Mumbai, Pune, and Other Cities In The Indian Western State of Maharashtra Could See Women Behind the Wheel in Pink eRickshaws This Year
by Heather Cassell
India is attempting to empower women and green cities by reviving Pink Rickshaws in Mumbai and nine other cities in Maharashtra soon.
Women will be able to hail a pink rickshaw driven by another woman in Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and other cities, reported the Times of India. The goal is to provide employment opportunities for women and to keep women safe.
Aditi Tatkare, the minister of women and child development, told the Hindustan Times, that a plan for the Pink Rickshaws has been submitted to Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister and finance minister. The Maharashtrian government will subsidize 20% of the cost of an electric rickshaw for women applicants who are unemployed. The other 80% will be provided by bank loans up to 70% and the women will be responsible for 10% of the cost.
Dr. Prashant Narnaware, the commissioner of the women and child development department, told reporters there are 5,000 Pink Rickshaws promised in the first year of the program.
The focus on eRickshaws is part of India’s initiative to curb climate change and pollution. Last year, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the 28th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in New Delhi, India’s capital. Last year, the South Asian country surpassed China, which held the title since 1950, as the most populous country in the world, reported The Associated Press. Despite the population explosion, India’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1/3 in 14 years in October and the country appears to be on track to meet its goal to reduce emissions intensity by 45% by 2030, reported Euronews. India has a climate goal of net zero by 2070, according to Climate Action Tracker. The country is quickly heating up racing toward survivability limits if unchecked by 2050, reported CNN.
In addition to employing women and keeping women safe, the eRickshaws are environmentally friendly and need less maintenance, Prashant said.
Pink Rickshaws aren’t a new concept in India. This is the second time the Maharashtrian government has attempted to launch women-driven rickshaws. In 2017, the government launched the “Aboli Rickshaw” scheme with 100 rickshaws for women, reported The Asian Age. The scheme failed due to the lack of subsidies. Women who applied were required to pay 15% of the vehicle cost. Banks provided loans for the 85% balance. Today, it is rare to see an Aboli Rickshaw anywhere.
Similar programs were launched for transgender and women taxies in Mumbai, the southwestern Indian state of Kerela, and in Delhi and New Delhi in 2016, Girls That Roam reported. The taxis were non-existent when Girls That Roam attempted to find a way to hail one in Mumbai and Kochi, a port city popular with tourists in Kerla, in 2020.
What was prevalent in 2020 were the rickshaws and taxis sporting posters, “The Driver Of This AUTO Respects WOMEN,” launched by the Manas Foundation in 2017 in Delhi/New Delhi and were also in Mumbai.
Pink Rickshaws also launched in Indian cities Goa, Lucknow, and Surat, according to media reports.
The program is being met with some criticism. Mumbai Autorickshaw Taximen’s Union President Shashank Rao opposes the scheme. He told Hindustan Times, the problem with the Pink Rickshaw is that only women can drive the rickshaws. If the women are unavailable because they are ill or have another issue they can’t lease out the rickshaw.
“These are nothing but fancy ideas or stunts,” Shashank told the newspaper. “We must understand that even now, many women have permits for normal rickshaws. Many of them have given their vehicles on lease and are earning from it.”
If the government wants to empower women, they should give them normal rickshaw permits instead, he added.
However, a similar program helping transgender women and cis-women in Bangalore (also known as Bengaluru) is helping women, like Preethi, turn their lives around.
Preethi, a transgender woman, was given one of 17 eRickshaws through a program run by Shishu Mandir, a local organization focused on education, employment, entrepreneurship, erasing social bias, and health care, that trained her to become a rickshaw driver, told the AP. It has changed her life.
The 38-year-old, who only was identified by her first name, told the media outlet that being a driver allows her to own her own home, pay off debt, and have a monthly savings for the first time in her life.
She earns up to $24 (2,000 rupees) a day and has small overhead costs since she doesn’t have to pay for gas and there’s little maintenance. One charge lets her ride for more than 56 miles (90 kilometers), she told the AP.
Preethi also provides benefits to her customers.
“I have regular customers who range from vegetable vendors to mothers in my neighborhood who prefer to send their daughters to schools and colleges with me,” she said.
But “more than money, it is about the respect I get in society now,” Preethi said. “I am my own master. Work is hard but it provides steady returns.”
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