People riding bicycles make their way in the heavy rain in Kochi Cycling is more than a primary mobility option in India , it is a way to grow country’s economy, quickly deliver essential goods, medicines and reach communities in-need.
The historic connection between bicycle and people of India falls back to November 21, 1963, when India successfully launched the subcontinent’s first sounding rocket by shipping rocket parts and payloads on bicycles from one place to another. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in 1998-99 about 47.8 per cent people owned bicycles and nearly 1.6 per cent of families owned cars. By 2005-06, the number went up to 56.5 per cent for bicycle owners and 2.8 per cent for car owners.
Since then, the percentage of families owning a bicycle has remained around 55 per cent, but the number of families owning a car has jumped to 8 per cent, as per 2022 data.
West Bengal became the first state to own highest number of bicycle –83 per cent — while in Bihar the number of families owning cycle recorded 69 per cent. Andhra Pradesh has a lower percentage of cycle-owning households (about 34 per cent), but more than 52 per cent of families here own a scooter or motorcycle.
About 23 per cent of working Indians in urban areas did their daily travelling on foot and 13 per cent depended on bicycles by 2015-16. This means 36 per cent of the working population in urban India at the time used non-motorised […]
Continue reading the original article at: economictimes.indiatimes.com