User:Harshit Maheshwari 14/sandbox

Pink Rickshaw
Pink Rickshaw (also known as Pink Auto) is becoming popular in some cities as an alternative to normal auto rickshaws for women passengers. This initiative was taken by the government to prevent the women from being harassed and mistreated while commuting in autos. Special features like panic button and GPS system are installed for safety of women. Pink autos are either fully pink Rickshaw or their rooftop is pink coloured. Pink Rickshaw was first launched in year 2013 in Ranchi. The step was taken to avoid such mishappenings in future government of India launched this service. The autos are run by the trained people both men and women only after completion of legal verification and documentation. Eventually it was introduced in many other cities.

Women Empowerment through Pink Auto Scheme:
Pink Rickshaw scheme was initiated by Ranchi government for improvising the condition of women by providing them safety and empowerment by making them enter in a field that is male dominated. It provides an opportunity to many women and helps them to be self sufficient in every way. It is aimed to make them independent and helped them stand on their own feet and contribute to the family income.

Ranchi
Ranchi was the first city in India to launch Pink Auto scheme. It was launched in 2013 for the safety of women after the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case in Delhi. Jharkhand Police planned to introduce around 200 pink roofed autos in capital Ranchi for transportation of women passengers. These autos had special features such as panic button and GPS system for the safety of women passengers. Police tried to appoint female auto drivers for these autos but due to less response by females, they appointed male auto drivers. All the male auto drivers were verified through standard procedures set by the authorities. The ones who clear were given special identity cards to ferry women.

But this service is no longer available for women passengers only because drivers have to wait for long duration to get female passengers, due to which drivers started ferrying male passengers too in Pink Autos in order to make more trips in less time.

Jharkhand High Court ordered the RTA (Regional Transport Authority) to get rid of all the illegal autos in the city which are running without legal permits. Out of total 12,000 autos in Ranchi only 2,335 autos were having legal permits to continue the trade in city. Out of 2,335 autos not a single Pink Auto was having the legal permit to run their trade. Due to the suspension of autos the Pink Auto drivers went on a strike demanding for the issuance of lifetime legal permits to ply the trade.

Surat
Surat Municipal Corporation launched Pink Auto on 2nd July, 2017. The corporation selected and trained women to drive auto as it is a service for women by women. SMC helped these women to get loans at 7% interest rate with a benefit of 25% subsidy by Central Government to procure the Rickshaw. The Municipal Corporation identified 70 women in which 15 were trained and others were under training. They have basically concentrated on girl’s school areas for ferrying school children in day time.

Bongaigaon
Bongaigaon is one of the biggest commercial and industrial hubs of Assam. The National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) launched pink auto driven by women for the safety of women while commuting. Before the women got licensed, they were trained by Dispur motor driving school for 2 months so that they can drive with confidence on the roads of Bongaigaon. There were total 13 Rickshaw in the city providing the service from 6 in morning to 6 in evening.

Orissa
Pink Auto Rickshaw project was launched in Bhubaneswar (capital of Orissa) on 27th June, 2015 by Chief Minister of Orissa. It was introduced by Comissionerate Police of Orissa to enlighten there 'We care motto' for women. The autos will be driven by men but only those men will drive who stand to the set standards by the government and will be trained to take care of women passengers in any situation. The auto is mainly for women and children to promote the safety of women commuters in city. Within a year of launch there were 353 pink autos operating in Bhubaneswar in all parts including isolated areas with a positive feedback by the women travellers. Eventually, it was also launched in one more city of Orissa, Rourkela.

Gurgaon
In year 2010, for the first time Pink Autos were launched in Gurgaon after several women were sexually assaulted by taxi drivers. Pink Auto doesn't received positive response from commuters at that time which leads to failure in sustaining Pink Auto. Therefore the Pink Autos were suspended in Gurgaon after a short period of time.

Back in January, 2013 Pink Auto was relaunched in Gurgaon by Gurgaon Traffic Police to ensure the safety of women passengers. The decision was taken due to a rape case by Uber taxi driver and at the same time the horrific gang rape case of a paramedical student by six men in bus in Delhi on December, 2012. This time, the autos were designed by keeping in mind some special safety measures like panic button and GPS system. Government even created an Auto stand specifically for Pink Autos at MG Road Metro Station. There were total 22 autos which were launched this time. But again within a month and a half they failed to function in the city and faced a shut down again. One of the major reasons behind the shutdown was increasing popularity of online cab based system in the city. Therefore it was also said by the DCP of Traffic Police that they have launched autos but they don't play any role in implementation as it totally depends on the market forces as how people accept it.

After facing two failures, back in year 2015 Pink Autos were relaunched with total of 61 autos. The initiative was taken to reduce the number of cases of sexual harassment in City.