Handpulled Rickshaw- A Heritage of Calcutta

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Handpulled rickshaw is an important and significant part of Calcutta 's heritage, culture and transport system. Calcutta, a city of contradictions, is today one of the few cities in the world where hand rickshaws are still plying on a regular basis in the lanes, by-lanes and streets of the city as a public mode of cheap transport. The hand rickshaw pullers are mostly migrant workers from Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, U.P., the vulnerable city dwellers and the rural people of West Bengal, who are poor, illiterate, unskilled and unemployed. The handrickshaw was first introduced in Calcutta in 1914 by the Chinese people living in this city as a private transport for carrying goods and also for the passenger transport. The first handrickshaws in Calcutta were not only owned by the Chinese residents but they were also pulled by the Chinese immigrants. These handrickshaws are pollution free, cheapest transport and the only means of transport in the waterlogged streets and lanes of Calcutta where neither a three wheeler nor a four wheeler can enter. Thus the handpulled rickshaw has become a permanent feature of Calcutta's traditional aura.

Dr.Dalia Ray (daughter of late Hon'ble Justice Bankim Chandra Ray, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India and late Banalata Ray) is the chip of the old bloc After completing her graduation (B.A. Hons) in History from Lady Brabourne College in Calcutta, she took her Masters Degree in Modern Indian History from the Jadavpur University. She completed her Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Calcutta. She was a Junior Research Fellow of the University Grants Commission and took her Ph.D. From Jadavpur University in Modern Indian History. Her thesis was published under the title, "The Bengal Revolutionaries and Freedom Movement" (1902-1919) from New Delhi in 1990 which was later on updated and reprinted.

She qualified in the W.B.C.S. (Judicial) Examination in West Bengal and worked as a First Class Judicial Magistrate and as a Civil Judge in the West Bengal Judicial Service for 9 years. Dr.Ray returned to the Bar of Calcutta High Court in 1998. Since then she has been a practising lawyer and a freelance writer.

Dr. Ray has published a number of papers in the academic journals. Her papers on the Jews of Calcutta in the proceedings of the Indian History Congress and All Indian Oriental Conference have been well received and appreciated. She has contributed many articles in the press.

Her book entitled "The Jewish heritage of Calcutta" was published in 2001 from Calcutta while her book " The Parsees of Calcutta" was published in 2005. Her books" The Jews of India" and " Bengal Revolutionaries in quest for Freedom" were published in 2011 2017 from Calcutta. Her latest book entitled Fort William and Calcutta Maidan: The British Heritage of Calcutta" was published in 2021 from Calcutta.

Hand pulled rickshaw, an important part of Calcutta's heritage, culture and transport system, is a very interesting subject for exploration and research. Being a research scholar I could not resist the temptation of researching on this subject which is a very relevant and current topic in the present context of the introduction of very modernised modes of transport in this City of Joy.

Calcutta, a city of contradictions, is today one of the few cities in the world where hand pulled rickshaws are still plying in the lanes and by-lanes of the city as a public mode of cheap transport. The hand rickshaw pullers, in fact form an integral part of the workforce as the hand rickshaws provide work and livelihood to the migrant workers from Bihar, Orissa, U.P., to the vulnerable urban dwellers as well as to the rural people of West Bengal, who are poor, illiterate, unskilled and unemployed. A handpulled rickshaw is a mode of human powered slow moving vehicle. It is a light wooden cart with two large wheels, also made of wood, along with a seat for two passengers, pulled by a man running between two long shafts that project in the front. The handrickshaw was first seen in Simla in the summer capital of British Raj in 1880. But it was first introduced in Calcutta in 1914 by the Chinese people living in this city, as a private means of transport for the purpose of carrying goods and for passenger transport. The first handrickshaws in Calcutta were not only owned by the Chinese residents but they were also pulled by the Chinese immigrants. By 1920s the rickshaw trade was almost Indianised. Surprisingly, Calcutta, historically the capital of British India, is one of the cities in the world which has still now retained handpulled rickshaw as a mode of public transport along with modernised fast moving mechanised modes of transport like the public bus, state bus, four wheelers, three wheeler autorickshaw and the Metro Railway. Above all, the handpulled rickshaw is pollution free and cheapest transport and the only means of transport in the waterlogged streets of Calcutta as they navigate through the serpentine lanes of Calcutta where neither a four wheeler nor a three wheeler car can enter. Thus the handpulled rickshaw is an icon of this metropolis and a permanent feature of Calcutta's traditional aura. The handrickshaw also continues to fascinate the foreign visitor to this City of Joy.

The questions raised in this study are limited to a few. How the ban imposed on hand rickshaw by the amendment of the Calcutta Hackney Carriage Act, 1919 has adversely affected the hand rickshaw pullers, owners, hand rickshaw craftsmen and the rickshaw trade as a whole as well as the problems like low income, unemployment and trade insecurity which the hand rickshaw pullers and owners have been facing for a long time since the year 2006 when the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had stopped issuing new licences to the rickshaw pullers and owners nor renewing the existing licences. But above all, the question of rehabilitation of the hand rickshaw pullers and owners has not yet been solved by the state government though it is high time that the state government treats this issue as urgent and solve the same. Otherwise a large number of pullers, who are out of work, will starve to death, along with their families since these pullers are unskilled for any other kind of work and they have no stake at their native place to fall back upon.