In its recent move to get more women to drive behind the wheels in public transport, the Delhi government has given permission for joint ownership of electric autos within the capital.
This step was taken as an initiative to motivate female drivers to come forth and become part of working women under the Delhi Transport Corporation. With this, the women of Delhi gained not only 33% e-autos reservation, but the Delhi government has also relaxed the height restrictions so that women can drive DTC buses on the roads of the national capital of India.
This has been a non-negotiable decision taken by the Kejriwal government in the aid of women's employment. Out of the 4,261 e-autos running in the capital, 33% or 1,406 have been reserved inflexibly for the women population of Delhi. To approach this new rule, a co-registration of e-autos has been initiated. For this, the Delhi government has allowed joint ownership of electric vehicles. With this move, the companies now have a shot to work with permit holders or drivers to jointly own an e-auto on the streets of Delhi.
In October 2021, the government received around 20,500 registration applications, out of which approximately 19,800 were filled by men. 823 applications were of women candidates, requesting e-auto permits. The remaining permits were given to DMRC, which is then to work with women drivers and encourage them to run e-autos on feeder routes.
This step has directed the women drivers to have an interactive session with working women taxi drivers and NGOs and to run their autos on regular basis. The department has taken the responsibility to ensure no misuse of women's e-auto permits happens in the capital city. Another step towards the betterment of women's employment has been taken in the form of the period allotted for the transfer of permit certificates. The e-auto permit can be transferred to other parties within one year of attainment. But for e-autos transfer, the period is at least 5 years and no sooner than that. The e-autos permitted to women drivers will be of lilac color, unlike the blue color scheme for the rest of e-autos.
This can be viewed as a major step towards women's employment, empowerment, and gender equality. Delhi government has taken necessary steps to ensure transparency and compliance in this endeavor.