>>Why are women considered to be people who "wont contribute anything back"?
Not women in specific, but India has a huge informal economy sector, where payments, salaries, spending are done outside of the tax system. Most people who take these buses work in that economy. So you end up enabling that part of the economy. At the expense of people paying taxes. It wouldn't be any different, if men got free rides as well.
>>But also, why are women specifically traveling for free? What was the original argument?
Women as a vote bank, has been a growing trend in Indian politics. In a lot of states far more generous perks are given to women. For eg- https://cleartax.in/s/ladli-behna-yojana
By offering these perks, you are basically buying votes from 50% of the net voting population. So a lot of states offer these perks.
Not women in specific, but India has a huge informal economy sector, where payments, salaries, spending are done outside of the tax system. Most people who take these buses work in that economy. So you end up enabling that part of the economy. At the expense of people paying taxes. It wouldn't be any different, if men got free rides as well.
>>But also, why are women specifically traveling for free? What was the original argument?
Women as a vote bank, has been a growing trend in Indian politics. In a lot of states far more generous perks are given to women. For eg- https://cleartax.in/s/ladli-behna-yojana
By offering these perks, you are basically buying votes from 50% of the net voting population. So a lot of states offer these perks.