Women porters in the Railway stations

Railway Minister Mamata BanerjeeMamata Banerjee wants to set right discrepancies that railway porters have to face. She is taking a decision to transfer the license of a physically unfit or dead porter to his wife or legal or adopted daughter. The male porters are accustomed to lifting huge loads and elbow their ways with ease through the crowds in any weather and at any time of the day or night – can the women do that? Mamata wants to improve the lots of the women, fine. But, how can the transfer of a license mitigate the sufferings of a widow or a fatherless daughter? How many women would really benefit?

In the movie ‘Coolie’ Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan played the role of a railway porter and in ‘Coolie No. 1’ it was Govinda who did likewise as a porter in a bus station. The breed of porters in India has always been a neglected lot. They huff and puff with the luggage and take it to the seat reserved for the journey and then the passenger haggles over the price he demands. The Railway porters can easily be identified by their red shirts and either the pyjamas or the dhoti and the brass armband on which is engraved a number which signifies authenticity. Most of them have with them red color turbans that help in carrying the loads on the head. Can we visualize women in such roles?