Tribal Girls Redefine Jharkhand’s Auto Sector

It’s not every day that you see tribal girls from Jharkhand stepping into a workshop, donning overalls, and fixing engines. But a new initiative by Tata Motors has made this possible, challenging long-held assumptions about gender roles in the auto sector.

On World Youth Skills Day, Tata Motors announced the successful completion of its first all-girls tribal batch under the Kaushalya Programme. Thirteen girls from Chandil, Potka, and Jamshedpur completed a 50-day training on commercial vehicle systems, followed by a year of On-the-Job Training at authorised service centres.

For many of these young women, formal education was cut short. Mobilisation efforts, from family counselling to community outreach, were crucial in bringing them onboard. With residential facilities, uniforms, safety gear, and stipends, the programme aimed not just to train but to support them through a journey of transformation.

Vinod Kulkarni, Head of CSR at Tata Motors, called it a step towards building inclusive opportunities in industries where women have long been invisible.

The Kaushalya Programme is part of Tata Motors’ broader CSR push in rural and tribal regions. But its larger impact may be symbolic: showing that gender-inclusive skilling is not just possible, but essential in reshaping the future of India’s workforce.