Delhi govt relaxes norms, eligibility criteria to recruit more women as bus drivers
India Today
The Delhi government relaxed the norms for women drivers to apply as bus drivers within its Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) operations.
With an objective to provide more employment opportunities for women, the Arvind Kejriwal government relaxed the norms for women drivers to apply as bus drivers within its Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) operations.
The aim is to increase the participation of women in the public transportation and driving workforce.
Under the new norms, the minimum height for women to apply as bus drivers has been reduced from 159 cm to 153 cm.
In addition to this, the experience criteria after the issuance of the Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) licence has been reduced to one month from three years in the past. The government will provide on-road training to women drivers during the one-month period on its non-occupied buses.
After completion of the mandatory one-month training, women will have to go through a round of testing to be inducted as bus drivers within the public transportation fleet.
In another move, the Delhi government has also proposed to provide free one-month training in its Burari Drivers Training Institute to women drivers who want to earn the Heavy Motor Vehicle Licence (HMV). A proposal has been made in the upcoming budget 2022-23 to provide full fee waivers for women through dedicated subsidies.The height criteria had remained a long-standing barrier for young women who wanted to be employed as bus drivers within the state transport services.
Addressing this impediment, the transport department had already reduced the minimum height criteria to 159 cm in December 2020 after representations were made by various stakeholders. Earlier in 2021 also, the Delhi government had reserved 33 per cent of 4,261 new e-auto registrations for women drivers.
