Geetanjali Krishna: A long winter ahead for lady cabbies

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) often do a great job of creating opportunities for disadvantaged communities where none existed earlier. However, I've noticed that this sometimes has unintended fallouts - it creates a corpus of people who become dependent on the NGO for their well-being. This was brought home to me last week when I heard that Sakha Consulting Wings is being near-threatened with closure. In 2008, its non-profit sister organisation Azad Foundation had the bright idea of training efficient women chauffeurs, addressing at once the need of urban women to have safe transport, and giving disadvantaged women a new avenue to earn and live with dignity. They even roped in the Delhi Police to give them training in self-defence. Since then, Sakha has been running women's taxis, lady chauffeur placement services and has even been lobbying for women drivers in Delhi Transport Corporation buses. Today, however, Sakha is facing serious financial issues due to non-payment of bills by the Delhi government. After the 2012 gang rape, the Delhi government had created a 24-hour helpline, 181, for women. Sakha bagged the contract to ferry its call-centre operators in 2013. The government hasn't paid them from July till date (the pending payment amounts to Rs 5.16 lakh). Consequently, it hasn't been able to pay its 17 lady cabbies on time, and hasn't paid its office staff at all for the last three months. "We're such a small organisation that we're facing imminent closure because of this," says Nayantara Janardhan, director, Sakha Cabs.

What will this mean for the lady chauffeurs of Sakha? I speak to one of them, Shanti, to find out. "Sakha's given my life a new direction," she says. "Before this, I'd tried all sorts of jobs. My husband had deserted me, leaving me with the sole responsibility of my three daughters. When Sakha helped me to obtain my commercial driving licence in 2010, I felt as if the world had opened up for me." Her life without Sakha would be harder, she says, and significantly less warm. As often happens in NGOs, she talks of the camaraderie among the women at Sakha. "I think of them all as my family, my support system and have no clue how we'll all manage if the umbrella over our heads is taken away," says Shanti.

Today, Shanti earns about Rs 11,000 in salary and over-time at Sakha. She's also had the opportunity to drive many high-profile individuals. "Whenever Aamir Khan comes to Delhi, he always asks for one of our taxis. He sits in the front seat and laughs and jokes with us. I had never imagined getting to know a famous star up close like this..." she says. Recently, when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Delhi, he too used her driving services. "I also had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia to present a report on my experience as a woman driver with Sakha," says she proudly.

Which is why if Sakha Cabs shuts down, it will hit her hard. "I know that because of my commercial licence, I'll probably get another job. But will a woman driver in a male-dominated company get the same amount of respect and support as I do here? That's what I worry about..." she says. Sakha's money woes haven't gone unnoticed among Shanti and her fellow drivers, she says. "Until last year, Sakha always raised our salaries by 10 per cent annually, without our ever having to ask. But this year, the salary hike hasn't happened," she says. "We're all hoping the Delhi government pays its dues soon..."

As Sakha waits for the government to release its dues, Shanti and her worried league of lady cabbies are unsure of what the future holds for them. "Sakha has shown us how good life can be even for women like us," says Shanti. "We'll all be lost without it..."