The Bicycle Rally of the India YCW

Promoting the Rights of Informal Workers and Unemployed Youth

The India YCW has been carrying out a campaign for an increase in the minimum wage of informal workers and for the right to employment for the unemployed. In order to raise awareness among the civil society on those issues and bring those demands to the attention of the local government, the India YCW organised a bicycle rally covering four rural areas (Pallappatti, Ethiload, Silukuvarpatti and Nilakottai) around Dindigul in the district of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on 16^th February.

32 members of the YCW took part in the bicycle rally, holding placards with their demands and explaining the objectives of the rally and their demands to the public through distributing handbills and holding street corner meetings.

The demands the YCW put forward towards the local, state and central government were the following:

• Implement the social protection policies and programs for informal workers;
• Increase the wage of appalam making workers from Rs. 18 to Rs. 30 per kilo;
• Set up a perfume factory in Dindigul and give jobs to the unemployed;
• Set up monitoring bodies for the proper implementation of the 100 days job per year program;
• Increase the salary of workers employed in the 100 days job per year program from Rs. 132 to Rs. 200 per day;
• Increase the number of 100 days per year to 200 days per year.

At the end of the rally, the YCW leaders met with the district administrator of Nilakottai, presented their demands and asked for a follow-up by the state and central governments.  Representatives of two organisations participated in the rally and supported the demands of YCW. Around 800 workers and people were reached out through this rally.