#GoodNews: Rural India to Now Have Women Driving Public Transport

The government will provide the women in Self Help Groups with interest-free loans and training to use mini-buses.

In an attempt to improve public transportation in rural areas, the Centre has roped in women from self help groups (SHGs) in the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Parivahan Yojana, likely to be launched on 15 August this year.

The scheme will first be implemented in 250 blocks, The Indian Express quoted Amarjeet Sinha, Secretary at Ministry of Rural Development, as saying. The government will provide the SHGs with interest-free loans and training to use mini-buses that have a capacity of 10-12 people.

There are 32 lakh SHGs across the country and the scheme hopes to rope in the women and expand transportation facilities to the entire 5 lakh kilometre-length of rural roads.

We will start by focusing on Left wing extremism-affected and tribal areas that are remote and sparsely populated, where there is no mass transport currently available as it is not commercially viable.

Amarjeet Sinha to The Indian Express

The scheme is meant to go hand in hand with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which aims to construct 150 km of rural roads everyday this year.

The scheme needs an initial investment of Rs 127 crore, which will be released by the government to the Community Investment Fund under the village organisation.

The funding will either be used by the village organisation to buy vehicles on its own and then lease them to an SHG, or provide the funding as an interest-free grant to an SHG that wants to provide the transport service.