RICKSHAWBANK EMPOWERS POVERTY LADEN CITIZENS
Dr. Amrit Baruah, one of the well-known social scientist based in Baltimore, U.S.A. once told it was good to provide a fish meal to a hungry person but it is far too important to teach the hungry persons as to how fish could be caught for their livelihood. The first action was a compassionate deed but the second action was an act of empowerment. The second action was far too superior to the initial action. Mr. Pradip Sharma really took up the second action and empowered a whole lot of persons who were deprived lot. I am very happy to learn that Sharma started his enterprise single handedly first and involved lot of persons later. Today not only local Gramin( Rural) Banks are involved in his projects but also nationalized banks , well-known educational institutions of the world, including MIT are involved to crate an climate of self help. Mr. Sharma’s Project model is simple yet has far reaching consequences. He does not spoon feed but empowers a group to be responsible to pay back the debt incurred by the individual members of the group. It brings about a sense of social responsibility. His project is in low tech areas, but have high social values. Sharma should be congratulated for his venture. We are proud of his effort that has been able to motivate western intellectual to stand beside him to help crate economic rejuvenation of a group of citizen from below poverty. It is an act of emancipation. His project did elevate a section of people who were struggling to meet both the ends of their life to a socially responsible entrepreneur. It is this effort of his which is most meaningful to the society. Sharma has brought in a new sense of responsibility to the society. This act of his has motivated, I understand, a section of people to reach out to empower poorer section of society. I came to know of this project from the writing and a promo film by Mr. and Mrs Ankur Borah. I did suggest that to earn extra few rupees a tie up could be thought of with some of the cold drink companies .Even Rickshaws can be designed to install a small cooling machine to store cold drinks that travelers may like to buy while traveling, buy a book or take an on line accident and medical policy. Insurance companies could be made a partner in supporting the project in lieu of advertisement on the back of the rickshaw. My congratulations to Mr.Pradip Sharma not only for doing a socially responsible work but for the encouragement he has provided to others of the international community to get involved with third world country’s community for economic empowerment.
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