KOCHI: With the aim of empowering women through self-employment, the Kochi corporation has launched a programme to provide training for 80 women to drive e-rickshaws. The initiative, launched in association with Sustainable Urban Mobility—Air Quality, Climate Action, and Accessibility, will train 25 selected women in the first phase.
“By encouraging women to be self-employed, we intend to empower women in Ernakulam district and make them financially stable. Financial stability can make them independent,” said Mayor M Anilkumar, while inaugurating the training programme. He said there has been a huge migration to electric vehicles, and the situation is similar in the city as well.
Twenty-five women were selected after the interview, and a curriculum was prepared by the SCMS Institute for Road Safety and Transportation. “The women who have received the training can buy e-rickshaws at a subsidised rate,” said a corporation official.