No Longer a Blip on the Government Radar “I came from a long line of silk producers,” remembers Julfikar Ali, a 32 year old cycle rickshaw driver in Varanasi. “I used to be a skilled artisan, proud of my work.” The collapse of the famed Varanasi silk industry in the mid-1990s led thousands of skilled artisans like Julfikar to begin driving a cycle rickshaw to make ends meet. After renting his rickshaw for nearly a decade, Julfikar recalls February 2, 2008: “This is one date I’ll never forget…I began financing my own cycle rickshaw through the help of the NGO, Jan Mitra Nyas.” Julfikar, who had always paid a daily rental to a fleet owner, had never dreamed of owning a rickshaw. “Nobody owns their own rickshaw, it just isn’t done,” he says. Indeed, a rickshaw costs Rs 9,000 ($210), which most drivers could never save. Julfikar’s daily earning barely covered rent for the rickshaw, and sustained his family of six. He pedaled for 12 to 14 hours every day, under a blazing sun or torrential rain, lived on meager food, and in poor health. Like many of his colleagues, he too worked late into the night and often slept precariously in the rickshaw. Today, the winds of change are sweeping Varanasi. Julfikar and his fellow drivers bear witness to this. With AIF standing guarantor for their loans, banks are extending credit to the drivers to own their rickshaws. Instead of daily rent they now pay daily installments. In a little over a year their rickshaws will be paid off and their future earnings will go into the well-being of their families. Julfikar and his friends also get insurance and a license for the vehicle, health insurance, uniform and identity cards. Fareeda Begam, Julfikar’s wife, notes the change in their lives, “People, including our neighbors and family, are surprised by how fancy his rickshaw is and show us more respect. Even our children are proud of it.”
american india foundation - 31 - annual report 2007-08