
As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, perhaps some of these problems are to be expected. However, we believe that this problem has been exacerbated over the years through increasing migration from other parts of the country to the capital for a number of reasons that we will explore further in our research. It has been seen however, that the majority of migrants from the villages who choose to migrate for economic reasons, end up as rickshaw-pullers upon their arrival in Dhaka, and thereby add to the number of vehicles plying Dhaka’s already congested streets. In fact, this phenomenon has become so prevalent over
References: 3. Afsar, Rita & Hossain, M. (1992) Urbanization and urban poor in Bangladesh: issues trends and challenges. BIDS (Mimeo). 4. Anwar, J. (2004). Banning rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Retrieved from http://www/worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/04/banning_rickshaw.html 5 6. Murshed, S. (2005, April 27). WB loan on the way for affected rickshaw-pullers. The Daily Star. p. C1. 7. Bari, M. & Efroymson, D. (2005). Rickshaw bans in Dhaka city: an overview of arguments for and against. Roads for People.