Pulled aside

Rickshaw pulling is hard physical work, done for a pittance. Men who transport people on their rickshaw are often from rural areas and come to the city to earn a meagre living.

They make only just enough to get by and send much of their earnings home to family left behind in the village. On their poor diets, the rickshaw riders have merely a covering of skin on bones and look underfed when in reality, for their profession, they need a diet full of nutrients. No such luck for them in their actual reality.

Often they sleep rough on pavements or wherever they can find shelter. In this case, the man is waiting for a fare and getting some respite in the midday heat which is peaking this weekend at 44C in Delhi and it's only yet Spring. Dehydration is also a big problem and it's not an uncommon sight on the hotter days to see the rickshaw pullers toil with a wet cloth on their heads.

In what is obviously an environmentally conscious addition, battery powered rickshaws have been introduced to slowly phase out the gasoline fuelled version. However, the new choice of transport for short distances also means the bicycle rickshaw will soon become a thing of the past.

In India where there is no safety net and government provision for the unemployed, many workers create their simple livelihoods through micro-enterprise investment and in the informal labour market.

Progress in this instance means a setback for the rickshaw pullers who will inevitably be pushed further over the margins and into hardship.