The CIA World Factbook is a treasure trove of information. According to this Factbook, the literacy rate for India is 61% as a whole. 73.4% for males while its just 47.8% for females. They define literacy as people over 15 years of age should be able to read and write. This is a clear indication of where we need to work in order to push up this percentage to more advanced levels. Basic primary and secondary education for children. While the Indian govenrment spends about 3.2% of GDP on education, there is only one real way to ensure that the children and getting the education that they should be.
Work needs to be done at the village level where a very large percentage of the Indian population remains. The children in these villages are the one who need to see the benefit of government programs. The Bicycle Project is one such initiative started to address at least some of the concerns that rural children face in India. The main aim of this project is to provide a means of transportation to the kids in the villages around Mumbai so that they can go to their local schools. This daily activity is generally a really dampner as the children have to walk anywhere from 4 to 10 kilometres to get to the school. I know that if I had to walk this distance every day, I would not be very enthusiastic about going to school.
To make sure that these children do not feel as I would, Hemant, Sangeeta and Simona have started The Bicycle Project to distribute bicycles to these children who can really use them. Mind you, they insist that you give then used bicycles in the spirit of recycling and reusing. As Hemant says, it’s easy for someone to just give him a check to go and buy 2000 bicycles, but that defeats the point. The point is to have people more inviolved in the process and to have them donate something that has the potential to make a child’s life a little easier.
I am pretty sure that thousands of people in Mumbai have used bicycles just lying around their homes or their societies. What better way to get rid of what you percieve as junk and give to someone who will actually be glad to use it. On my recent jaunt through the Kala Ghoda festival I had actually come across a tandem bicycle done up by the same folks. I didn’t connect the two things then as there were so many other bicycle sculptures at the festival.
So head on over to the folks at The Bicycle Project and give those old bicycles a new lease on, and a purpose in life!
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Abhilash is a part time blogger and blogs about photography, technology and travel. When not blogging Abhilash is either selling outsourcing solutions to companies or indulging in marathon episodes of various science fiction shows and movies.
[...] health), while the rest of the Chabra family lives in Mumbai. These guys are also responsible for The Bicycle Project in and around [...]