NEW DELHI: The government launched a scheme on Monday to provide financial support to women willing to take driver training to become professional taxi drivers in future. In a bid to increase employment opportunities, the transport government will bear 50% of the training i.e., approximately Rs 4,800 for each woman. The training will be conducted at in-house driving training centres set up by the government at Burari, Loni and Sarai Kale Khan.
The government will invite fleet owners and aggregators to sponsor the remaining 50% of the training cost and will work with them to set up an optimal mechanism so that women receive guaranteed jobs in these companies finishing the training.
The department will soon issue an advertisement/public notice seeking Expression of Interest (EoI) from fleet owners/aggregators for the scheme and gauge the number of women who can be trained.
The scheme is aimed at providing employment opportunities for women in the public transportation sector. Various women through different forums have come out and spoke about their interest and zeal to work as taxi drivers to earn their livelihood.
The government earlier implemented schemes to encourage participation of women in the transportation sector. In February, the government relaxed the norms and eligibility criteria to recruit more women as drivers within its bus operations. It reduced minimum height criteria from 159cm to 153cm and ‘experience criteria’ for induction as bus drivers to one month for women applicants.
The initiative also increased opportunities for women within the combined fleet strength of approximately 7300 buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS). In April this year Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot had also kicked off ‘Mission Parivartan’, an initiative to train women to obtain their Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) licenses at Society for Driving Training Institute (SDTI), Burari.
Schemes to ease out process for women
In February, the government relaxed the eligibility criteria to recruit more women as drivers within its bus operations. It reduced minimum height criteria from 159cm to 153cm and ‘experience criteria’ for to one month for women applicants.