You might have seen this story in the news recently. If not, you need to know about it! It is an inspirational story of fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari who rode a second-hand bicycle 1, 200kms with her disabled father as pillion to get home amidst India’s coronavirus lockdown. Amazing! Enjoy. NG.
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.
Mohan (father) is an e-rickshaw driver who sustain a fracture knee during a road accident. They had travelled to seek medical attention. Their family lives in Gurugram (a suburb of the Indian capital Delhi) and his young daughter Jyoti went with him to look after him while he recovered when the lockdown started on 25 March.
So Jyoti decided to buy a bicycle and like thousands of other Indian migrant workers have done since March, make her way home.
Using the money they had left (Rs2000) she bought a second-hand hot pink bike with a rack on the back for her injured father to ride pillion. They left home only with a bottle of water and she rode him non-stop from Sikandarpur in Haryana to Darbhanga in Bihar with only brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura.
The trip was 1200km. Keep in mind the blistering heat and that they had no money for food along the way and relied on the kindness of strangers.
Jyoti said she was exhausted from the trip and that “It was a difficult journey”. She also said “The weather was too hot, but we had no choice. I had only one aim in my mind, and that was to reach home. It was a decision taken in desperation”.
Her efforts have made global headlines and won hearts on social media.
Their trip highlights the plight of migrant workers caught in the lockdown. Activists say her story highlights desperate measures migrants are taking under the Covid-19 lockdown in India
The Indian Express reports Mohan (father) says they survived with the help of “several well-wishers” on the road. “We were lucky. Jyoti pedalled for eight days, making brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura. At some places, we would get a proper meal, sometimes just biscuits, but we managed”.
Jyoti’s bike ride story viral internationally (just look it up on the internet or on a news service) and their journey internationally highlighted ongoing issues such as the precarious situation of migrant workers, inequity and access to healthcare and how the most disadvantaged are being impacted by COVID-19.
Jyoti gained popularity due to her kindness and effort- and has had offers of financial help.
Jyoti’s riding also caught the attention of the Indian cycling Federation.
Impressed by her fortitude and stamina, Cycling Federation of India Chairman Onkar Singh said he was “extremely impressed” and that “it’s no mean feat for a 15-year-old to pedal with her father for eight days at a stretch over more than 1,200 km. It shows her endurance levels”.
She has been invited to try out for the national cycling team having proven her stamina.
“Once she is out of quarantine, we will bring her to Delhi to conduct trials, where we will ascertain if she can be groomed into a serious cyclist. And then, it’s up to her if she wants to pursue a career in cycling. We can even transfer her to Patna or any other centre that’s closer to her village. Ultimately, she has to make the choice” Singh said.
What an incredible story!
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.
Content for this post was sourced from news sources: The Indian Express, the ABC and Inquirer.net (YouTube) which the images/stills are from.
Last weekend was Holi Festival. Holi Festival is one of the most anticipated and celebrated Hindu festivals. It is also called the Festival of Colour of the Festival of Love.
This uber-participatory event traditionally celebrates unity and forgiveness. The spreading of colours represents new beginnings, and overcoming hatred and jealousy.
The festival lasts for a day and a night. It starts on the evening of Purnima. The first evening is called Holika Dahan/Choti Holi and the following day is Holi.
Holi is globally celebrated and is famous for the explosion of colours (dyed corn starch) and being a day of rejoicing and dancing.
Traditionally, handfuls of colour are thrown over people as they dance. More recently, this has been adapted to fit with a DJ set. The DJ will whip happy dancers into a frenzy and coloured powder will be thrown about and shot out of purpose-made cannons during cresendos. Damn good fun!
A main drawback of the day for me was the massive amount of small plastic bags used to package the colours – that, and too many people ‘forgot’ to put their empties in the bin …grrrrr. So, I just incorporated into my dancing a series of lunges and oh-so-coordinated-and-elegant ground sweep moves to I pick up as many as I could – back on track!
Each year in Brisbane, my favorite Holi Celebration is the one community event at Seventeen Mile Rocks. Last year I had a great time. It is so much fun….AND includes a bike ride! Woohoo!
This year, the Seventeen Mile Rocks Holi event was part of Brisbane City Council’s BrisAsia Festival 2019.
As well as immersing yourself in Indian culture, there is a community bike ride that starts at the festival HQ and returns in time to see the music, entertainment and frivolity begin.
This 5 km ride is a great way to bring community together and is family-friendly. The route is an easy-paced, flat, bike path ride alongside the river and is a suitable for all ages and stages.
They have a mechanic onsite who offers free bike safety checks. Traditionally, most riders wear white everyday clothing in anticipation of afternoon antics. A good general rule is not to bring any valuables, clothing or items you don’t mind getting stained, wet or damaged.
Many riders decorate their bikes and it is a fun way to get more little kids interested in riding. When I take Leki my flower bike, I am always swamped with people coming up for a chat!
Image: Couleurdenuitofficiel
It is lovely seeing your fellow riders dotted around throughout the day – and they often magically appear in front of you through a cloud of vibrant colour – smiling and dancing and waving to you. Awesome!
Here is a quick look at what it’s like – if you’ve been before, you know to be wear glasses and keep you mouth closed!
See you all there for the ride and festivities next year!
I’ve just returned from my first 10-day silent Vipassana meditation course.
Lots of people have heard of Vipassana meditation. Some of you may have already done a course ( … or two… or more). If you haven’t heard of Vipassana, ask your friends about it – you will hear some VERY interesting stories.
I’ve been struggling to write this post.
I am not yet ready to share the ins-and-outs of what happened. Besides, there is no point reinventing the wheel – there is some much Viapassna info already widely and readily available on YouTube (full of advice and recounts) and online.
If you want more details on what the course is, my recommended two best personal Vipassana recounts are:
So, without getting stuck on the nitty-gritty details of my experience, here’s a brief Vipassana snapshot.
Source: Senaka Luyanage
What is Vipassana?
Understanding Vipassana is not difficult. It is the consistent practice that is the hard part. Overall, there are three central pillars: Sila (morality), Samadhi (control of the mind) and Panna (wisdom).
Vipassana means “to see things as they really are”.
The course is based on the teachings of Buddha but is linked to not Buddhism or any other religion. It is universal teaching, not secular. And it is not a cult.
The course requires students to live-in for 10 days and adhere to a monastic code of conduct, which includes (among others) avoiding all the following: speaking, eye contact, gesturing, touching, technology/mobile phone, reading, writing, exercise and the genders are segregated
Epic.
Image: Yogaindra
Source: OutandAbout.com
So what was it like?
It was a rollercoaster ride. Many ups. Many downs.
There were 26 women on my course, 4 left.
The timetable is intense. The commitment is intense. The location is beautiful.
I LOVED noble silence. I LOVED the early starts.
It was physically and mentally very challenging.
I learnt a lot about trust, compassion and letting go.
I learnt to notice and accept change (Annicca).
The stunning food and nightly discourses were daily highlights.
During the course, my awareness sharpened, I managed to slow down the noise in my head, and had the time to really focus being in the present moment.
Image: Sarah Steenland
Other thoughts…
Vipassana helps people (re)connect with the body by observing the interactions between the mental (mind/thinking) and the material (body/sensations).
The Vipassana technique is immediately useful and transferable to all other aspects of life (not just meditation), especially in the case of managing emotions such as fear, attachment, desire and pain.
The benefits of Vipassana are not only personal. As a bike rider, I have been applying it to my bike riding and there is a significant change in my approach to MTBing.
When I got back home from my course, I did what any normal contemporary bike-riding Vipassana student would have done: I made love with my husband, ate a gorgeous lunch, went for a mountain-bike ride, then meditated. Priorities.
How easily we forget or disregard that which is not part of our immediate daily experience….like the plight of elephants.
Elephant populations have declined by 62% over the last decade, with 24,000 Elephants poached last year in Africa alone.
Sunday (August 12th) was World Elephant Day 2018.
To celebrate the majestic elephant – and as a reminder that just because we don’t see them every day – much still needs to be done for those elephants still left.
So, here are a few ways that cyclists are progressing elephant conservation, both off and on the bike.
Source: Ride a Bike not an Elephant
Ride a bike, not an elephant – Khatsahlano Street Party
One way to show support off the bike is by wearing a t-shirt like one of these below, which comes from annual Khatsahlano Street Party.
This event had local bands, artisans, food trucks, and giveaways. The T-shirt featured here was a key part of the event fundraising campaign to protect elephants from the unethical tourism industry. 100% of the net profit of these T-shirts went to free an abused elephant to a sanctuary in Asia.
Source: Bring the Elephant back home
Bike for Elephants 2018
‘Bike for Elephants’ is a 2-day charity bike tour arranged as part of the Dutch group Bring the elephant back home group. This bike ride is in eastern Thailand and the cost of participation goes towards innovative wild elephant conservation projects. This ride is promoted as an adventure and fun biking trip through the mountains and plantations and through forests in Chantaburi Province.
Cost includes safety instructions, a t-shirt, overnight stay, mountain bike rental, helmet, all meals and drinks. Also included are opportunities to meet the research team, see live elephants and new conservation techniques (like the beehive fences) in action and being part of an experience that is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Source: Spreadshirt
So what’s all the fuss?
Elephants are amazing creatures.
Green Global Travel’s website is focused on drawing attention to the challenge elephants face – and goes on to state that:
In the early 1900s African Elephant populations were estimated to be in the millions, while there were around 100,000 Asian Elephants. According to World Wildlife Fund, today there are around 700,000 African Elephants in the wild, and just 32,000 Asian Elephants.
In 1989, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) banned the international ivory trade. Yet poaching for ivory has been steadily increasing, with 800,000 African elephants killed over the last three decades.
In addition to poaching, habitat loss and conflict with human populations are key threats facing Elephant populations. Climate change projections suggest key Elephant habitat will become hotter and drier, so poor foraging conditions may threaten the survival of more calfs in the future.
So sometime this week, take at least one small step to support elephant rescue and conservation – and show the world that cyclists are connected and care about our world – both on and off the bike.
And next time you’re riding with cycling buddies, here’s a few other interesting elephant facts you can share…
Elephants are incapable of jumping, but these massive mammals can run at a maximum speed of 25 miles (40 km) per hour.
Elephants, like people, have a ‘prefered side’ of using their tusks: Some are “lefties,” others are “righties.” They’ll favor that tusk when fighting other Elephants, picking things up, or stripping leaves and bark off trees. Because of constant usage, their preferred tusk gets shorter over time.
The elephant’s trunk (called a proboscis) contains 16 muscles.
Elephants have incredibly poor digestion, with only 50% efficiency. As a result, they release an incredible amount of gas (methane) and produce around 250 pounds of manure a day!
Elephant skin is over an inch thick. But because it’s loaded with nerve endings, their skin is also highly sensitive. Elephants from the same herd will often use touch to greet each other, either wrapping their trunks around each other or giving each other friendly “hello” taps on the body.
Last weekend, I headed down to the Brisbane Holi Festival 2018 celebrations.
I was drawn to this event for a number of reasons: it is a wonderful cultural celebration, it was being held in an area of Brisbane I have not been to, and most importantly, there was an organised public bike ride to kick off the festivities!
I saw this community event on the Brisbane City Council website – and this is what is said:
Dress in white for the Holi Festival of Colours at Rocks Riverside Park and be prepared to get dirty when the colour throwing begins. Cycle to the event with the Two Wheels Bike Ride and try yoga, Bollywood dancing, delicious food and dance in the rain before the festival closes in an explosion of flying coloured powder.
What is Holi Festival?
The Holi Festival is known as the ‘Festival of Colour”.
It is an Indian cultural festival that celebrates community, fun and colour. It is the original event where people throw coloured powder over each other as a way of connecting people, having fun and celebrating life.
So I called my creative collaborator, Claire. We packed the car up for the day with our colourful bikes, dressed in white and headed out to have some fun.
There was lots of Bollywood dancing, food stalls, demonstrations and lots of DJs that kept the dancing crowd happy – and continuous colour throwing!
After our ride along the river, we were a little hot and sweaty. So, we grabbed some delicious lunch and hung out in the shade. It was great to watch groups of kids getting crazy, families arriving and friends frolicking.
That was the best part of the day for me.
The DJs really started getting going around 1 pm. By then, the crowd had started built and was in full swing, so we headed into the main area for a boogie and to get amongst it.
We were instantly set upon by happy festival-goers (our clothes were VERY white and obviously needed some ‘help’) and while we were chatting and meeting new people, we danced around and got drenched by water cannons and splashed with colour.
The Indian community is so warm and friendly. It was so affirming to see so many ages, shapes, nationalities, ethnicities and mixes of people – it was a delight to be part of.
This kind of event represents the kind of community that I want to live in.
Awesome!
Leki was a real hit.
When it was time to leave, Claire and I grabbed our bikes to ride back…and we got accosted from all sides by punters wanting to have their photos taken with Leki (and the flower helmet beanie)!
How could we say no?
A minor hiccup
We had a minor hiccup on the day – we missed the organised ride.
Below is the ticket I received after booking. Claire and I (and Leki) happily took off on the day with our bikes to join the ride. The only problem was that we didn’t have enough info to find the location for the start of the ride in time.
The location was far too broad – We’d never been to this area before and the GPS stopped us in the middle of a busy street – eck!
We arrived and drove around and around – there were no signs on the main road indicating where the festival was. Finally, we worked out where it was, but by then, we were too late to join the official ride.
So, we went on our own little ride/mission along the riverside, which was great fun!
We had an equally great time exlporing the new bike trails ourselves and then we headed back to join the festivities. By then, it was starting to really get going in the main arena – perfect timing!
We had a great day! We danced, got coloured and we rode our bikes of colours.
By the time I got home, I was very tired – and very happy!
My PhD is on community bike projects, so I read a lot of NGO policy. I came across an interesting NGO evaluation of a pilot study undertaken in Uttar Pradesh, India.
As a development professional, educator and community bike advocate, this report entitled: The distribution of Aquatabs through a bicycle entrepreneur model in rural India caught my eye.
Expectations .. ‘bicycle entrepreneur distribution model’
Having previously worked on health and community education programs in developing countries I’m always keen to see how development interventions integrate and use bicycles to further connect promote and support positive community outcomes.
When I saw the title of this report I got excited.
I’m always keen to see what is happening in India as it is a hub of social development innovation and experimentation.
I was also keen to read about the specific focus on the ‘distribution’ aspect of a ‘bicycle’ project – I was expecting to read a lot on the use of bicycles in the communities.
I had visions of local community health and WASH workers riding bicycles around rural communities distributing free water purification tablets increasing community awareness for hygiene and clean water practices.
The report is based on the 2011 pilot of PATH’s Safe Water Project. This project was focused on implementing innovative methods to enable commercial enterprises to produce, distribute, sell, and maintain effective household water treatment and storage (HWTS) products for low-income populations in developing countries. This project brief used ‘the bicycle entrepreneur distribution model’ – and it was one of the first of a number of pilot projects that PATH undertook in India and other countries to overcome distribution and marketing barriers that make it difficult for HWTS manufacturers to reach lower-income households and rural markets.
Source: PATH (2011).
So I had a look at the report.
After scanning through the first 20 pages, the frown that had formed on my brow got deeper and more pronounced.
I found the contents of the report challenging to read.
There was scarce little detail as to the use of bicycles. Ultimately, the only reference to the use of bicycles in the whole report was that the 8 salesmen used bicycles to travel around to sell the product.
That was it. That was the extent of how bicycles were used in this project.
Talk about a let down!
It had no detail about if bicycles were provided free of change, at a discount rate, were part of a team fleet, or if the ‘salesmen’ got to keep the bike afterwards. Nothing!
Sadly, the report was squarely focused on ascertaining commercial marketing and private sector avenues for product sales (of Aquatabs) – and not on assessing the ‘distribution’ or ‘bicycle model’ aspect of the project.
As I read the report, it seems decidedly incongruent with the ‘safe water for rural lower-income communities’ and NGO approach I was expecting to read. The report reads more like a business/economic assessment of a failed marketing case study rather than the bicycles-helps-developing-community first impression I had. Bummer!
I skimmed over the content as I looked for the content I was interested in – which was how bicycles were used.
I found this on page 7…
In this model, BEs sold Aquatabs to rural consumers at weekly markets and through house-to-house visits.
Then this…
The model was implemented in 200 villages with approximately 67,000 households ver a 12-month period (May 2009 April 2010). Eight BEs serviced this area on bicycles, following pre-determined routes and schedules. The BEs were recruited, trained, and supervised by MART and were paid a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 in addition to their earnings from Aquatabs sales margins.
Then this on page 18..
‘Peddlers’ or ‘health champions’?
I did smile at the irony of a comment regarding training, support and monitoring, whereby:
“Additionally, the BEs felt that their current job lacked pride because they were perceived as “peddlers” (telewalah) rather than health champions, and this limited their ability to interact with local leaders as well as with the community” (p 40).
(Get it…’peddlers’ or ‘bicycle salesmen’..oh dad! Definitely cultural/vocab humour!)
Where was the ‘bicycle entrepreneur model’ in all this??
In my view, if the bicycle model term was important enough to put into the report heading, it is important enough to explain in more detail that what was provided.
Why is the mode of transportation used to get around important to mention in this project? You don’t see equivalent ‘walking entrepreneur model’ or ‘minibus entrepreneur model’ or ‘(insert mode of transport here) entrepreneur model’ – so what make the bicycle so special to mention here? And if it is special to mention – it’s reasoning needs to be better explained.
It is logical that bicycles would be used in developing contexts for project staff to travel in and around villages. Is this idea still such a revelation that it is still a new idea for NGO practice? I should think not! I was surprised that this was such a basic project feature was so prominently highlighted, yet not explained in this report.
I thought…Maybe it was bad report writing. Maybe the title was deliberately chosen to attract a certain audience. I couldn’t help but be a little miffed by ‘bicycle’ being in the report title where there was no further explanation of its use, especially considering the connotation of bicycles being synonymous with local, grassroots community development.
I felt this was taking the bicycle’s name in vain.
It kind of felt like false advertising. It was akin to supermarkets putting fresh produce into ‘green packaging’, relabelling it as ‘fresh farm produce’ and then charging double to capitalise on the current wholefood/vegan/natural eating health trend.
I ended up having to look elsewhere to find a Project Brief Document that provided some point of reference at least for the role that bicycles had in this project – which was minimal anyway. Surely this should have been in the assessment report? Even after finding this separate document, there was still a lack of detail about the provision, ownership and handover of the bicycle.
Below is as much info about how bicycles were used in this project as the NGO provided:
Note to self: Be wary of how ‘bicycles’ are represented in NGO and development documents.
What a disappointing report!
It was a salient reminder for me about the variation in approaches, purposes and communication styles of NGO programs. Equally, although bicycles are used in some NGOs projects, it is not always in the most productive and positive manner – sometimes bikes are just used to ride and get around!
Equally, although bicycles are used in some NGOs projects, it is not always in the most productive and positive manner.
It was a good lesson – a reminder to be vigilant and judicious when seeing that a ‘bicycle’ is included in a project somewhere. Be sure to look more closely and see to what degree the bicycle is actually used before automatically assuming the project is ‘good’ just on the basis that a bicycle is mentioned.
Despite my personal reservations, I am always supportive of more bicycles being used in communities.
Notwithstanding my critique of this particular report, it is still good to see bicycles being better recognised and incorporated into INGO community project discussions.
Viva la use of bicycles to promote greater health and community development!
This last week I returned from an (informal) 3-day ‘yoga for cyclists’ retreat.
I say ‘informal retreat’ because we actually to visit an old school friend of husband’s and his gorgeous partner at a spectacular property in Dunoon, NSW. And I say ‘for cyclists’ because both husband and I have been riding bike recreationally and competitively for a number of years now.
Luckily for us, our delightful host couple have just recently returned from an extended stay in India, where they were living in a yoga ashram to undertake their yoga instructors course (hence ‘retreat’!).
It goes without saying that staying with them was blissful, gentle and wonderfully restorative.
Yoga for cyclists! Start the day right!
We were up at 5 am for an hour of meditation, then two hours of yoga followed by some more meditation – all before breakfast.
What a way to start each day!
Although I still did some reading for my PhD, I did not ride during this trip as I just wanted to invest in some quality rest and relaxing downtime. To this end, I was really just a love sponge for the amazing views, good company, scrumptious veggo food and stunning campfire-under-an-endless-night-sky vibes (*sigh*!).
Best of all, we did yoga every day – and I mean good yoga!
We did all the yoga poses you would get in classes, but also held some for considerably longer. Plus, we did a variety of yogic purification breathing techniques that I have not tried before – super interesting!
An additional bonus was that both our hosts team-taught each session, which was brilliant for the balance of yin/yang – male/female energies.
However!
Given years of competitive and recreational mountain bike riding, this daily yoga practice really drove home how tight my thighs and hips were – and how important regular stretching is.
A month of yoga (for cyclists) challenge
Since returning, I have committed to a month’s yoga challenge – with a focus on unlocking and releasing the years of stored up cycling tension (it might take a while!). After my initial month trial ends, our two yoga hosts suggested to check out their ashram’s online yoga practice.
Their ashram, Akhanda has a number of yoga classes free online as well as a private youtube channel, which for $10 a month, you are able to access to a series of yoga sessions (5 x 30 mins per week, or 5 x 60 mins per week, etc.).
Overall impacts thus far?
I am feeling so much better for doing daily yoga and will definitely continue. I have really enjoyed the progress I have made in the last eight days and can feel the difference in my legs, hips and torso. I feel a lot stronger, more centred and have noticed a considerable improvement in the range of movement in my hips.
This month’s yoga for cyclists challenge serves as a timely reminder to slow down and to explore alternative approaches to getting stronger.
Maybe some days, if it is raining outside and you are not up for a ride, you can work in, instead of work out! (Oh no, dad!).
So if you have not done yoga lately, here is one of the better of many popular yoga classes designed specifically for cyclists to get started.
I hope you have fun and get as much satisfaction out of it as I am! Enjoy!
Thanks CT for recommending this story as a post. This story is the perfect mix of all the good things that this blog celebrates- community, adventurousness and positive people making remarkable changes – but most importantly, how bicycles help people not only come together – but flourish as a result. Reading about PK and Lottie really lifted my spirits and reminded me to be grateful for all the good things in life – and especially those that come on two wheels!
This post features a heartwarming tale of a serendipitous meeting, creativity, travel, hope, love and the bicycle ride that brought two lovers from opposite sides of the world together (*sigh*)!
For me, it brought up lots of happy memories of riding with family, friends and loved ones, the unique exhilaration, and opportunities that travel provides and how you should never give up on your dreams.
Cycling from India to Sweden for love
You may have heard of this tale; it is about PK (then a young Indian artist) and Lottie (a Swedish backpacker) who met in India while Lottie was travelling here in the mid-1970s. They met by chance and instantly fell in love. This is a picture of them now, over 35 years later.
Source: The Guardian – PK and Lotta in Sweden, where they live. Photograph: Scanpix Norway/Press Association Images
After a whirl-wind romance, Lottie had to return home. Missing each other terribly, PK decided to take fate into his own hands and embark on an 8,000 kms overland bike ride from India to Sweden to be with her again.
Ultimately, over 35 years later they are still happily married – and still riding bikes!
Love life, love bikes, love lovers
In a world that broadcasts so much doom and gloom, this story was a lovely reprieve. There are so many elements of PK and Lottie’s story that many of us can identify with. For those of us who have travelled overseas, or who cycle, or who have fallen madly in love their life (or all three!) wonderfully reaffirming love story.
I was also really touched by PK’s unwavering positivity and commitment to making their dreams come true. Unfortunately, it is quite rare these days to see a couple exude such genuine joyfulness and love for each other – and for life in general.
Which makes this story even more important.
It is a wonderfully reaffirming love story (for them) and a reaffirming life story as well (for us).
While reading though some research for my Lit Review, I came across this article: Ghatak, M., Kumar, C., & Mitra, S. (2013). Cash versus kind: Understanding the preferences of the bicycle-programme beneficiaries in Bihar. London, UK: International Growth Centre.
I have previously posted about this program, as it looks like a great initiative, so I was interested to read more about it, but was shocked by a few of the program details and findings that (of course) were not included in this programs’ previous promotions.
Review of the report.
This article is looking at cash transfer schemes and specifically using one case study, the Bihar Mukhyamantri Cycle Yogina (Chief Minister’s Bicycle Programme) a Cash for Kind (Bicycle) program to discuss some of the preferences of the bicycle beneficiancies of this program. It is not analyzing the program as such, although some interesting program results are given which I will expand on, but this paper is looking at to the recipients prefer to get the cash or the bicycle – and why.
Cash for Kind program are where the government disperses cash to recipients, who then use the cash to access a certain ‘kind’ of goods (or service) – usually something that is predetermined and linked as a condition for receiving the cash – in this case the money was to purchase a bicycle for all 9th grade students enrolled in school.
This report is 22 pages, so I am not going to give you all the results and details, but here is a few of the more interesting aspects of the report.
Program Background
The Bihar bike program is a well-known Indian program which provided ALL the 14 year-old girls (9th grade) in the whole state with bicycles. Bihar is one of India’s Eastern States that boarders Nepal and is considered to be one of the most impoverished states in India. The Mukhyamantri Cycle Yogina originally started in 2006 and provided Rs 2,400 for purchasing bicycles but was only for the girls. In 2009-2010 the program was expanded to include all the boys in the state of the same age and for the academic year of 2011-2012 the cash was increased to Rs 2500 per student. In 2012 – 2013, a conditional change was made that only students who maintained a 75% attendance at school were eligible.
So this report is a follow up of this program and was undertaken Sept – Oct 2012 over 36 villages and involved surveying 840 households (as a representative sample of the whole district) of which 958 bike recipients lived (some households had more than one child in the program).
Some of the key results
Do the benefits reach the intended beneficiaries – overall, yes.
Overall 90% of the beneficiaries reported being happy with this program (no grievances)
Issues of corruption – corruption can occur by various actors at various stages, but for this program it was difficult to do and corruption was considered to be very low.
Corruption opportunities:
Ghost beneficiaries
Enrolled in multiple schools – double benefits
Was the accurate amount of $$ received?
Receiving other benefits/services (not a bike)
Program administrators skimming a commission by using their own voucher or coupon system
Even though there were areas where corruption could occur, not much did with 93.3% reporting having received the correct amount – meaning 56 households received less than they were entitled to.
Results show that 98% of those who received the cash/voucher used it as required to purchase a new bicycle – over the course of a whole state – that is a pretty amazing result.
45% said they would prefer cash instead of a bicycle
Rest of the report – some scary details
The rest of the report discusses the determinates of why certain households choose a preference between cash and kind (bicycle) – for example the quality of the bike was mentioned as one of the determinants for choosing cash or bike.
In the discussion, the report indicates a few interesting and very disturbing features of this program.
For example, one of the supply side conditions, and the way the program was set up, was that the beneficiaries were provided with cash (provided by the state, but distributed by the teachers at school), then they went out and purchased a bicycle with that cash and brought back the receipt as evidence of a bike purchase. Interestingly, this was not how the full program was implemented. Some districts deviated from this system and 30% of the beneficiaries were required to submit a receipt BEFORE they received the cash for the bike.
This meant 3 things: 1. People had to either purchase the bike with their own money, or 2. Get a fake receipt and 3. This would put extra financial strain on the poorest of the poor, of which this program was trying to help, but forcing into a compromised situation.
There were huge delays of payment to the recipients of up to 6-months.
Most troubling is, that the program provided an inadequate amount of money to purchase a bike in the first place – 98% of beneficiaries had to add money a significant amount of money to the program cash to buy a bike – on average Rs 979.
The market price for the three CHEAPEST bike brands in the area Atals, Avon and Hero (of which about 80% of the beneficiaries selected) range in price of Rs 3100 – 3300, but the government supplied only Rs 2500 – meaning that pretty much all of the recipients had to make up the difference themselves. For the richer households this comes out of savings, for the poorer families – this puts them further into debt, with 25% of all the recipients having to BORROW money to buy a bike – thus indebting them into poverty even further.
And this report states that 90% of the recipients were happy with the program!!??
Don’t get me wrong, the program is ambitious on many levels and you cannot get everything right – and the premise of supplying a new bike to increase school access is something I am very supportive of. However, ethically I have a major problem with programs whose conditionality has a direct and immediate negative consequence for the recipients when program organisers tout the program a success.
Such an error is easily rectifiable with A) doing the right homework to find out how much money is actually needed to buy a bike before implementation and B) increasing the government’s allocation to all beneficiaries if the program is already in effect.
Loan sharks anyone?
The report acknowledges that there is a ‘trade-off between universality and corruption’ meaning that beneficiary needs need to be balanced with the level of leakage and corruption. But given the opening stats on the low corruption level for this program (98% of recipients got the right amount of cash = no corruption), it is hardly justifiable to decrease the reimbursement amount so much that being involved in the program diminishes the possible benefits to such a point where the needs of the beneficiaries are negatively compounded now three fold from having borrowed money to be in the program. Loan sharks anyone?
As a community development practitioner, I find these kind of programs disturbing, as many of them look good in the NGO reports and social media, but by digging a little deeper there are some interesting lessons to be learnt for future review, modifications and application.
I appreciate that this program is on a massive scale and is one of the first of its kind in the world, but critical features such as supplying the correct amount are basic provisions that should have been addressed before implementation.
I would be very interested to hear the rational given for this cash transfer amount for this program.
Billionaire entrepreneur Manoj Bhargava has a philanthropist side project, Billions in Change, which could well be set to change the lives of half the world’s population. Aside from giving 90% of his money to the Giving Pledge charity, he is also very heavily involved and passionate developing approaches to address issues of poverty and energy resource equity through Free Electric.
The focus of Billions in Change is “to build a better future by creating and implementing solutions to serious problems facing the world in the areas of water, energy and health.” This project has produced a series of quite remarkable innovations that aim to address these issues and increase the quality of life for the world’s poorest people.
Free Electric Bike
Billions of Change looks at three major global problems: Health, Water and Energy. To address the issue of energy – the project’s website outlines their solution as “The Free Electric machine gives people the power to generate electricity themselves – pollution free. The machine is small, light and simple. Here’s how it works: A person pedals a hybrid bicycle. The bicycle wheel drives a flywheel, which turns a generator, which charges a battery. Pedaling for one hour yields electricity for 24 hours with no utility bill, and no exhaust, no waste.”
They will be able to produce these bikes in India for under $200 per unit – making it much more affordable for local councils, communities, schools and NGOs in developing countries – especially if resources and finances are pooled and shared.
25 bikes have already been installed at no charge to a sample of energy-poor households, schools, and small businesses in Indian villages close to Lucknow, Amethi and Raebareli to assess functionality.
Manoj has collaborated “with a local distributor and non-profit group to help with assembly and to train others on how to assemble and troubleshoot the bike. We’re also conducting pre/post surveys with recipients to learn their perspectives on the benefits of the bike, as well as to get their feedback about how we can improve it” .
Later this year, there is a pilot plan to implement 10,000 of these bikes in India.
It is quite exciting to think that such a contraption has the potential to literally revolutionize the lives of so many people – the fact that it is not a conception or theoretical model, but has actually been manufactured – is a massive step towards production for greater practical utility and for streamlining the design for cheaper and easier implementation.
This is yet another innovation similar to the bicycle-washing machine from a previous post, which seems to show that India and bicycle innovations have a very strong affinity for each other to create positive change.
Full Documentary
There is a post on Treehugger which gives some more details about this project – and it was there that I also saw that there is a full Billions of Change documentary (45 min) which outlines Free Electric, and also details some other inventive approaches that his Lab called Stage 2 Innovations has also created, such as the Rain Maker seawater car, and the geothermal Limitless Energy resource among other designs.
