Kolkata's Rickshaw Drivers

KOLKATA, INDIA - SEPTEMBER 22: Among a group of goats, a sign displays the rates for parking rickshaws, cars, and trolley. Kolkata has approximately 18,000 rickshaws in the city and as a result is an iconic symbol of the city. Rickshaws where introduced to the city over a century ago by the Chinese and now play a very important role in transporting people and goods throughout the city. As a result of the city's incredibly narrow lanes and intense pedestrian traffic, it doesn't take a visitor long to understand why rickshaws have survived the test of time. However, the Marxist government body of West Bengal state describes the jobs of rickshaw pullers as 'barbaric', 'despicable' and 'inhuman' and claims in 2010 there is no place for the 'Human horses' to exist. Legislators cant justify barefoot men pulling other people for 18 hours a day for 7 days a week in the heat and the rain for just a few rupees; but the city's residents disagree. Almost all of the pullers originate from the state of Bihar, one of India's poorest states, and come to Kolkata looking for work to support their families, whom they have left behind in their home villages. It is a hard and lonely existence for a Rickshaw driver. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty Images Reportage)