{
  "license": {
    "ours": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "terms": "/licence/",
    "note": "Notes, \"Where things stand\" and the record are CC BY 4.0. Excerpts and quotations belong to their owners."
  },
  "no": 2,
  "slug": "right-to-walk-footpaths",
  "title": "After walking became a fundamental right",
  "nativeTitle": {
    "text": "जब पैदल चलना मौलिक अधिकार बना",
    "lang": "hi"
  },
  "nativePending": null,
  "summary": "In June 2026 the Supreme Court declared walking on a demarcated footpath a fundamental right, in a case that began with a five-year-old boy struck by a tanker on his way to school. The record follows the footpaths India never built, the pedestrians killed on its roads, and the walking that runs through pilgrimage, the freedom struggle and Vinoba Bhave's land tours.",
  "standfirst": "A record of what happened after June 2026, when the Supreme Court held that safe, demarcated footpaths come before motor traffic: the tens of thousands of pedestrians killed each year, the walkers who map broken footpaths and file manifestos, and the pilgrims, satyagrahis and land-gift marchers who wore out the road long before the judgment.",
  "opened": "2026-09-29",
  "closed": null,
  "keptBy": "The editors",
  "url": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/",
  "whereThingsStand": {
    "revision": 2,
    "date": "2026-09-29",
    "changed": "adds walking as pilgrimage: the forest path to Sabarimala, the footpaths up to Tirumala, the walk to Velankanni and the Govardhan parikrama, with This Indian Life's reading of the 2024 yearbook.",
    "body": "In June 2026, [the Supreme Court declared](https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2024/42514/42514_2024_3_1501_71888_Judgement_19-Jun-2026.pdf#page=2) walking on demarcated footpaths a fundamental right under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution. Deciding an appeal over the death of a child run over by a tanker on his walk to school, the bench held that pedestrian movement takes priority over motorised vehicles. The judgment placed an enforceable duty on municipal authorities and panchayats to build and maintain footpaths along every road where one exists.\n\n\nPedestrians are the second most vulnerable category of road users in India after riders of two-wheelers. Annual reports from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways record that 32,825 pedestrians died in 2022, 35,203 in 2023, and 36,526 in 2024; the reports put pedestrians at more than a fifth of all crash fatalities in 2023 (20.4%) and 2024 (20.6%). Two-wheelers, cars, taxis, and vans caused more than half of those deaths in 2024, while IIT Delhi researchers found that government statistics substantially [undercount pedestrian fatalities](https://tripc.iitd.ac.in/assets/publication/RSI_2023_web.pdf#page=10).\n\n\nWalking accounts for a large share of urban travel, yet footpaths across Indian cities remain broken, blocked, or missing. [A BBC report](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3e4enkrqro) citing census-based estimates notes that around 45 million people walk to work daily, and an IIT Delhi analysis of the 2011 census found that 67.6% of commuting urban women workers walked to their jobs, compared with 28.3% of men. Walkways are often obstructed by parked vehicles and shops. [An ITDP study](https://itdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ITDP-Chennai-Footpaths-Report-FINAL.pdf#page=2) published in 2024 found that building 100 kilometres of footpaths in Chennai prompted between 9% and 29% of surveyed walkers in 2019 to shift away from motorized transport, even while poor surfaces and open manholes on the new paths still caused injuries.\n\n\nWalking is an act of devotion on pilgrimage routes across the country, where millions travel on foot each year. Devotees trek barefoot for nearly 50 kilometres over stones and thorns from Erumeli to Sabarimala, climb stone footpaths to Tirumala where the temple board carries luggage free to the top, provides a token to those who come on foot, and runs biometric counters on the paths enabling free darshan, accommodation and food, or walk up to 50 days in the wari to Pandharpur. Thousands join processions to circumambulate Navadwip, while at Govardhan, according to a petitioner cited in the NGT proceedings, eight to ten million pilgrims visit the parikrama every month and the [National Green Tribunal accepted its committee's recommendations](https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/ngt-accepts-panel-recommendations-regarding-protection-of-environment-in-govardhan-and-surrounding-areas20210320130738/) to remove encroachments on the parikrama path and build a Radhakund bypass. On the roads to Velankanni, however, pilgrims walking along arterial highways often take to the carriageway beside fast traffic, suffering fatal accidents every year.\n\n\nWalking has long shaped personal discipline, bodily health, and political mobilization in India. The Buddhist [Cankama Sutta](https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.029.than.html) records walking meditation for enduring physical exertion and steadying concentration, while Mahatma Gandhi treated walking as the prince of exercises, maintaining that a healthy person should easily walk ten to twelve miles a day. In the freedom struggle, Gandhi turned long marches into political weapons during the 1930 Salt March, walked barefoot between villages during communal violence in Noakhali, and in his final days in Delhi wanted Suhrawardy to be able to walk the city's streets. Vinoba Bhave continued this tradition during the Bhoodan movement, walking from village to village to collect land donations for the landless and insisting that [thought clarifies and matures on foot](https://ia801501.us.archive.org/15/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.219739/2015.219739.Bhoodan-Yajna.pdf#page=17). ॥"
  },
  "entries": [
    {
      "title": "A Guide to Health",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1921-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "In this chapter on exercise, Gandhi notes that walking has been described as the queen of all exercises. He recommends it as the next best exercise after gardening for anyone who does not work in the fields, urging people to walk outdoors into forests and fields rather than through city streets.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Mohandas K. Gandhi"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "It is, of course, useless to walk along lanes and streets, or to take the same path every day. We should go out into the fields and forests where we can have a taste of Nature. Walking a mile or two is no walking at all; at least ten or twelve miles are necessary for exercise.",
      "url": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Guide_to_Health/Part_1/Chapter_7",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20130116205526/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Guide_to_Health/Part_1/Chapter_7",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1921-a-guide-to-health",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1927-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography records how walking shaped his daily routine of health, economy and companionship across India, England and South Africa. It also describes the racial prohibitions in the Transvaal, where Indians were barred from public footpaths and a policeman kicked him into the street outside President Kruger’s house. Throughout his legal work and political campaigns, walking remained an indispensable discipline and mode of travel.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "M. K. Gandhi"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "The consequences of the regulation regarding the use of footpaths were rather serious for me. I always went out for a walk through President Street to an open plain. President Kruger’s house was in this street – a very modest, unostentatious building, without a garden, and not distinguishable from other houses in its neighbourhood. The houses of many of the millionaires in Pretoria were far more pretentious, and were surrounded by gardens. Indeed President Kruger’s simplicity was proverbial. Only the presence of a police patrol before the house indicated that it belonged to some official. I nearly always went along the footpath past this patrol without the slightest hitch or hindrance. Now the man on duty used to be changed from time to time. Once one of these men, without giving me the slightest warning, without even asking me to leave the footpath, pushed and kicked me into the street. I was dismayed.",
      "url": "https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/An-Autobiography.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925115524/https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/An-Autobiography.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1927-an-autobiography-or-the-story",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "The Harmonist As It Is, Vol. 4 (VOL. XXVIII, June 1930 - May 1931)",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1930-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The Harmonist, edited by Paramahansa Paribrajakacharyya Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj, records Gaudiya Vaishnavism’s devotional practices, theological discourses and pilgrimage culture in the early twentieth century. Its reports document large congregations walking in procession to circumambulate holy sites such as Nabadwip, treating communal movement on foot as an act of public worship.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "The huge Kirtan procession consisting of several thousands of devotees from all parts of the country for the circumambulation of Sreedham Navadwip on this auspicious occasion of the Advent of the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna Chaitanya started from Sree Chaitanya Math on the 22nd of February and was led on the first two days by His Divine Grace Sreela Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj in person. From Sree Godruma-dwipa onwards the charge of the function was made over to the other Tridandi Sannyasi Maharajas of the -Mission. The procession of chanters in an imposing array passed through Koladwipa ( Town Navadwip ) on the 27th February and returned to Sreedham Mayapur on the 1st of March withoutany accident having accomplished the greater part of the journey in very foul weather.",
      "url": "https://shyamdasbaba.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The_Harmonist_As_It_Is_No_4.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925123450/https://shyamdasbaba.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The_Harmonist_As_It_Is_No_4.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1930-the-harmonist-as-it-is",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Key to Health",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1948-10-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Gandhi wrote these chapters in late 1942 while imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, setting out his rules on diet, exercise, and natural care. In defining bodily health, he included daily walking as a benchmark: a healthy person ought to be able to walk ten to twelve miles a day with ease.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "M. K. Gandhi"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "He is a healthy man whose body is free from all disease; he carries on his normal activities without fatigue. Such a man should be able with ease to walk ten to twelve miles a day, and perform ordinary physical labour without getting tired. He can digest ordinary simple food. His mind and his senses are in a state of harmony and poise.",
      "url": "https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/key_to_health.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260919094657/https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/key_to_health.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1948-key-to-health",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "My Days with Gandhi",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1953-02-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Nirmal Kumar Bose’s memoir records his time as Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary and Bengali interpreter during the communal violence in Bengal and Bihar between 1946 and 1947. In Noakhali, Gandhi chose to move entirely on foot from village to village, halting one night in each hamlet to meet residents in their homes and prayer meetings. The book documents walking both as a rigorous daily habit and as an unarmed method of moral and political persuasion.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Nirmal Kumar Bose"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "The roads over which he walked from village to village were deliberately dirtied every day, while Muslim audiences began to boycott his meetings more persistently. Gandhiji tried to bear all this with calmness and patience. For he held stubbornly to the view that it would never be right for him to surrender his own love for men even if they were erring.",
      "url": "https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/my-days-with-gandhi-nirmalkumar-bose.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925054922/https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/my-days-with-gandhi-nirmalkumar-bose.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1953-my-days-with-gandhi",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Bhoodan Yajna [Land-Gifts Mission]",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1953-08-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Vinoba Bhave began walking across India in 1951 to persuade landowners to donate five crore acres to the landless, starting in Telangana. This collection of his early speeches and articles treats the walking tour as a spiritual discipline inherited from teachers like the Buddha and Kabir, arguing that thought clarifies and matures on foot.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Vinoba Bhave"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "Tour develops thought. But the tour which does that is not the one undertaken in modern times through motor cars, railway trains and aeroplanes. … But teachers like Buddha, Mahavir, Kabir, Nanak, Namadev, Chaitanya preferred to go on foot in order to deliver their messages far and wide. Thought becomes clear, mature and remodelled while you walk.",
      "url": "https://ia801501.us.archive.org/15/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.219739/2015.219739.Bhoodan-Yajna.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": null,
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1953-bhoodan-yajna-land-gifts-mission",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volume XLIII (March-June 1930)",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1971-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The forty-third volume of Mahatma Gandhi’s Collected Works covers the Salt March from March to June 1930, documenting his daily speeches, letters, and instructions on the road to Dandi. Gandhi treated the journey on foot as both a sacred pilgrimage and the prince of exercises, demanding rigorous discipline and daily spinning from the marchers. The writings show how walking across Gujarat transformed a political campaign into an act of communal self-purification.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Mahatma Gandhi"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "The modern generation is delicate, weak and much pampered. If they will take part in national work, they must take ample exercise and become hardy. And no exercise is as good and as effective as long vigorous marches. Gymnastics and the like are good and may be added to walking. They are no substitutes for walking, justly called the prince of exercises. Our march is in reality child’s play. Less than twelve miles per day in two stages with not much luggage should cause no strain. Those who have not been footsore have gained in weight.",
      "url": "https://archive.org/stream/HindSwaraj-CWMG-043/CWMG-v043-XLIII-MC-BETA_djvu.txt",
      "archiveUrl": null,
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1971-the-collected-works-of-mahatma",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume XC (November 11, 1947 - January 30, 1948)",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1984-04-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Volume XC closes the Collected Works with the last days of Gandhi’s life, and most of it is talk: letters, prayer-meeting speeches, and the editors’ notes on both. Walking runs through these pages as habit and as instruction. He tells two visitors from Kathiawar that he will talk with them “during my walk after the prayers, if I am alive”; in Noakhali he went no more than an hour on foot each day, under a broad straw hat against the sun; and in Delhi he wanted Suhrawardy to be able to walk the streets of the city. At a Guru Nanak birthday gathering he turned to the litter on the ground: roads and footpaths, he said, should be kept as clean as the floors of our houses.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Mahatma Gandhi"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "As I entered the meeting place I saw the remains of bananas and oranges thrown about anyhow. These have not only made the place dirty, but dangerous to walk. We should learn to keep the roads and footpaths as clean as the floors in our houses. In the absence of proper receptacles I have noticed disciplined people putting these in a piece of paper and then temporarily in their pockets until they are cast in their places.",
      "url": "https://archive.org/stream/HindSwaraj-CWMG-090/CWMG-v090-XC-MC-BETA_djvu.txt",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260929023009/https://archive.org/stream/HindSwaraj-CWMG-090/CWMG-v090-XC-MC-BETA_djvu.txt",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1984-the-collected-works-of-mahatma",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Cankama Sutta: Walking",
      "kind": "book",
      "kindLabel": "Book",
      "group": "Books and film",
      "date": "1997-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The Cankama Sutta sets out the physical and mental rewards of walking meditation, including the ability to endure travel on foot and the steadying of concentration. It records walking meditation as a practice that benefits bodily health alongside the mind.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation. Which five? He can endure traveling by foot; he can endure exertion; he becomes free from disease; whatever he has eaten & drunk, chewed & savored, becomes well-digested; the concentration he wins while doing walking meditation lasts for a long time. These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation.",
      "url": "https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.029.than.html",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260311053236/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.029.than.html",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-1997-cankama-sutta-walking",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Walkability in Indian Cities",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2011-03-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "This report assesses pedestrian conditions across Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Indore, Pune, Rajkot, and Surat by surveying street infrastructure and interviewing pedestrians. It examines how municipal planning and capital spending neglect walkways, leaving walkers exposed to fast traffic, blocked paths, and absent crossings.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center",
      "excerpt": "It is a paradox that walking provides mobility to a large segment of the society especially the poor, who are most vulnerable in the urban transport system and heavily relies on walking, cycling and public transport; but current infrastructure for walking is generally poor. Reports suggest that the percentage of roads with pedestrian footpaths runs to hardly 30% in most cities.",
      "url": "https://cleanairasia.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/35.%20Walkability%20in%20Indian%20Cities.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925055204/https://cleanairasia.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/35.%20Walkability%20in%20Indian%20Cities.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2011-walkability-in-indian-cities",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Footpath design: A guide to creating footpaths that are safe, comfortable, and easy to use",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2013-11-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "A practical design guide translating the revised Indian Road Congress pedestrian standards into clear street templates. It sets out the three-part zoning system needed to keep walking paths continuous while accommodating utilities, trees, bus stops, and street vendors.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Advait Jani",
        "Christopher Kost"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Institute for Transportation and Development Policy",
      "excerpt": "Walking is fundamental to urban life. It is a healthy and pollution-free form of mobility and recreation. Pedestrian trips account for a quarter to a third of all trips in many Indian cities. However, the poor quality of pedestrian infrastructure sends a message that pedestrians are not welcome in the urban environment.",
      "url": "https://www.itdp.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/05.-Footpath-Design_Handout.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250803031411/https://www.itdp.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/05.-Footpath-Design_Handout.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2013-footpath-design-a-guide-to",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Tirupati to Tirumala on Foot",
      "kind": "scheme",
      "kindLabel": "Scheme",
      "group": "Schemes and campaigns",
      "date": "2015-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The page describes two well-laid stone footpaths up the hills to Tirumala for those who climb to fulfil a vow, the older starting from Alipiri and about 11 km long, and lists what Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams provides to pilgrims on foot: luggage carried free to the top, shelters, security patrols, medical help at any hour and canteens. APSRTC runs free buses from Tirupati railway station to Alipiri. Pilgrims who come on foot through Gali Gopuram or Srivari Mettu receive a token, and bio-metric counters on the paths enable free darshan, accommodation and food at Tirumala.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "The more ancient of the two sopanamargas which starts from Alipiri at the foot of the hills, is about 11 km in length, and is the commonly-used route. Token facility is provided for pedestrian who come on foot to Tirumala through Gali Gopuram or Srivari Mettu. Bio-Metric counters are established on these foot paths, to facilitate free darshan, free accommodation (P.A.C.) and free food facilities at Tirumala.",
      "url": "https://www.tirumala.org/TirumalatoTirupathiOnFoot.aspx",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260517141525/https://www.tirumala.org/TirumalatoTirupathiOnFoot.aspx",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2015-tirupati-to-tirumala-on-foot",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Travel to Work in India: Current Patterns and Future Concerns",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2018-10-01",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Census 2011 was the first Indian census to ask workers how they travel to their jobs, and this 2018 report from the Transport Research and Injury Prevention Programme at IIT Delhi reads its district-level answers. Nearly a quarter of urban workers, 24.5%, make no trip at all to their workplace; about 70% of work trips are shorter than 5 km; and fewer than 5% are by car. Among workers who commute in urban India, women walk far more than men, 67.6% against 28.3%, and ride bicycles far less, 4.5% against 20.2%.",
      "citation": "TRIPP-PR-18-01",
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Geetam Tiwari",
        "Nishant"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Transport Research & Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi",
      "excerpt": "Though women workers have higher mode share of pedestrians (46.5% in rural and 67.6% in urban) than their male counterparts (28.8% in rural and 28.3% in urban) only 4.5% women workers ride bicycle to reach their job locations as compared to 20.2% men in urban areas.",
      "url": "https://tripc.iitd.ac.in/assets/publication/TravelToWorkInIndia.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260929023027/https://tripc.iitd.ac.in/assets/publication/TravelToWorkInIndia.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2018-travel-to-work-in-india",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "The Practice of Pilgrimage: The Pandharpur Wari and Marathi Sant Kavis",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2020-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Kartikay Khetarpal writes on the wari to Pandharpur in Maharashtra, where devotees walk alongside palanquins carrying the footprints of sant-poets. Devotees travel in groups called dindis to eat, sing, and camp together across weeks on the road. Drawn largely from agrarian backgrounds, the pilgrims walk without restrictions on caste, and those in the Dyaneshwar procession address one another as Mauli.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Kartikay Khetarpal"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Sahapedia",
      "excerpt": "A palkhi carried on the shoulders of devotees or on a chariot enshrines the symbolic footprints or padukas of a sant-kavi. Processions usually start from the samadhis (memorial sites) of the sant kavis and can take up to 50 days to reach their destination: the temple of Vitthal and Rukmini in Pandharpur.",
      "url": "http://www.sahapedia.org/practice-pilgrimage-pandharpur-wari-and-marathi-sant-kavis",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260521165740/http://www.sahapedia.org/practice-pilgrimage-pandharpur-wari-and-marathi-sant-kavis",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2020-the-practice-of-pilgrimage-the",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "NGT accepts panel recommendations regarding protection of environment in Govardhan and surrounding areas",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2021-03-20",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The National Green Tribunal accepted its oversight committee’s recommendations for the Govardhan and Radhakund area around Giriraj Parvat, the hill near Mathura-Vrindavan that pilgrims circle on the Parikrama path. The committee wanted work speeded up on a permanent dumping site, a boundary wall around the protected forest, a sewage network, a Radhakund bypass and multi-level parking, and it asked for all encroachments on the Parikrama Marg to be removed.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Sushil Batra"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "ANI News",
      "excerpt": "According to the petitioner, on account of the spiritual and cultural significance of the area, eight to 10 million pilgrims from different parts of the world visit the Parikrama (path for walking around a sacred place) of Goverdhan every month. … However, on account of the negligence of the authorities, there were challenges to the environment like illegal felling of trees, encroachments, unscientific dumping of solid waste, and discharge of untreated sewage.",
      "url": "https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/ngt-accepts-panel-recommendations-regarding-protection-of-environment-in-govardhan-and-surrounding-areas20210320130738/",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20221126193255/https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/ngt-accepts-panel-recommendations-regarding-protection-of-environment-in-govardhan-and-surrounding-areas20210320130738/",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2021-ngt-accepts-panel-recommendations-regarding",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Road Accidents in India 2022",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2023-10-29",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways compiles annual accident data from states and union territories, categorising deaths by vehicle and road user. In 2022, 32,825 pedestrians died on Indian roads, making them the second-largest group of fatalities after two-wheeler riders. The report records the mortal scale of walking.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways",
      "excerpt": null,
      "url": "https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/1755600426_RA_2022_30_Oct.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260629124240/https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/1755600426_RA_2022_30_Oct.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2023-road-accidents-in-india-2022",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Mass Mobilization through Perambulation: M.K. Gandhi",
      "kind": "research",
      "kindLabel": "Research paper",
      "group": "Entry",
      "date": "2023-12-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Jasmine Anand examines how walking anchored M.K. Gandhi’s daily life, political philosophy, and civil resistance campaigns. The paper traces his practice from South Africa, where colonial laws banned Indians from footpaths, to the Salt March, showing how walking turned into an egalitarian political instrument.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Jasmine Anand"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Summerhill: IIAS Review, Vol. XXIX, No. 2",
      "excerpt": "Coincidentally, his fight for the Indians in South Africa was based on a special law that stated: “Indians might not walk on public footpaths, and might not move out of doors after 9 pm without a permit” (68). Even after an authorized letter (similar to Negro servants) from Mr. Coates, a friend, allowing Gandhi to be out on the streets without police interference, one night he was kicked and pushed by the policeman on duty.",
      "url": "http://journal.iias.ac.in/ojs/index.php/summerhill/article/download/1599/1635/4033",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925054630/http://journal.iias.ac.in/ojs/index.php/summerhill/article/download/1599/1635/4033",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2023-mass-mobilization-through-perambulation-mk",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Road Safety in India: Status Report 2023",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2023-12-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Researchers at IIT Delhi analysed official police records and national health surveys to examine fatal traffic crashes across India. They found that government statistics substantially undercount pedestrian fatalities, even though walkers, cyclists, and motorcyclists make up the vast majority of victims in both cities and intercity corridors. Road and highway designs, the authors argue, must be restructured to protect vulnerable road users rather than focusing narrowly on motor vehicles.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Geetam Tiwari",
        "Rahul Goel",
        "Kavi Bhalla"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Transportation Research & Injury Prevention Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi",
      "excerpt": "Analysis of road deaths on an access-controlled expressway shows that 22% of road death victims are pedestrians. This share of pedestrian even on access-controlled roads highlights that there may be large population who access these highways to either go across or to access public transportation.",
      "url": "https://tripc.iitd.ac.in/assets/publication/RSI_2023_web.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260604161310/https://tripc.iitd.ac.in/assets/publication/RSI_2023_web.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2023-road-safety-in-india-status",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Hawkers Cannot be Allowed to Occupy Footpaths: Bombay High Court",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2024-04-26",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The Bombay High Court held that a vendor’s right to trade cannot override a pedestrian’s right to safe passage on footpaths. Hearing a suo motu case on Mumbai street vending, the bench suggested mobile vending and pop-up markets instead of permanent stalls on walkways.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Law Trend"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Law Trend",
      "excerpt": "In their order dated April 16, the bench emphasized that a person’s constitutional right cannot infringe upon the rights of pedestrians to free and safe passage on footpaths. The court had taken suo motu cognizance of the issue of illegal vendors in the city last year, raising fundamental questions about the intended beneficiaries of urban spaces, which are contested by various stakeholders.",
      "url": "https://lawtrend.in/bombay-high-court-firm-on-not-allowing-hawkers-to-occupy-footpaths-public-roads/",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260411084814/https://lawtrend.in/bombay-high-court-firm-on-not-allowing-hawkers-to-occupy-footpaths-public-roads/",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2024-hawkers-cannot-be-allowed-to",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Steps to Sustainability: The Impacts of New Footpaths on Mode Choice in Chennai, India",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2024-08-01",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Between 2013 and 2019 Chennai built footpaths on more than 100 km of streets, and in 2019 ITDP surveyed 424 people walking on four of them. Between 3% and 11% of those users said they would have gone by car or two-wheeler if the footpath had not been built, and the report puts the emissions saved at 4,200 to 12,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent a year. Using a WHO model, the report credits the extra walking with preventing 340 premature deaths in 2019.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Madeline Liberman",
        "D. Taylor Reich",
        "Vaishali Singh",
        "Aishwarya Soni",
        "Achuthan TD",
        "A V Venugopal"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP)",
      "excerpt": "Using data collected in Chennai, India, in 2019, we found that between 9% and 29% of people walking on improved footpaths would have used a private motorized mode if the footpaths had not been improved. As a result, we estimate that between 4,200 tonnes and 12,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions are prevented annually thanks to the footpath improvements.",
      "url": "https://itdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ITDP-Chennai-Footpaths-Report-FINAL.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260929023001/https://itdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ITDP-Chennai-Footpaths-Report-FINAL.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2024-steps-to-sustainability-the-impacts",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Why it is so difficult to walk in Indian cities",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2024-11-17",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Cherylann Mollan reports on citizen activists mapping broken footpaths in Bengaluru, releasing a pedestrian manifesto in Mumbai, and pressing city administrations across India to design streets for walkers. Official estimates cited in the piece record over 10,000 pedestrian deaths on national highways in 2022, even as government statistics cited by an activist show almost half of Mumbai travels on foot.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Cherylann Mollan"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "BBC News",
      "excerpt": "Even in India’s biggest cities, proper footpaths are few and far between and they are often overrun by hawkers and shops, parked vehicles and even cattle. In some places, they double up as homes for the poor.",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98en7v43qzo",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250806063854/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98en7v43qzo",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2024-why-it-is-so-difficult",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "The Erumeli Path | A Spiritual Trek to Sabarimala",
      "kind": "post",
      "kindLabel": "Post",
      "group": "Entry",
      "date": "2025-01-01",
      "datePrecision": "year",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "A Kerala Tourism guide to the Erumeli route, the path pilgrims walk barefoot from Erumeli to the Sannidhanam at Sabarimala: two days over stones, thorns and dirt tracks up and down hillocks. It lists the landmarks in order, the Perur Canal, Irumboonikkara, the Azhutha river and the Karimala hill, and the rules that bind the walk: forest passes issued by the Department of Forests are needed beyond Irumboonikkara, and pilgrims may not cross the wild ground past the Azhutha after sundown. For a Long View about walking in India it offers a walk that is worship and hard going at once.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "Taking the Erumeli path to climb the Karimala hill and trek through the dense forest in order to reach the Sannidhanam is most likely to be a very unforgettable experience in the life of any Ayyappa devotee. The two-day trek through wild growth has the power to stir up spiritual energy because it involves walking over stones and thorns for nearly 50 km of dirt tracks up and down hillocks, barefoot.",
      "url": "https://www.keralatourism.org/sabarimala/erumeli-sabarimala",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20251215173402/https://www.keralatourism.org/sabarimala/erumeli-sabarimala",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2025-the-erumeli-path-a-spiritual",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Road Accidents in India 2023",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2025-08-26",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The annual road accident report from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways details the human toll on India’s roads in 2023. Pedestrians were the second most vulnerable category after two-wheeler riders, accounting for 35,203 deaths across the country.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways",
      "excerpt": "The data in Table 4.4 reveals that amongst the road user categories, two-wheelers with a share of 44.8% constitute the largest victim of road accident deaths (77,539) which had increased by 3.53% in 2023 compared to 2022. Pedestrians are the next highest victim of road accident death with a share of 20.4% in 2023.",
      "url": "https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/Road-Accident-in-India-2023-Publications.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260807071113/https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/Road-Accident-in-India-2023-Publications.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2025-road-accidents-in-india-2023",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Walking with Gandhi in Our Times",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-03-13",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The historian Janaki Nair examines Mahatma Gandhi’s walking as both physical discipline and political method, contrasting the mass mobilisation of the 1930 Dandi Salt March with his barefoot village journeys in Noakhali in 1947. She traces how long marches served as tests of personal endurance and communal reconciliation during the freedom struggle, asking what the practice offers Indian public life today.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Janaki Nair"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "The India Forum",
      "excerpt": "Gandhi called the satyagraha a sacred pilgrimage, one that moved inwards, as part of the self-purification and constant self-examination, achieved through the maintenance of a diary. Gandhi was an indefatigable walker: he walked, but he also marched. He is said to have marched 79,000 miles throughout his life—Noakhali was his last.",
      "url": "https://www.theindiaforum.in/history/walking-gandhi-our-times",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260419042954/https://www.theindiaforum.in/history/walking-gandhi-our-times",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-walking-with-gandhi-in-our",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Road Accidents in India 2024",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-06-10",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways compiles annual casualty figures reported by States and Union Territories across the country. In 2024, walking remained the second deadliest way to use a road in India after riding a two-wheeler, claiming 36,526 lives. In cities with over a million residents, pedestrians accounted for one in every four road accident fatalities.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways",
      "excerpt": "The number of pedestrians killed by different categories of crime vehicles in 2024 was 36,526 which is 20.6% of the total road accident deaths. The leading three crime vehicles in terms of share of pedestrians killed are Two-wheelers (28.4%) followed by Cars, Taxis, Vans & LMVs (25.5%) and Trucks / Lorries (14.1%).",
      "url": "https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/1781177676_V1gUW8tJWT.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260623044119/https://morth.gov.in/backend/documents/uploaded/1781177676_V1gUW8tJWT.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-road-accidents-in-india-2024",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Maniyar Iliyaz @ Shaik Riyaz & Anr. v. P. Ayyappan & Ors.",
      "kind": "judgment",
      "kindLabel": "Supreme Court judgment",
      "group": "Law and courts",
      "date": "2026-06-19",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Deciding an appeal over the death of a child run over by a tanker on his walk to school, the Supreme Court declared walking on demarcated footpaths a fundamental right under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution. The bench held that pedestrian movement takes priority over motorised vehicles, placing an enforceable duty on municipalities and panchayats to build and maintain footpaths along every road.",
      "citation": "2026 INSC 647",
      "held": "The Supreme Court declared the right to walk on demarcated footpaths a fundamental right under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, holding that pedestrian movement takes priority over motorised vehicles and that local authorities bear an enforceable duty to provide and maintain footpaths along every road.",
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha",
        "Atul S. Chandurkar"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": null,
      "excerpt": "It is necessary, rather compelling, that we first disabuse our minds of associating this “right to move” only with movement on wheels. We have started walking long before wheels were put on our path. The primary right of movement under Article 19(1)(d) is the Fundamental Right to Walk, a right that precedes the right to move on wheels and this precious right must extend to guaranteeing access to safe and well demarcated footpath. The citizen’s fundamental right to walk on a demarcated footpath is primary and shall have priority over movement by motorised vehicles.",
      "url": "https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2024/42514/42514_2024_3_1501_71888_Judgement_19-Jun-2026.pdf",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260816081011/https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2024/42514/42514_2024_3_1501_71888_Judgement_19-Jun-2026.pdf",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-maniyar-iliyaz-shaik-riyaz-anr",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Over 1.8 lakh pedestrians killed in road accidents between 2019 and 2024; TN tops fatality list",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-06-20",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "More than 1.8 lakh pedestrians died in road accidents across India between 2019 and 2024, accounting for a fifth of all crash fatalities. Drawing on Ministry of Road Transport and Highways data, the report pairs these figures with the Supreme Court’s declaration that walking on a demarcated footpath is a fundamental right.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "TNIE online desk"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "The New Indian Express",
      "excerpt": "“The right to walk is a fundamental right under Part III of the Constitution. It is integral to the right to movement guaranteed under Article 19(1)(d), read with Article 19(1)(a), Article 19(1) (b), Article 19(1) (c) and Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The fundamental right to walk will take within its sweep the right to demarcated footpaths. These rights are primary and shall have priority over movement by motorised vehicles,” the bench ruled.",
      "url": "https://www.newindianexpress.com/india/2026/Jun/20/over-18-lakh-pedestrians-killed-in-road-accidents-between-2019-and-2024-tn-tops-fatality-list",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925055229/https://www.newindianexpress.com/india/2026/Jun/20/over-18-lakh-pedestrians-killed-in-road-accidents-between-2019-and-2024-tn-tops-fatality-list",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-over-18-lakh-pedestrians-killed",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "India is a nation of walkers - but its cities forgot them",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-08-06",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Writing for BBC News after the Supreme Court recognised safe footpaths as a fundamental right, Soutik Biswas examines how Indian cities came to sideline pedestrians. Urban planning has focused on expanding road space for private cars, even as 45 million people walk to work daily and pedestrian deaths mount across major cities.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": {
        "value": "45 million",
        "unit": "people who walk to work every day",
        "source": "census-based estimates",
        "verify": false
      },
      "authors": [
        "Soutik Biswas"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "BBC News",
      "excerpt": "Nearly a third of urban workers walk to work, while virtually every bus or metro journey begins and ends on foot. Add school runs, shopping trips and other everyday journeys, and walking dominates urban mobility. A 2019 survey of selected cities found that 63% of all journeys were made on foot, making pedestrians the single largest group of road users.",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3e4enkrqro",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260925045446/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3e4enkrqro",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-india-is-a-nation-of",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "Pilgrims walk to Velankanni for annual feast",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-08-30",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Groups of devotees from Tiruchi, Thanjavur and the districts around them walk to Velankanni in Nagapattinam district for the annual feast of Our Lady of Good Health, some in ochre clothes and carrying flags, some pulling a chariot. Residents and voluntary organisations along the route put out drinking water and food. The report also records the danger of the journey: many pilgrims walk on the carriageway, some sleep in vacant spaces beside arterial roads after walking for long hours, and fatal accidents are reported every year.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Ancy Donal Madonna"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "The Hindu",
      "excerpt": "Fatal accidents involving pilgrims walking along highways and busy city roads continue to be reported even as large numbers of devotees undertake the journey on foot every year. Many pilgrims walk on the carriageway instead of using pedestrian paths, affecting vehicle movement and exposing themselves to the risk of being hit by vehicles. Some sleep in vacant spaces along arterial roads after walking for long hours.",
      "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/pilgrims-walk-to-velankanni-for-annual-feast/article71407754.ece",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260929051019/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/pilgrims-walk-to-velankanni-for-annual-feast/article71407754.ece",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-pilgrims-walk-to-velankanni-for",
      "specimen": false
    },
    {
      "title": "How safe is it to walk on India’s roads?",
      "kind": "report",
      "kindLabel": "Reporting",
      "group": "Reporting",
      "date": "2026-09-26",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "added": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "An article built from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ Road Accidents in India 2024, which counts the people police recorded as killed while walking: 36,526 pedestrians in 2024, about 100 a day, 20.6 per cent of all road deaths. It sets those counts beside the Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling in Maniyar Iliyaz v. P. Ayyappan, which held that the right to walk includes demarcated footpaths. The tables count deaths; they say nothing about how far or how often people walk, so they cannot measure how risky a walk is.",
      "citation": null,
      "held": null,
      "figure": null,
      "authors": [
        "Bhuvanesh"
      ],
      "photographers": [],
      "publication": "This Indian Life",
      "excerpt": "In June 2026, well after the deaths counted here, the Supreme Court recognised walking as a fundamental right. In Maniyar Iliyaz v. P. Ayyappan, the Court said that this right includes access to demarcated footpaths and takes priority over movement by motorised vehicles. The ruling followed the death of a five-year-old boy struck by a tanker while walking to school where there was neither a footpath nor a pedestrian crossing.",
      "url": "https://thisindianlife.today/articles/how-safe-is-it-to-walk-in-india/",
      "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260929050947/https://thisindianlife.today/articles/how-safe-is-it-to-walk-in-india/",
      "anchor": "/long-view/2-right-to-walk-footpaths/#e-2026-how-safe-is-it-to",
      "specimen": false
    }
  ],
  "related": []
}