Project Awaaz

On June 8, 2010 all four of us went with Mr. Resham Pathak to central Delhi in order to see the field-work for Project Awaaz, which is Maitri's project that helps address many of the issues faced by Rickshaw pullers a daily basis. India has millions of Rickshaw pullers, who are generally men move to a city in search of opportunity and ultimately are left with few employment opportunities and thus end up renting a rickshaw from someone who contracts them and provides transportation services for people within the city in exchange for a small amount of money.

The Rickshaw pullers face a plethora of issues including lack of hygienic conditions, nutrition, no property or shelter, risk of tuberculosis (because of the hard manual labor in highly polluted areas), risk of HIV/AIDS (because of the stressful living conditions and access to prostitution), and other difficulties. The problem is further exemplified because this is a continuous cycle since the Rickshaw puller does not make enough money for basic needs and often accumulates debt, which can be a tremendous burden-- especially if the result of losing or breaking a rickshaw he rented. The manual labor is extremely strenuous not only because of the pollution and breathing difficulties from the labor, but also from the pain accrued after years of pulling a bike with "heavy cargo" for 8-10 hours a day for years on end.

We first went to Paharganj and met some rickshaw drivers. The first person we met was Nandkishore, a rickshaw puller who was HIV positive. Maitri has encouraged him to seek treatment and go to the hospital once a month for check ups. He told us that the medicine made him feel better but he was starting to develop severe joint pains and feared being constrained to home in the future. We visited other sites and met with other rickshaw pullers and were all emotionally moved each site we went to. Seeing the living conditions and the difficult life that many rickshaw pullers live was powerful and we immediately understood the need of more services and rights for the workers.

The field work is only one part of Maitri's involvement in Project Awaaz. Maitri holds health camps throughout the year for rickshaw pullers and teaches them about the importance of maximizing health conditions and encourages them to refrain from engaging in risky behavior such as drugs, alcohol, or commercial sex.

We met with General Singh today who gave us further background about the project initiatives. "Awaaz" is a hindi word that means "voice of the common man." One of the main initiatives is to give Rickshaw pullers identification cards so that they can have access to government rights that require a permanent address (health-care, food rationing, voting, etc). Rickshaw drivers currently do not have identification and cannot vote; they are faceless and voiceless. Maitri is making an initiative to help rickshaw pullers live a better life but it is constrained by financial resources. Maitri hopes to increase the magnitude and reach of its program in the future.

We also had the opportunity to see a little more of Delhi; we usually spend time in South Delhi (where we live, work, hang out, etc) but we grabbed a quick bite in West Delhi and noticed many things on the drive back to the office. The locations we visited were all near Canot Place, which we noticed was under intense construction, probably in preparation for the upcoming Commonwealth games.

It was great to see the field work yesterday and have clear images and a strong sense of purpose about what this project is about. Working in the office has been productive and insightful so far, but seeing everything firsthand was of great benefit.


-- Suneil