Does Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel policy impact women’s lives?

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality by 2030, and various national and state policies and programs are being implemented with a gender-inclusive perspective. Women often rely on male members of the family to meet their needs and due to COVID-19 pandemic losses and ongoing price hikes on essential goods, many working women in the informal sector, such as domestic workers, construction workers, agricultural workers and daily wage employees, are finding it difficult to survive. Poor women who are destitute, separated, widowed, disabled or migrated are the worst affected as they have no choice but to work and earn money to survive. Women pushing for their livelihood means their mobility is more important in the face of job losses and economic opportunities. Also, in the face of rising petrol and diesel prices, transportation costs have been identified as a key burden for families, which many women have been unable to afford.  In this context, the Tamil Nadu government announced free public bus travel for women in June 2021 in an attempt to alleviate travel costs and enhance women's work participation rates. This research paper investigates the economic and social impact of the 'Free Bus Travel Policy' on women in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, by using a mixed method design adopting both quantitative survey (150) and qualitative interviews (30). The free bus travel policy has impacted women's economic and social lives, especially among women from lower-income groups, and the majority of them have agreed that this scheme has increased their access to economic resources, mobility, and financial independence. However, the scheme suffers limitations such as lack of proper time management, lack of suitable infrastructure, and lack of frequent buses that are to be provided to have an effective implementation of the scheme.