Hyderabad, March 2,2020 -Yosha Deedithi Foundation (YoDee) a not for Profit organization announced the launch of a women for women taxi service — Women On Wheels or WoW. This initiative is another step that furthers and reiterates the government's focus on women's inclusion and safety as a priority in Hyderabad and the state of Telangana. This service would initially be made available as part of Easy Commute's technology driven platform, plying in two routes - in the city, starting March 9. WoW is supported by the Dept, of Women Development & Child Welfare and Dept, of Transport, Govt, of Telangana. The launch event is scheduled for March 8th, 2020, International Women's Day and Hon'ble Minister of Women Development & Child Welfare, Smt. Satyavathi Rathod Garu, as Chief Guest will do the honours of launching these vehicles. The event will be attended by our Guest of Honour, Sri. M. Mahender Reddy Garu, DGP, Telangana Police, Mrs. Swati Lakra, IG Of Police, Mr. Sunil Sharma, Principle Secretary, Transport, Roads & Building, Govt of Telangana and other dignitaries.
This unique and first of its kind initiative in Hyderabad empowers women in multiple ways:
1. Our primary objective is to promote social and economic progress of women by giving them skill, tools and networks to take responsibility of their lives by becoming independent and earning and living well with dignity.
2. Livelihood and empowerment of women from weaker section of society. YoDee foundation with the support of the TS Govt, by way of its subsidy grant scheme to support women empowerment and SBI to provide loans, enabled the select set of women to own vehicles which they can use for the purpose of commercial driving. These women were trained and equipped to operate as commercial drivers and their training included not only skills to drive but also other critical skills to be able to manage themselves well. We want them to be self-sufficient.
3. Safe commute option for women:This service is for women and by women thus providing a safer and convenient way for women commuters across the city.
4. WoW also enables the participation and inclusion of women in the transport sector, which has so far been a male dominated sector.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Jyotsna Angara, Director YoDee Foundation said, "Driven by the objective of empowering women in distress, opening up livelihood options for unskilled women beyond the traditional sectors such as domestic help or labour force; additionally solving for safer commute for women and children led us to design this model- WoW. Women empowerment and women safety continue to be a very important agenda for the state Govt. too. This initiative is very promising and the Govt, has been a goodsupport to encourage and to scale the initiative further, so more women can benefit from it."
She added, "This is where we need the support of media, where messages conveyed to the society via you will let them know that there is support available for women who are keen to take up driving as a profession. Our primary focus is to make women economically independent and bring them to the main stream and through this service create a safe environment for women's safe transport needs. We are happy to have a tie-up with Hyderabad based Start-Up, Easy Commute who are our technology partner in this initiative. Am also delighted to share that they have come on board pro-bono with a commitment to make our society safe."
Today's women are India Inc/s future and have an enormous role to play to contribute to the health, wealth and prosperity of India. A happy Girl and a safe woman is the future of our country.YoDee has been training Underprivileged Women to be 4 wheel vehicle drivers, links them to available Govt Subsidy Schemes so that they get their own Vehicles and become commercial drivers to earn a respectable living.
Mr. Mayank Chawla, Founder Easy Commute commented, "we are very excited to be a part of this initiative and be able to add Women On Wheels to our fleet. It is a much needed.”
