Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 73,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'catslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 73,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'catslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 74,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 74,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Code Context
            if (Configure::read('debug')) {

                trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);

            } else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 1135
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;
$metaKeywords = null
$metaDesc = &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <p align="justify"><font >From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font></p><p align="justify"><font >He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br /></font></p>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$maxBufferLength = (int) 8192
$file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php'
$line = (int) 853
$message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Code Context
            $response->getStatusCode(),

            ($reasonPhrase ? ' ' . $reasonPhrase : '')

        ));
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 1135
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;
$metaKeywords = null
$metaDesc = &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <p align="justify"><font >From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font></p><p align="justify"><font >He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br /></font></p>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$reasonPhrase = 'OK'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Code Context
                    $value

                ), $first);

                $first = false;
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f0ca64be1b5-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 1135,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;font face=&quot;arial,helvetica,sans-serif&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 1210,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 1135
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma&#039;
$metaKeywords = null
$metaDesc = &#039;
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&amp;rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&amp;rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &amp;ldquo;unique&amp;rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &amp;ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&amp;rdquo; in Washington.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;What he did was design a &amp;ldquo;smart&amp;rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &amp;ldquo;small items of big necessity&amp;rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&amp;rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&amp;rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &amp;ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said: &amp;ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&amp;rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&amp;rsquo;s streets.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer, who visited the foundation&amp;rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &amp;ldquo;Irfan&amp;rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&amp;rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&amp;rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;font &gt;&amp;ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&amp;rdquo; the diplomat said. &amp;ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <p align="justify"><font >From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font></p><p align="justify"><font >He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br /></font></p>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$cookies = []
$values = [
	(int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
]
$name = 'Content-Type'
$first = true
$value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

<head>

    <link rel="canonical" href="<?php echo Configure::read('SITE_URL'); ?><?php echo $urlPrefix;?><?php echo $article_current->category->slug; ?>/<?php echo $article_current->seo_url; ?>.html"/>

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>

$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
	'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		'id' => (int) 1135,
		'title' => 'Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma',
		'subheading' => '',
		'description' => '<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br />
</font>
</p>
',
		'credit_writer' => 'The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp',
		'article_img' => '',
		'article_img_thumb' => '',
		'status' => (int) 1,
		'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
		'lang' => 'EN',
		'category_id' => (int) 16,
		'tag_keyword' => '',
		'seo_url' => 'mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210',
		'meta_title' => null,
		'meta_keywords' => null,
		'meta_description' => null,
		'noindex' => (int) 0,
		'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		'most_visit_section_id' => null,
		'article_big_img' => null,
		'liveid' => (int) 1210,
		'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'edate' => '',
		'tags' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		'[new]' => false,
		'[accessible]' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[hasErrors]' => false,
		'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[repository]' => 'Articles'
	
	},
	'articleid' => (int) 1135,
	'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma',
	'metaKeywords' => null,
	'metaDesc' => '
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...',
	'disp' => '<p align="justify"><font >From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font></p><p align="justify"><font >He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br /></font></p>',
	'lang' => 'English',
	'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
	'site_title' => 'im4change',
	'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	'id' => (int) 1135,
	'title' => 'Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma',
	'subheading' => '',
	'description' => '<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font>
</p>
<p align="justify">
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br />
</font>
</p>
',
	'credit_writer' => 'The Telegraph, 6 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/frontpage/story_12073858.jsp',
	'article_img' => '',
	'article_img_thumb' => '',
	'status' => (int) 1,
	'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
	'lang' => 'EN',
	'category_id' => (int) 16,
	'tag_keyword' => '',
	'seo_url' => 'mr-rickshaw-for-us-by-nalin-verma-1210',
	'meta_title' => null,
	'meta_keywords' => null,
	'meta_description' => null,
	'noindex' => (int) 0,
	'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	'most_visit_section_id' => null,
	'article_big_img' => null,
	'liveid' => (int) 1210,
	'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'edate' => '',
	'tags' => [],
	'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	'[new]' => false,
	'[accessible]' => [
		'*' => true,
		'id' => false
	],
	'[dirty]' => [],
	'[original]' => [],
	'[virtual]' => [],
	'[hasErrors]' => false,
	'[errors]' => [],
	'[invalid]' => [],
	'[repository]' => 'Articles'

}
$articleid = (int) 1135
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma'
$metaKeywords = null
$metaDesc = '
From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.


That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business...'
$disp = '<p align="justify"><font >From Bihar to America, via rickshaw.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >That&rsquo;s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn&rsquo;t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers&rsquo; earnings and dignity, is one of 79 &ldquo;unique&rdquo; entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 &ldquo;entrepreneurship summit&rdquo; in Washington.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >What he did was design a &ldquo;smart&rdquo; rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other &ldquo;small items of big necessity&rdquo; that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,&rdquo; said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband&rsquo;s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. &ldquo;Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said: &ldquo;What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. </font></p><p align="justify"><font >He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar&rsquo;s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna&rsquo;s streets.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,&rdquo; he said.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer, who visited the foundation&rsquo;s office with wife Shelly, said: &ldquo;Irfan&rsquo;s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.&rdquo;</font></p><p align="justify"><font >He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller&rsquo;s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan&rsquo;s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers.</font></p><p align="justify"><font >&ldquo;Irfan and his parents are great people,&rdquo; the diplomat said. &ldquo;It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.&rdquo;<br /></font></p>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'

include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51

Mr Rickshaw for US by Nalin Verma

From Bihar to America, via rickshaw. That’s the feat Irfan Alam has pulled off, winning an invite from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers and proving that Lalu Prasad isn’t the only Bihari worth a toast for his business acumen. The 35-year-old IIM Ahmedabad graduate, who has redesigned and smartened up rickshaws and helped boost the pullers’ earnings and dignity, is one of 79 “unique” entrepreneurs from across the world invited by Obama to an April 26-27 “entrepreneurship summit” in Washington. What he did was design a “smart” rickshaw with shelves that can stock mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and other “small items of big necessity” that the pullers can sell to their customers, adding to their income. Besides, Irfan has persuaded various companies to display advertisements on the rickshaws. Half the revenue from the ads goes to the puller and the rest to the Samman Foundation, which Irfan founded in Patna in 2007. “This 50 per cent ad revenue is enough to keep the foundation going and enrich its business,” said Irfan, whose organisation now helps rickshaw-pullers also in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Leela Devi, 37, wife of a Samman-aided rickshaw-puller, said her husband’s daily income had risen from Rs 40-50 to Rs 250-300. “Earlier, we did not have enough money for our meals; now we can send our three children to school.” A rickshaw-puller said that thanks to the improved look of their vehicles, he and other pullers now operate even from the airport, ferrying curious travellers to the city. “Besides raising our income, it has earned us dignity too. The customers from the airport even offer us tea and talk to us with respect,” he said. Irfan said: “What inspired me to work with rickshaw-pullers was the fact that there were 10 million of them across India, and that they paid Rs 30-35 to the rickshaw owners and ended up with a pittance in return for their toil on the streets.” So he decided that the pullers must own their vehicles. He used his IIM credentials to persuade banks to give them loans with which the pullers bought the redesigned rickshaws. “It was an uphill task convincing the banks, since the pullers had no identity documents, bank accounts or PAN cards.” Irfan, who had graduated from a rural college in north Bihar’s Begusarai before going to the IIM, had started off with 100 rickshaws on Patna’s streets. “Today, there are three lakh rickshaw-pullers across the country associated with Samman Foundation,” he said. The US envoy to India, Timothy J. Roemer, confirmed the Obama invite during his visit to Patna today. Roemer, who visited the foundation’s office with wife Shelly, said: “Irfan’s is a unique business model. I am sure it will add to the changing face of Bihar in particular and India in general.” He said Obama had called the summit primarily for inventive Muslim entrepreneurs to drive home the message that business initiative and skills could remove poverty across the world. Irfan said the foundation planned to get the rickshaw-pullers cheap housing and set up educational and entertainment facilities in their localities in all the states where it operated. Roemer today hopped onto a rickshaw-puller’s seat and pedalled along for a while with Irfan’s parents, Heshamuddin and Memu Nisha, as passengers. “Irfan and his parents are great people,” the diplomat said. “It was also a good opportunity for me to have a workout.”