Authored By Pranav Patel:
The urban rich and middle class wish to see their cities grow into world-class cities with the best possible infrastructure and services. The notion of ‘world-class’ however is fuzzy and unclear. The urban middle class and upper middle class generally associate it with existence of high rise buildings, global companies, shopping malls, high speed highways and expressways, metro stations and more importantly the absence of poverty. The absence of poverty could either be removal of poverty or hiding it. In developing countries it generally correlated with the latter. The commonwealth games held in Delhi in 2010 are a classic example where the local authorities erected huge fences and covered them with banners to hide the slums and also removed all the street vendors for about a month’s duration including the 2 weeks of the games.
So is the removal of pavement dwellers and street vendors a step towards making our cities world class? The middle class and government authorities certainly seem to think so. On the one hand, many of us do not think twice before parking our vehicles on the roads and even footpaths, but the moment we see street vendors on the same public space we consider them to be eyesores. A parked vehicle generates no income at any point of time and neither do we as car owners pay any tax for parking vehicles on the roads whereas a street vendor standing in the same space is actually contributing to the economy. If we take into account all the street vendors in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad we are actually looking at an economic turnover of billions of rupees. Street vending though is not just about economics but also about a means of livelihood. In a developing country like India street vending provides employment for millions of semi-skilled and unskilled workers. What would happen to these people and their lives if they are forcibly removed by civic authorities and over-active ‘citizens’ groups who claim to represent the interests of the urban society and educated Indians ? By removing street vendors will we be addressing the growing divide between the rich and poor or further expanding it? A deeper look into the lives of street vendors and their businesses will reveal the impact they have on our lives from economic and social aspects. Street vendors sell newspapers, books, food, household items, clothes and many other articles of daily use. All of this is sold at cheap prices and generally very close to our homes. Many of us buy stuff from the streets because it is cheap and affordable. The removal of street vendors would also lead to an escalation of prices of some of the essential domestic and personal items. The presence of street vendors on the streets also provides some sort of safety and security, especially for the women. If the street vendors are removed, our streets would be partially empty during afternoons and late evenings. Many of us actually are able to move freely in parts of the cities due to the presence of crowds on the streets. Most of the crowd on the streets also buys from these street vendors. The removal of street vendors would definitely reduce the number of people walking on the streets in the afternoons and late evenings. The street vendors in some way function as ‘watchmen’ for the streets in cities. Women would generally be more comfortable walking on a street which has vendors than walking on a street which is completely empty.
Many studies indicate that the informal or unorganized sector accounts for close to 90% of the workforce in India. Majority of Indian’s are self-employed. In case of the street vendors, they account for more than 10 million of the workforce. Many of these street vendors are mistaken to be ‘outsiders’ from UP, Bihar and other backward states. This is far from the truth. Many of the street vendors in Mumbai today are actually the mill-workers who lost their jobs after the mills were closed down. A lot of street vendors are actually people who earlier worked in factories and industrial units but lost their jobs after the liberalization process started. Talk to any street vendor in any city and you will find that some of them in fact have been street vendors since two or three generations.
The problem of street-vending is not an Indian phenomenon alone and neither is it a recent phenomenon. Street vendors have existed in cities like Delhi and Mumbai since the 19th century. Street vendors exist in other Asian, Latin-American and African countries too. Better regulations and inclusive policies will help to bring them into the system. The National Urban Policy for Street Vendors, 2009 in fact lays down certain guidelines to bring some regulation which will allow street vendors to carry out their daily business without any fear of eviction or any ‘illegality’ associated with their existence. The policy lays down guidelines for ‘restriction-free’ vending, ‘restricted-vending’ and ‘No vending’ zones. The Supreme Court of India too has ruled in a 1989 case:
“if properly regulated, according to the exigency of the circumstances, the small traders on the sidewalks can considerably add to the comfort and convenience of the general public, by making available ordinary articles of everyday use for a comparatively lesser price. An ordinary person, not very affluent, while hurrying towards his home after a day’s work, can pick up these articles without going out of his way to find a regular market. The right to carry on trade or business mentioned in Article 19 (1) g of the Constitution, on street pavements, if properly regulated, cannot be denied on the ground that the streets are meant exclusively for passing or re-passing and no other use."
[Sodan Singh & Others versus New Delhi Municipal Council, 1989]
It’s time we should stop looking at the urban poor as a nuisance who are a burden on our cities’ limited resources. The urban poor in fact are as important a part of the city as anybody else. If the government has to beautify the city, it should come out of a fool-proof plan which takes care of both parties. They should learn to provide means of earning bread and butter first and then look at aesthetics. The street-vendors add to the beauty of the urban spaces in a very unique way. We need to understand the needs of the poor and facilitate their means of livelihood by allowing them to function under the ambit of law, rules and regulations. They too should be made to pay taxes and some sort of charges for the public space they utilize. In fact legal recognition to them will help bring down the trend of hafta that plagues all major cities of India. The growing divide between the rich and poor cannot be bridged without providing the poor a means of livelihood.
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Riju Shorey Sharma
said:
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... no one is poor in this country.everyone has their own way to make both ends meet...and the people we are considering poor are richer than us...... very gud article..congratulations..Keep writing...Bless you |
Aayush Anand
said:
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Good One. This article brings out a very common issue which we often ignore. At times we buy things of daily importance from a street vendor and then cuss them while we face problems while parking our vehicles. Double Standards, eh? Yeah. Pretty much. They form a very vital cog of the domestic economy and should be given legal recognition. I was quite unaware of the SC ruling. It has become very common to see SC taking the right way and reprimanding the govt. Anyway, kudos for bringing this out in the open. |
