Nirmala was just 18 and illiterate when she dared to defy her traditionalist father and conservative brothers by opting to become an autorickshaw driver in the early 1990s. It was her mother who strongly supported her.
She enrolled herself for an auto-driving training camp initiated by the then Deputy Commissioner K. Ratnaprabha as part of her initiatives for women’s empowerment. A loan of Rs. 42,000 was sanctioned to her. This was at a time when cycle-rickshaws were still a dominant mode of intra-city travel. It was a radical development in the backward region with strong feudal patriarchy.
Ms. Nirmala stuck to her job and cleared the loans recently. She also bought a residential plot for Rs. 25,000 from the earnings from the auto before her marriage. “Now it is worth around Rs. 20 lakh,” she beamed.
She did have a couple of bitter experiences at the initial stage such as being harassed by male passengers, but that did not deter her. “Male auto drivers always treated me as their own sister. Whenever my auto developed a problem, one or the other came forward to help me,” she recalled.
Ms. Nirmala said that women preferred her auto than those driven by men. “Women don’t negotiate fare either before boarding my auto or alighting it,” she said with pride. However, she is now going through a tough time. City bus services that started nearly two years ago hit hard all auto drivers, including Ms. Nirmala. Dumping her old auto after using it for two decades and taking another on rent was an additional blow to her.
She has to take care of her family as her auto-driver-turned-lorry-cleaner husband does not earn much. Despite spending entire day on the streets, she takes home only Rs. 100 or Rs. 150 after paying for fuel and rent to the vehicle owner.
Since commuters prefer new autos, she hopes to buy a new one. “But banks do not show faith in me even after seeing my repayment track record. I am ready to pledge my hard-earned residential plot. But, banks show little interest,” she said. She hopes that some higher officers will intervene to convince the bank and also offer some subsidy.
Nirmala of Raichur has been driving an autorickshaw since
the early 1990s
