Empowerment on Wheels: 6 Musahar Women Become Bihar's First Female Bus Drivers

Patna- Six women from some of Bihar’s most marginalised communities, including EBC, are preparing to take up jobs as government bus drivers, becoming the first Mahadalit women in the state’s history to do so. The women will drive the state-run Pink Buses, a service introduced to make public transport safer and more accessible for women.

The drivers named Aarti, Ragini, Anita, Savitri, Gayatri, and Baby belong to the Musahar community, one of the most disadvantaged groups within India’s Scheduled Castes. Musahars have historically faced extreme social exclusion, limited access to education, and chronic poverty. For women from the community, opportunities for formal employment have been particularly rare.

"Our parents supported us, but it is very rare to see anyone from our community come out of the farms and work. We are so poor that we cannot think of anything else. This is revolutionary," says Anita while speaking to TheMooknayak. Their appointment follows years of effort by Nari Gunjan, a social organisation that has worked with Dalit communities across Bihar for decades. Led by Padma Shri awardee Sudha Varghese.

In 2023, with support from the Women’s Development Corporation, 18 local women were enrolled in a 21-day light motor vehicle driving course at the Institute of Driving Training and Research. Despite completing the training, most of them were unable to secure jobs. Some were encouraged to drive battery-powered rickshaws, while others continued practising with vehicles arranged privately by the organisation.

The breakthrough came with the launch of the Pink Bus service in 2025. Designed to improve safety for women commuters, the service also created a limited number of roles for female drivers. Six women from the trained group were selected for the posts. They are currently undergoing regular training under the supervision of Mamta Kumari, the nodal officer for the Pink Bus Service in the state’s Transport Department. They will earn a monthly salary of 21,000 rupees. The Bihar State Road Transport Corporation has appointed Mauryan Cars Auto Service Limited to recruit and supervise drivers employed through the agency.

The women are also expected to play a prominent role in the state’s Republic Day celebrations. On 26 January, they will drive a Pink Bus as part of the official tableau at Gandhi Maidan in Patna — a rare public moment of visibility for a community that has largely remained unseen. While the drivers say they are proud of their achievement, they also acknowledge concerns about social acceptance. They speak of anxieties related to gender, caste and physical appearance in a profession traditionally dominated by men. “People used to make fun of my height, saying I was too small to drive a bus,” Baby smiled while talking to TheMooknayak.

“I faced difficulties in the beginning, but today I am proud to say that I can drive a government bus.” For Bihar, the appointments represent more than a transport initiative. For the women behind the wheel, they mark a step towards financial independence and social recognition and, they hope, a path that others from their community can follow.