Vending For India

GoI recognises the economic & social importance of street stalls. But who will tell local bodies?

- Shriya Anand

The recent decision by multiple municipalities across the state of Gujarat to ban vendors selling non-vegetarian food has led to vendor organizations planning protests across these cities. And vending has again emerged as a hot button issue in Delhi.

The antagonism between street vendors and municipalities and planning authorities is not restricted to these episodes, and is not a new phenomenon for Indian cities. There have been multiple instances over the past few decades when state or city governments have cracked down on street vendors, in an effort to ‘clean up their cities, roads, and public spaces, along with attempts to relocate public markets to the outskirts of cities.

In addition, street vendors also face everyday harassment, confiscation of goods, and sometimes violence by police and local level officials on the street.

These actions lead to further exclusion for vendors, who might have entered into self-employment or street vending because the formal economy in India is simply not creating enough opportunities to accommodate the number of new entrants into the workforce each year. Besides the role of vending in creating substantial employment opportunities, street vendors also play an important role in food distribution, food security as well as in making public spaces safer.

Street vendors assume the costs of living in poorly serviced housing, work long hours with long commute times, face difficult conditions in carrying out their daily work, in order to make food available cheaply at convenient locations across the city.