Driving no longer only male domain in Assam

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 28: A set of information on driving licences issued to women in the State gives an impression that women, on an expected line, are making forays into areas which were wrongly considered only as male domains earlier.

This came to light from the revelations made by State Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary while replying to a query from AGP MLA Phani Bhushan Choudhury on the floor of the Assam Assembly on Wednesday. With the advancement of women in society and quite in sync with rest of the country, women driving cars and bikes is a reality not only in Guwahati, but also in other districts of the State. This essentially means that there are few areas that are exclusively male domains these days.

Patowary said: “There’re 15,19,948 driving lincences issued in the State in all. As many as 66,889 of the 15,19,948 licene holders are females.”

According to Patowary, as many as  9,461 driving licences have been issued to women in Kamrup (M), 8,192 in Kamrup, 1,760 in Chirang, 3,960 in Sivasagar, 1,906 in Darrang, 3,950 in Jorhat, 1,690 on Karbi Anglong, 1,940 on Goalpara, 1,176 in Karimganj, 972 in Udalguri, 2,160 in gaon, 1276 in Baksa, 2,070 in Barpeta, 1,769 in Morigaon, 2,140 in Bongaingaon, 3,890 in Tinsukia, 1,866 in Golaghat, 897 in Hailakandi, 1,869 in lbari, 3,560 in Dibrugarh, 1,647 in Dhubri, 928 in Lakhimpur, 2,556 in Sonitpur, 1,487 in Kokrajhar and 1,298 in Cachar, 989 in Dima Hasao and 1480 in Dhemaji districts.

The State Education Department giving scooters (Scooty) to 1,000 Higher Secondary-passed girl students on a merit basis in 2017 may have its effect on the increase in the number of driving licences issued to women in the State. This year, the department is going to provide 5,000 girls such scooters on merit.