MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS

BICYCLE REPAIRING

Bicycle is known at present as a common man's mode of conveyance as it provides cheap and ready means of transport. The phenomenal growth in the number of bicycles has led to an increase in the number of bicycle repairing shops. The 1961 Census recorded the number of bicycle and tricycle repairing shops to be 696, and the number of persons employed in these shops to be 1,108 (1,105 males, 3 females). Of the 1,108 persons employed in this occupation, 566 (including one woman) or more than 50 per cent were in rural areas. The census figures revealed that a large number of bicycle repairing shops were established in rural areas.

The bicycle repairing shops also undertook repairing of stoves. Some shops also kept bicycles for sale and for hire. A medium unit possessed 8 to 12 bicycles and a big unit possessed 20 to 25 bicycles, each costing about Rs. 250.

The fixed capital of a bicycle repairing shop depended upon the work undertaken by the unit. The shops selling and hiring bicycles were found to have invested about Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000.

The small repairing shops were one-man units while the medium units employed two to three workers. In many cases boys were found to be employed to do small jobs. The workers were paid Rs. 40 to Rs. 75 per month. The gross earnings of the owner of a repairing shop varied from Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 per month.

The business of these shops was slack during monsoon and brisk during harvest period. In towns the business was steady throughout the year.

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