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IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL URBAN STREET VENDOR POLICY AND LEGAL…/ 117

IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL URBAN STREETVENDOR POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN INDIA

A. K. SINGHAssistant Director, RCUES, Lucknow University Campus, Lucknow

Urbanization is critical to the development of country. Cities have evolved as engines of growthand development. They are generating majority of the wealth of the country. The urbanemployment is becoming informal as informal economy contributes significantly in the economicgrowth and development of the country. Street vending is global phenomenon and is rapidlyincreasing in Asian countries due to globalization and economic liberalization as the newpolicy regime has drastically affected the employment in organized and particularly inmanufacturing sector. In India too, there are more than 10 million persons engaged in streetvending and hawking who constitute about 2.5 per cent of urban population. In view ofprotecting the street vendors and regulating vending and hawking in urban areas, Governmentof India has introduced National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, and Model Bill, 2009.Present paper attempts to analyze the role of informal economy in economic development,evolution of National Policy on Street Vendors and its implementation. It also envisages tohighlighting the state and city initiatives in implementation of the National Policy andrehabilitation of the street vendors.

INTRODUCTIONIndia is one of the least urbanized countries in the world because between 1951 and2001, the level of urbanization increased by 13 percentage points only. However, it hasthe second largest urban population in the world and more than two third of it lives inthe 393 cities that have population of over one lakh. As per 2011 census, urban populationwas reported to be 377.1 million constituting 31.6 per cent population of the country.There were 7935 towns and cities in India as per the census, 2011. The four mega citiesviz., Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai with a population of more than 6 millioneach in 2001 accounted for almost one fourth of population living in cities. The decadalgrowth in urban population during 1991-2001 has been 31.2 per cent whereas at thebeginning of the 20th century, only 10.8 per cent of total 218 million population of thecountry resided in cities and towns. The number of million plus cities increased to 53 in2011 from 12 in 1981 and 23 in 1991 and 35 in 2001.

An analysis of the distribution of urban population by size categories reveals thatthe process of urbanization in India has been large city oriented. This is proved that ahigh proportion of urban population being concentrated in Class I cities, which hasgone up systematically over the decades in the last century, the massive increase inproportion of Class I cities from 26 per cent in 1901 to 85.20 per cent in 1991 while it

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declined to 61.48 per cent in 2001, has been attributed to faster growth of large cities. Thenumber of class one cities has grown to 423 in 2001 from 24 in 1901. There has been morethan five-fold increase in the number of class one cities since 1951. As per 2011 census,there were 468 Class-I cities with more than 1 lakh population while 7935 cities andtowns were reported. Out of 468 Class-I cities, there were 3 metropolitan cities viz.,Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata having the population of more than 10 million while 5 citiesviz., Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad and Pune were having the populationof 5-10 million. 34 cities were reported having the population of in between 1-2 millionwhile 372 cities and towns had population of 1 lakh to 5 lakh. There has been highergrowth in Class-I cities as compared to the medium and small cities and towns. During2001-2011, the gross increase was reported significantly high in Class-IB category andClass-IA category as well as in metropolitan cities as compared to the smaller cities andtowns. However, gross increase during this period was reported slightly low in metropolitancities and Class-IA category cities as compared to the 1991-2001. There has beenphenomenon increase in the urban population of metropolitan cities like Greater Mumbai,Kolkata and Delhi. The other cities also reported significant growth of urban population.These metropolitan cities constitute about 1/4th urban population of the country.

Urbanization is critical to the development of country. The urban population ofIndia is likely to increase by 590 million, constituting about 40 per cent of total populationby the year 2030. India will have the largest growing work force for the next 20 years,as 270 million Indians will join the working age population by the year 2030. Job growthin cities will be for more robust, growing at around 3.6 per cent annually increasingfrom around 100 million today to 220 million in 2030. Cities will account for 70 per centof all new jobs created in India during 2010 to 2030 (McKinsey, 2010). Cities providebenefits beyond their own boundaries. McKinsey (2010) in its report has pointed outthat 180 million people who live close to cities were benefited with the economicopportunities, markets and the connecting infrastructure in the urban centers. Thesepeople were assumed to live in rural areas next to the about 70 largest urban centers inIndia. India will have 68 cities by 2030 with population of more than one million,compared with the figure of 35 in 2001. Similarly, the number of urban centers is likelyto increase by 6000 in 2030. However the concentration of urban population is still inlarger cities. About 57 per cent of urban population of the country resides in the urbancenters, comprising of less than one million populations.

Data from Census 2011 reveals that 3 per cent of urban population does not havean exclusive room for living while 32 per cent live in one room house. About 29 per centof the urban population does not have access to tape water and 18.6 per cent have nolatrine facility within the house. With reference to assets, 13.3 per cent of urbanpopulation does not have access to television and 90 per cent do not have access to acomputer. Thus, there is deficient of basic services in urban areas besides increasingstress on delivery mechanism system for providing basic services to urban dwellers dueto increasing urban population.

ROLE OF INFORMAL ECONOMYThe Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in Unorganized Sectorby National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector brought out in August


2007 (NCEUS, 2007) reveals that in the year 2004-05, out of India’s total workforce, 92per cent worked in the informal economy - in unorganized enterprises or households,excluding regular workers with social security benefits, and in the formal sector, withoutany employment and social security benefits provided by the employer. The urbaninformal sector comprises a large part of the unorganized non-agriculture sector. Theproportion of non-agriculture workers in the unorganized sector has increased from32 per cent in 1999-2000 to 36 per cent in 2004-05. Out of total workers in thenon-agriculture sector, 72 per cent were in the unorganized sector in 2004-05 as against68 per cent in 1999-2000, 63 per cent of the unorganized workers in non-agriculturesector were self-employed, 17 per cent were regular workers and 20 per cent belong tocasual workers. Home-based workers, street vendors, domestic workers and wastepickers account for 1/3rd of urban employment in India today. The combined share ofemployment of these informal groups grew by 12 per cent to represent 41 per cent ofurban informal employment during 2009-10. India’s urban workforce is becomingincreasingly informal. By 2010, nearly half of the urban workforce was self-employed,while wage employment also becomes more informal. Recent estimates suggests today’surban workforce is comprised of a small formal salaried workforce (20 per cent), ofwhich around 2/3rd work in formal offices and factories, a large informal wage workforce(40 per cent) of which around 15 per cent work in formal offices and factories, and alarge informal self-employed workforce of which around half work at home or in openpublic spaces. These trends at the bottom of the economic pyramid indicate volatilitywithin the India labour market (WIEGO, 2011). India’s urbanization is experiencingrapid expansion in population without the attendant industrial and economic growth(Rakodi, 2005). The main consequence of the failure of urban employment in the modernand public sectors is to keep pace with urbanization has been that an increasingproportion of the workforce is turning to what is known as the informal sector(Singh, 2011) .

URBAN STREET ECONOMYUrban space in developing cities is a key element of the physical capital in the livelihoodstrategies of a good number of urban residents, namely the poor (Brown, 2006). This isbecause of the facts that most households obtain their income from informal economicactivities such as petty trading and manufacturing, which rely on access to urban spacemaking it a critical physical livelihood asset (Brown and Lloyd, 2002). Vibrant informalvending activities transpire in streets pavements, walk ways, and other venues in publicspace (Jimu, 2005). Other areas along major thoroughfares and streets; areas aroundmarket places, bus stop, work sites and preferred down town locations attract largeconcentrations of street vendors and other informal operators (Cohen et.al., 2005). Theinformal sector is mainly consisted of street vendors followed by self entrepreneursbesides workers. Street economic activities contribute to the share of total employmentin trade in cities. Urban informal employment in India has been concentrated in threeindustry groups: manufacturing, trade and non-trade services which account for 26per cent 29 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively in 2009-10. Street vending constituted11 per cent urban employment and 14 per cent of urban informal employmentduring 2009-2010. Importantly, street vendors constituted about 15 per cent share inurban informal employment during 2009-10 as against the share of only 8 per cent in


1999-2000. Street hawking is a worldwide phenomenon. Street vendors and hawkersthroughout the world constitute the most visible and active parts of the informal sector.In most Indian cities, urban poor survive by working in the informal sector. Over 90per cent of country’s workforce earns its livelihood in the informal sector which accountfor 63 per cent of country’s GDP. Street hawking has been a major source of selfemployment for the urban poor in India and as a profession which has been in existencesince times immemorial (Bagga, 2010).

GROWTH OF STREET VENDINGThere is a substantial increase in the number of street vendors in the major Asiancities (Bhowmik, 2005). In India too, street vendors constitute about 2.5 per cent of theurban population in metropolitan cities. The total number of street vendors in the countryhas been estimated to be more than 10 million. This number is likely to increase withthe increase in migration of poor from rural and smaller towns as cities are engines ofgrowth and provide better economic opportunities in terms of employment. There hasbeen substantial increase in the number of street vendors in the major Indian cities.Mumbai has the largest number of street vendors numbering around 2.5 lakh, Kolkatahas more than 1.5 lakh Street vendors, Ahmedabad and Patna have around 1 lakhvendors. The globalization and economic liberalization have created employmentopportunities on the one hand while it has also displaced workers in large enterpriseswho have turned to street vending as an alternative source of income (Bhowmik, 2012).

EVOLUTION OF NATIONAL POLICYIndia is one of countries that have developed a National Policy on Urban Street Vendors.The National Policy was adopted in 2004 with the objective of providing and promotinga supportive environment for urban street vendors to earn their livelihoods, while atthe same time reducing congestion and maintaining sanitary conditions in public spacesand streets. In India, the National Policy is essentially a statement of intent and animportant first step toward the establishment of laws. Though its implementation since2004 has been poor and uneven, Supreme Court has upheld the fundamental rights ofstreet vendors in various court cases over the time, and in October 2010 called on thegovernment to enact a law on street vending not later than June 2011. This SupremeCourt judgment reinforced the need for state and local governments to implement bindinglaws based on the National Policy. India’s National Policy on Urban Street Vendors isunique because of the supportive approach it takes toward street vendors, providingthem dignity and recognition in the national policy arena. The policy explicitlyacknowledges the contribution of street vendors to urban life, and is designed as amajor initiative for urban poverty alleviation.

Globally, street vendors began to organize in the 1990s as globalization andurbanization exacerbated city-level conflicts between vendors and local authorities. InNovember 1995, representatives of street vendors from 11 cities across five continentsheld the meeting of the International Alliance of Street Vendors in Bellagio, Italy. TheBellagio International Declaration of Street Vendors, signed by representatives at themeeting, called on governments to establish national street vending policies. Theinternational declaration was a landmark development in the vendors’ movement atthe global level (Sinha, and Roever 2011).


Following the Bellagio Conference, street vendors and allied organizations in Indiaformed a national organization to propel the vendors’ struggle at the national level. InSeptember 1998, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) wasformed. Since then, NASVI set out to change perceptions of street vendors countrywide.NASVI has identified more than 700 street vendors’ organizations across the countyand established communications with them. It has initiated a Network of 20organizations with membership of Trade Unions, community based organizations, NGOs,and professionals. At present, it has membership of 613 organizations withrepresentation of 4.62 lakh street vendors across 22 states of India. The findings of astudy by NASVI were presented street vendors as hardworking entrepreneurs and anessential part of city commerce. In May 2001, NASVI presented the findings of thestudy to the Government of India’s Ministry of Urban Development and increasedpressure on the government to develop a national policy on street vending. TheGovernment of India formed a National Task Force on Street Vendors in August 2001to draw up national policy. Government of India invited NASVI and SEWA to be membersof the National Task Force, and established a policy process that was consistent withthe Bellagio Declaration’s call for “appropriate, participatory, non-formal mechanismswith representation by street vendors and hawkers.” The National Task Force on StreetVendors also included senior officials of the Ministry, mayors, municipal commissionersand senior police officials. The Drafting Committee aimed to keep the content of thepolicy consistent with the Supreme Court of India’s landmark decisions on street vendingissues. Since 1985, the Supreme Court had ruled that street vending was aconstitutionally protected practice, subject to reasonable restrictions. The Court’sjudgment in the 1985 case of Bombay Hawkers’ Union v. Bombay Municipal Corporationoutlined a scheme for regulating licenses to be issued to street vendors (hawkers) andfor creating hawking and no-hawking zones. The policy was finalized in 2004 andlaunched as the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors. In that same year, thegovernment set up a National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector(NCEUS) to examine the problems of small enterprises and suggesting measures toresolve those problems. The Prime Minister’s office asked the NCEUS to review thenew National Policy on Urban Street Vendors as part of its work. The NCEUS consultedwith NASVI and other organizations of street vendors who expressed a concern thatstreet vendors continued to face harassment and insecurity despite the Supreme Courtjudgments recognizing their rights of vending and hawking.

NCEUS issued a report in 2006 suggesting recommendations for revising the policyto ensure effective implementation. The report emphasized the role of Town VendingCommittees, to be constituted by municipal officials and street vendor representatives,in managing and monitoring the policy’s implementation in each locality according tolocal conditions. In view of the Report of NCEUS, the Government of India issued arevised policy in 2009.

India’s National Policy on Urban Street Vendors has recognized the positive role ofstreet vendors in generating employment and in providing essential goods to people ataffordable prices and convenient places. While recognizing the need for regulation ofstreet vending, the policy aims to reflect the spirit of the Constitution of India on therights to work and equal protection before the law. The policy explicitly views street


vendors as an asset for urban economies. The National Policy is organized around sevenspecific objectives that aim to balance the need to promote vendors’ livelihoods with theneed to prevent overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in public spaces and streets.The explicit goals of establishing legal status for vendors, including vending zones inurban planning, and ensuring a transparent regulation system are critically important.These policy objectives are meant to overcome the persistent problems of policeharassment and political patronage that are routinely found in countries worldwide(Sinha and Roever, 2011).

OBJECTIVES OF NATIONAL POLICY• To give street vendors a legal status by formulating an appropriate law and thereby

providing for legitimate vending/hawking zones in city/town master or developmentplans, including zonal, local and layout plans, and ensuring their enforcement;

• To provide civic facilities for appropriate use of identified spaces as vending/hawkingzones, vendors’ markets or vending areas in accordance with city/town master plans,including zonal, local and layout plans;

• To eschew imposing numerical limits on access to public spaces by discretionarylicenses and instead moving to nominal fee-based regulation of access, whereprevious occupancy of space by the street vendors determines the allocation of space;or creating new informal sector markets where space access is on a temporaryturn-by-turn basis;

• To promote, where necessary, organizations of street vendors to facilitate theircollective empowerment;

• To set up participatory processes that involve firstly, local authority, planningauthority and police; secondly, associations of street vendors; thirdly, residentwelfare associations; and fourthly, other civil society organizations such as NGOs,representatives of professional groups, representatives of trade and commerce,representatives of scheduled banks and eminent citizens;

• To promote norms of civic discipline by institutionalizing mechanisms of self-management and self-regulation in matters relating to hygiene, including wastedisposal, etc. amongst street vendors, both in the individually allotted areas as wellas vending zones/clusters with collective responsibility for the entire vending zone/cluster; and

• To promote access of street vendors to such services as credit, skill development,housing, social security and capacity building. For such promotion, the services ofSelf Help Groups Co-operatives/Federations/Micro Finance Institutions, TrainingInstitutes, etc., should be encouraged.

National Policy also serves as a model globally as it prioritizes inclusive urbanplanning processes, with a focus on giving a voice to street vending associations. Thepolicy aims not only to promote organizations of street vendors, but also to make theirparticipation in urban planning. It also explicitly calls on vendors to regulate themselvesin matters of hygiene and waste disposal, and aims to improve access of street vendorsto the types of services from which they are typically excluded.


KEY ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL POLICY

Spatial Planning NormsThere is need for the master/zonal/local/layout development plans to be ‘inclusive’ andaddress the requirements of space for street vending as an important urban activitythrough norms for reservation of space for street vendors in accordance with their currentpopulation, projected growth of street vendors. It is equally important that the provisionsmade in zonal, local or layout plans for street vending are implemented in an equitableand efficient manner.

Demarcation of Vending ZonesThe demarcation of ‘Restriction-free Vending Zones’, ‘Restricted Vending Zones’ and‘No vending Zones’ should be city/town specific. In order to ensure that the city/townmaster/ development plans provide for adequate space for street vendors to run theiractivities

Provision of Civic FacilitiesMunicipal Authorities need to provide basic civic facilities in Vending Zones / Vendors’Markets which would include) (1) Provisions for solid waste disposal, (2) Public toiletsto maintain cleanliness, (3) Aesthetic design of mobile stalls/ push carts, (4) Provisionfor electricity, (5) Provision for drinking water; (5) Provision for protective covers toprotect wares of street vendors as well as themselves from heat, rain, dust etc;(6) Storage facilities including cold storage for specific goods like fish, meat and poultry;and (7) Parking areas.

Town Vending CommitteeDemarcation of ‘Restriction-free Vending Zones’, ‘Restricted Vending Zones’/No-vendingZones’ and Vendors’ Markets should be carried out in a participatory manner by theTown Vending Committee, to be established at town/city level. A TVC should consist ofthe Municipal Commissioner/ Chief Executive Officer of the urban local body asChairperson and such number of members as may be prescribed by the appropriateGovernment, representing local authority; planning authority and police and such otherinterests as it deems proper; associations of street vendors; resident welfare associationsand Community Based Organisations (CBOs); and other civil society organizations suchas NGOs, representatives of professional groups, representatives of trade and commerce,representatives of scheduled banks and eminent citizens.

The National Policy suggests that the representatives of street vendors’ associationsmay constitute forty per cent of the number of the members of the TVC and the otherthree categories may be represented in equal proportion of twenty per cent each.At least one third of the representatives of categories of street vendors, resident welfareassociations and other civil society organizations should be women to provide a genderfocus in the TVC. Adequate/reasonable representation should also be provided to thephysically challenged in the TVC. The TVC should ensure that the provision of spacefor vendors’ markets are pragmatic, consistent with formation of natural markets,


sufficient for existing demand for the street vendors’ goods and services as well aslikely increase in accordance with anticipated population growth. The TVC shouldmonitor the provision of civic facilities and their functioning in Vending Zones andVendors’ Markets and bring shortcomings, if any to the notice of the concernedauthorities of the urban local body. The TVC should also promote the organisation ofweekly markets, festival bazaars, night bazaars, and vending festivals on importantholidays etc. as well as take up necessary improvement of infrastructure facilities andmunicipal services with the urban local body concerned.

The TVC shall perform the following functions:

• Undertake periodic survey/census to assess the increase or decrease in thenumber of street vendors in the city/town/wards/localities;

• Register the street vendors and ensure the issuance of Identity Cards to thestreet vendors after their preparation by the Municipal Authority;

• Monitor the civic facilities to be provided to the street vendors in vending zones/vendors’ markets by the Municipal Authority;

• Assess and determine maximum holding capacity of each vending zone;

• Work out a non-discretionary system and based on the same, identify areas forhawking with no restriction, areas with restriction with regard to the dates,days and time, and, areas which would be marked as ‘No Vending Zones’;

• Set the terms and conditions for hawking and take corrective action againstdefaulters;

• Collect fees or other charges as authorized by the competent civic authority;

• Monitor to ensure that those allotted stalls/vending spots are actually usingthem and take necessary action to ensure that these are not rented out or soldto others;

• Facilitate the organization of weekly markets, festival bazaars, night bazaars,vending festivals such as food festivals to celebrate important occasions/holidaysincluding city / town formation days etc; and

• Ensure that the quality of products and services provided to the public is as perstandards of public health, hygiene and safety laid down by the local authority.

In order to implement the decisions of a TVC, the concerned Municipal Authorityshall designate an official, who shall act as the convenor of the TVC as well as beresponsible for implementing its decisions.

Registration System for Street VendingA system of registration of vendors/hawkers and non-discretionary regulation of theiraccess to public spaces in accordance with the standards of planning and the nature oftrade/service should be adopted. The Policy advocates the encouragement of collectivearrangements by the street vendors to redress any harmful effects on the locality causedby the occupation of street vending. Such arrangements should cover waste disposal,


hygiene in the area of vending as well as in the zone/cluster occupied by street vendersas a whole for their activities, traffic management etc. Quantitative norms of spatialplanning should be respected by the street vendors as a measure of self-regulation interms of the number of a typical trade to be allowed in a particular place. Registrationsystem with the participation of street vendors’ associations may be used to regulatethe scale of operation in vending zones or vendors’ markets so that the threshold limitson their holding capacity are not exceeded.

PROMOTIONAL MEASURESThe policy has made provisions for promotional measures for street vending whichinclude public health and hygiene, education and skill training to vendors, extendingcredit and insurance facility to street vendors, social security coverage, rehabilitationof child vendors, etc.

MODEL LAW ON STREET VENDORSA Model Law was framed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation,Government of India in 2009 known as The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoodand Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2009. The law is based on National Policy forUrban Street Vendors laid down by National Commission on Enterprises in theUnorganized Sector. The Bill has been introduced to the Parliament for its final approval.In view of the Model Law, several states have drafted their state level Bill in order toprovide protection and regulation to street vending. The Model Law has laid down thefollowing legal provisions:

Undertake Legislation: The action points includes ensuring the institutionalframework, implementation machinery and other necessary arrangements at state andcity level in conformity with the national policy; and making suitable amendments toexisting laws, rules such as Police Act, Municipal Act, Development Authority Act,Town Planning Act, etc. with a view to removing impediments in the implementation ofthe national policy.

Scheme for Street Vendors: Framing and notifying scheme for street vendors,specifying aspects such as survey, registration, levy and collection of registration fee,issuing of identity card, spatial planning and provision of basic amenities and welfaremeasures to street vendors.

Spatial Planning Norms: Determining spatial planning norms for street vending;earmarking space for vending zones in master plan, development plans, zonal plansand local area plans, etc.; and amending the existing plans for accommodating streetvendors, etc.

Demarcation of Vending Zones: Ensuring demarcation of restriction free vendingzones, restricted vending zones, and no vending zones in all cities and towns in aparticipatory manner, involving town vending committee, resident welfare associations,civil societies and other stake holders.

Provision of Civic Facilities: Providing basic civic facilities like provision of solidwaste disposal, public toilets, electricity, drinking water, protective cover, storagefacilities, etc.


Photo Census of Vendors: Undertaking a comprehensive, digitalized, photo censussurvey and GIS mapping of the existing stationary vendors with the assistance ofprofessional organizations.

Registration of Street Vendors: Adopting simple and expeditious registration processfor registration of street vendors and issuing identity cards to them.

Promotional Measures: Ensuring health care for street vendors, providing educationand skill training, extending credit and insurance facility, social security coverage andwelfare of street vendors through convergence of schemes, programmes and departments.

State Initiatives for Legal EnactmentThe National Policy for Urban Street Vendors is a set of guidelines prepared by theGovernment of India. In India, a National Policy constitutes a statement of intent bythe Government. However, it directs national, state and local governments to take actionon relevant issues so that the policy may be implemented. A policy often is a prelude toa law, and provides a framework within which a law may be further developed. Thepolicy implementation in India is often uneven across states and cities. Some statesand cities have moved forward to implement the policy while others have yet to takeinitiatives in this regards. Others have implemented parts of the policy, but not accordingto the standard process outlined above. Table 1 provides an overview of the policyimplementation scenario in India.

Table 1Status of Policy Implementation at the State Level

Policy State Level City Level Membership- State LevelAdopted Vendors Vending based Vendorat the Survey Zones Defined Organizations’ Federation/State (MBOs) AlliancesLevel Activities

Madhya Pradesh 2005 Complete in 1400 vending Strong but Strong vendors’almost all cities zones defined confined to a organizations in

in major cities; few cities some cities; a90,000 street strong NASVIvendors with presence at theidentity cards state level

Andhra Pradesh 2007 Complete in some Defined in Several activities Strong butcities, but policy very few since 2005: fragmentedexcludes stationary cities post-card organizing byvendors campaigns, vendors

city-wisemobilization,petitions

Uttar Pradesh 2007 Complete in some Registration Very active: Not a registeredcities and identity yearly state-level federation but

cards issued meetings; letters a strong statein several and petitions network, undercities; vending to government; the umbrella ofzones defined litigation NASVI

Contd...


Policy State Level City Level Membership- State LevelAdopted Vendors Vending based Vendorat the Survey Zones Defined Organizations’ Federation/State (MBOs) AlliancesLevel Activities

Rajasthan 2008 Very weak Pending State level No alliance atimplementation, meetings since the state level,complete in a 2007; protest but strongfew cities marches and NASVI

campaigns, but presenceless active now

Maharashtra 2009 Complete in Defined in Very active: Strong vendors’some cities very few multiple federation

cities demonstrations advocating forand petitioning policyat highest level;judicial action

West Bengal 2010 Survey started Pending Active at the city Strong(Calcutta) level: organizing atprotest marches, the city leveldrawing mediaattention to theplight of vendors

Kerala 2011 Pending Pending Strong, Strong NASVIbut confined linkages withto a few cities the trade union

wings ofthe left politicalparties

Delhi 2006 Applications City level Trade unions Strong presencewere invited for vending an NGOs are of NASVIregistration of zones active for linkages withstreet vendors defined organizing street other trade

vendors unions andNGOs

Bihar 2010 Survey of street Vending Membership NASVI, Nidanvendors was zones based and Aditi areconducted with defined organizations active forthe help of DFID in are active organizing and28 selected cities rehabilitation of

street vendors

As the table indicates, the national policy has been adopted in many states since2005. Elsewhere, some states have made progress toward implementation. As perinformation available, 7 states viz., Arunachal Pradesh , Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have enacted state laws while12 states have drafted state Bills on street vendors. In Bihar, though the policy has notbeen passed, a survey of vendors has been completed throughout the state besidesintroducing Model Bill on street vendors. Local authorities in Delhi have prepared a


regulatory scheme for urban street vendors in accordance with the policy. The state ofChhattisgarh has adopted by-laws for the regulation of street vending, demarcatedvending zones and begun to form TVCs. The state of Jharkhand has enacted JharkhandUrban Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act2010, though it is not yet a law. The state of Arunachal Pradesh has enacted a law forregulating street vending at the state level, in March 2011. Nationwide, more than 25cities have shown some movement toward implementing the National Policy. Many ofthose cities are in states where the National Policy has been ratified. Pune, Pimpri,Hyderabad, Delhi, Vijayawada, Warangal, Patna, Saharsa, and Vishakhapatnam haveimplemented the policy at the city level even though it has not been passed at the statelevel. All states have taken steps to conduct a survey or census of vendors, at least insome cities, in order to lay the groundwork for defining vending zones and setting up aregistration and licensing system. In a few cities, vending zones have been defined,vendors have been registered, or identity cards have been issued. The review of legalprovisions and ingredients of the Bill on street vendors in some of the states is discussedbelow in order to appreciate the initiatives for protecting the street vendors and creatingconducive business environment for them.

Andhra PradeshGovernment of Andhra Pradesh issued policy guidelines on street vendors in 2004. Theprovisions included zoning of ULBs into restriction free, restricted and no vending zones.Town Vending Committees were formed in few selected ULBs. Street vendors werealso identified and issued identify cards in few ULBs. In Hyderabad, Organization ofStreet Vendors into Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies (MACS) was done in 8 circlesby Dr. Reddy Foundation. In Karim Nagar, upgradation of street food vendors wastaken up. Convergence of programmes and schemes were ensured at the state andULB levels for welfare of street vendors. Survey of Street vendors was conducted in allULBs of the state in view of the implementation of National Policy on Street Vendors,2004. Profiling of street vendors has been initiated in all ULBs excepting Hyderabadwith the implementation of National Policy on Street Vendors, 2009. MoU has beendrawn with Dr. Reddy Foundation for identification of 2160 Street Food Vendors andformation of 72 Common Interest Groups and 5 Mutually Aided Cooperative Societiesin Hyderabad area. The state has drafted Andhra Pradesh Street Vendors (Protectionof Livelihoods and Regulation of Vending) Act, 2011 for finalization by the Government.The profiling of vendors has been done through community organizers and communityresource persons. The general profile of more 1.25 lakhs street vendors has beenprepared. Out of total street vendors, about 47 per cent are female vendors. Most of thevendors are engaged in perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables and food items. Thestate government has also introduced Aarogya project in collaboration with Dr. Reddyfoundation in 2009. The salient features of Andhra Pradesh Street Vendors Bill, 2011include the definition of street vendors, provisions for grant, renew, registration andissuing of identity cards, determining vending zones, survey of existing street vendors,regulating street vendors, Constitution of Zonal Vending Committee for ULBs with 10lakh population and above, Constitution of Town Vending Committee for less than 10lakh population, levying of penalties, promotional measures, dispute resolutionmechanism, etc. The state has also prepared an action plan for implementation of


national policy. The state has also issued the instructions to Town and Country PlanningDepartment for demarcation of vending zones.

DelhiNew Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 has the provision for regulating Tahbazaaribesides provision of self employment and cost effective services to public. The Corporationformulated scheme for squatters and hawkers in 1989 with identification of squattingsite, allotment of Tahbazaris and demarcation of site of the sites. The scheme for urbanstreet vendors was introduced in 2007 in the state. There are three categories of urbanstreet vendors which include authorized squatters, authorized hawkers andunauthorized squatters and hawkers. The scheme also had provision for identificationof spaces and sites besides setting up of vending committees. Initially three vendingcommittees have been constituted for Gole Market, Minto Road and Sarojini Nagarconstituency. Applications were invited for registration of applicants. Three vendingsub-committees were also formed dealing with the issues of site and spaces, health andhygiene, and enforcement. Vending sub-committee has identified around 386 spacesand another vending sub-committee has finalized the criteria for eligibility of theapplicants. Though, state government is active for rehabilitation of street vendorshowever, there is mismatch between demand and supply of vending spaces. There isalso no restriction of street vendors and numerical limit to be accommodated in a vendingzone. The Government is also thinking to develop vendors markets besides providingsocial security coverage under Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojana for medical andinsurance benefits, besides improvement of the existing kiosks through public privatepartnership initiatives.

Uttar PradeshIn view of effective implementation of National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, thestate government has proposed Draft Bill - The Uttar Pradesh Street Vendors (Protectionof Livelihood and Regulation of Trade) Bill, 2012, to provide for protection of livelihoodof urban street vendors and to regulate street vending. The proposed Draft Bill willregulate urban street markets of the state. Street vendors play an important role in thelocal economy but still they are illegal so far, the Bill gives them legal identity. Theyare self employed poor who contribute significantly to convenience of common citizensby providing goods and services at their door steps.

The proposed Bill will prove to be a mile stone in getting the legal recognition tomillions of poor street vendors of the state. It will also discourage unauthorized vendingactivities and regulate the vending trade. The Bill aims to promote sustainable urbangrowth by giving the vendors a space in the urban areas, is also looking at introductionof registration system for them. The Bill has made provision for determining the criteriafor identifying hawkers, vendors and squatters. The vendors will be identified by vendingcommittees such as Town Vending Committee and Zonal Vending Committees. Thereis restriction on street vending by the same person or the member of families at differentplaces developed by the state government. The payments would be raised higher andsuch payments of each road in every mohalla will be declared as Vending Zone. Vendingzone, non-vending zone and restricted vending zone will be identified. The vendors will


be issued license for doing business or trade while hawking/ vending rights will be forlimited period that is 1 year to 10 years. There is also provision for fixing up of timelimit that 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. in morning and 7 p.m. to 12 p.m. in night. Transfer ofvending rights will not be allowed while natural markets will be developed by ULBs forpromoting street vending. Social security coverage will be provided to the street vendorsthrough convergence of programmes and schemes.

BiharStreet vendors contribute significantly in the state income however they are poor andmost vulnerable segments of our population. During 1995, state government undertook amassive anti-encroachment drive owing to High Court order. During the same time, SEWAwas engaged in organizing the street vendors and informal workers in the state. Nidan,Adithi and NASVI initiated policy advocacy programmes for street vendors and informalworkers. Nidan completed a mapping of street vendors with the support of DFID across28 municipal towns in Bihar. The survey of street vendors in 28 urban local bodies ofBihar by DFID demonstrates that the total number of vendors is approximate 1.5 lakhs,out of them 3/4th are males and only 1/5th are females. The percentage of static vendorsis 78 per cent and that of mobile vendors, who carry their items on head by cycles andThelas, is 22 per cent. Most of the mobile vendors are engaged in perishable items whilefood vendors constitute about 21 per cent. The state government has drafted Bihar StateStreet Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Trade) Bill, 2010 besidesformulation of Bihar State Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Trade),Rules, 2011. The Bill aims to provide protection of livelihood of urban street vendors andto regulate trade and services provided by street vendors to the public and for mattersconcerned therewith incidental thereto. The Bill has defined street vendors, mobile vendors,vending zones, town vending committees, etc. The state government has made provisionin the Bill to constitute Town Vending Committee in each town along with assignedfunctions. The vendors will be registered while the municipal authorities will givepreference to the registered street vendors in allotment of stalls in the vending zones.The municipal authority will be responsible for overall supervision and monitoring of thescheme for street vendors, allotting stalls to the street vendors in the manner specified,granting, renewal, suspension or cancellation of license to the registered street vendorsin the manner specified, and providing civic services and facilities such as solid wastedisposal, public toilets, electricity and drinking water, shelter, storage facilities, etc. tothe street vendors. The Planning Authority shall be responsible for determining spatialplanning norms for street vending, earmarking space for vending zones in the masterplan, development plan, zonal plan, layout plan and any other plan, and monitoring thefunctioning of town vending committee with regard to the planning norms. There is alsoprovision of the constitution of Ward Vending Committee by Town Vending Committeein each ward with a Vending Zone. The functions of Ward Vending Committee have alsobeen assigned in the Rules of Bill.

Madhya PradeshThe state government has introduced state Street Vending Policy in 2006. The schemehas made provision for demarcation of Hawkers Zone and constitution of Hawkers


Welfare Committee. There is also provision for registration of street vendors and issuingidentity card to them. The constitution of Town Hawkers Welfare Committee and WardHawkers Welfare Committee has been also laid down in the policy. The scheme hasmade provision for convergence of programmes, schemes and departments for welfareof street vendors. The municipal authorities will charge nominal user charges on dailyor monthly basis in view of proper maintenance and providing of civic services in thehawkers zones. The main responsibility for the implementation of the scheme has beenassigned to ULBs. The state government has completed state level vending survey andregistration of 7.9 lakh street vendors with the initiation of constitution of VendingZones in major cities and also issuing of identity cards to street vendors. State hasinitiated developing 1053 hawkers ‘ zones to provide the street vendors a better livelihoodopportunities and work has been completed in 576 zones and in 90 zones work is onprogress , Recently, state has also enacted the Street Vending related law in tune withthe Street Vending Bill, 2009. Bhopal, Ujjain, Dhar, Shivpuri, Indore, Gwalior andJabalpur are the major cities where vending zones have been developed for providingproper space to the street vendors besides issuing identity cards to them. The state hasalso initiated convergence with social welfare schemes like maternity benefits, andfinancing for street vendors

ChhattisgarhThe state government has introduced model byelaws related to urban street vendorsand hawkers by municipal corporations in the state. The byelaws will be called UrbanStreet Vendors and Hawkers (Registration and Regulation) Byelaws, 2010. The byelawshas defined hawkers, natural markets, street vendors, town vending committee, vendingspace, ward vending committee etc. There is provision of formation of Town VendingCommittee with specific powers and functions besides formation and functioning ofWard Vending Committee. There is also provision for granting vending rights, regulatingof hawking and vending by the municipal corporation. Powers, duties and functions ofMunicipal Commissioners with regard to formation and functioning of Ward VendingCommittee and Town Vending Committee have been specifically mentioned in thebyelaws.

RajasthanIn order to provide for protection of livelihood of urban street vendors and to regulatestreet vending, the state government has come forward with the Rajasthan Urban StreetVendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending), Bill, 2010. Forthe purpose of the Act, the state government shall frame a scheme for granting, renewal,suspension or cancellation of registration certificate, and issuing identity card to streetvendors; levying and collection of fees for grants and renewal of a registration certificateand fines for contravention of the terms and conditions of registration and otherprovisions of the Act; spatial planning for earmarking vending zones for street vendorsin master plan, development plan, zonal plan, layout plan or any other spatial plan;determining of vending zones and regulating vending. There is also provision ofconstitution of Town Vending Committee in each municipality with the assignedfunctions such as granting, renewal, suspension or cancellation of registration certificates


to street vendors, issuing of identity cards to them, collection fee for registration and orrenewal of registration, conducting periodic survey, ensuring civic amentias andmonitoring of vending activities. The municipality will be responsible for overallsupervision and monitoring of the scheme for street vendors, monitoring effectivefunctioning of Town Vending Committee, granting, renewal, suspension or cancellationof license to the registered street vendors, providing civic services to the street vendors.

KeralaThe state has drafted State Policy on Street Vending, 2011. The policy aims at recognizingstreet vending as an employment sector and street vendors as workers; regulating andguiding street vending by forming Town Vending Committees at the city, town andPanchayat levels; formulating mechanisms and procedures to regulate street vendors;setting up committees at the state, district and city levels to monitor and access theimplementation of the policy and issue guidelines; and providing civic facilities andguidelines for self management and self regulation to promote the activities of streetvendors and improve their livelihoods. The policy has defined street vendors, TownVending Committee and other related terms. The key elements of the policy includespatial planning norms, demarcation of vending zones, quantitative space norms,structure, functions and responsibilities of town vending committee, regulatory system,etc. There is also provision of introducing a system of registration of vendors and hawkersand non-discretionary regulation of their access to public spaces as well as conductingdigitalized survey and registration of vendors. The registered vendors will be issuedphoto identity card while the registration will be renewed after 2 years. The cancellationof registration is possible in case of vendors violate the conditions laid down in thepolicy. There is also a provision of constitution of State Advisory Committee with Ministerfor Local Self Government as its Chairman and Principal Secretary of LSG Department,Director General of Police, Secretary, Public Works Department, and RevenueDepartment, Director, Urban Affairs Department, Health Department, LabourDepartment, Social Welfare Department and Tourism Department as members. Besidesrepresentatives of elected people and Street Vendors Unions and Associations will bemembers of the committee. Executive Director of Kudumbashree will be convener ofthe Committee. The policy has also made provision for social security, insurance, trainingand capacity building of street vendors.

KarnatakaThe state government has drafted the Karnataka Street Vendors (Protection ofLivelihood and Regulation of Street Vending), Bill, 2010 to provide for protection oflivelihood of urban street vendors and to regulate street vending. For the purpose of theAct, the government will frame a scheme for street vendors. There is provision of theconstitution of Town Vending Committee in each local authority besides the provisionof Ward Vending Committee and assigned functions of Town Vending Committee. TheTown Vending Committee will invite applications for registration of Street Vendorsand only registered street vendors will be allotted installs in the vending zones. Theregistered vendors will also be granted a license by the local authority on payment ofnominal fee and with certain terms and conditions. The local authority shall be


responsible for overall supervision and monitoring of the scheme for the street vendors;monitoring effective functioning of the Town Vending Committee; registration of streetvendors in the manner prescribed; allotting installs to the street vendors; providingcivic services to the street vendors. There is also provision of spatial plans for demarcationof vending zones in master plan and development plans.

JharkhandThe state has enacted Jharkhand Urban Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoodand Regulation of Street Vending), Bill, 2011. For the purpose of the Act appropriategovernment shall frame a scheme for street vending in the form and manner of grant,renewal, suspension or cancellation of a registration certificate, and issuing of identitycard to the street vendors; the manner of levy and collection of fee for registrationcertificates and fines for contravention of the terms and conditions laid down in theAct ; the manner of, and the terms and conditions of allotment of installs to theregistered street vendors; the norms of spatial planning, regulating street vending,etc. There is provision of the constitution of Town Vending Committee with theassigned functions and responsibilities. The street vendors will be registered by theTown Vending Committee and issued license to them. The local authorities will beresponsible for overall supervision and monitoring of the scheme for street vendors;monitoring effective functioning of the Town Vending Committee; registration of streetvendors in the manner prescribed; allotting installs to the street vendors; granting,renewal, suspension or cancellation of license to the registered street vendors; andproviding civic services to street vendors. The planning authority is responsible fordetermining spatial planning norms for street vending; earmarking space for vendingzones in the master plan, development plan, zonal plan, layout plan and any otherplan; monitoring and functioning of Town Vending Committee with regard to planningnorms, etc.

CITY INITIATIVES AND BEST PRACTICES

Women’s Markets, ImphalImphal being the capital city of Manipur is a rapidly growing urban area and a bustlingtown. The Ima Keithel Market was developed by the British Government. The threemarkets, viz., Purana Bazar, Laxmi Bazar and New Market located in the heart ofKhwairamband Bazar have a unique identity of being the only market exclusively runand managed by women. A large number of women entrepreneurs also do business inPoana Bazar popularly known as market for foreign goods. The state government hasconstructed the three women markets with the financial support from Government ofIndia, incorporating the cultural ethos and traditional aesthetics of the people of Manipurand maintaining the cultural identity of these markets managed by women only. Asper information available from Department of Municipal Administration, Housing andUrban Development, Government of Manipur, 27 vendor sheds with a capacity toaccommodate 1727 women vendors have been constructed in Purana Bazar(Nupi-Keithel). The women vendors in this market run business dealing with fish,vegetables, pottery, etc. The Government has also constructed vendor sheds in New


Market, where 1218 women vendors are selling local handloom clothes and handicraftproducts. Similarly, in Laxmi Market, about 734 women vendors are selling localhandloom clothes and handicraft products. In addition, the number of women vendorsin Nagamapal, Session’s Court and Chakrikom areas is reported to be 971, 828 and 248respectively.

Today, both permanent licence-holders and temporary vendors pay tax to the stategovernment. With the increase in business, the number of small-time traders androadside vendors has multiplied, mainly due to rural-urban migration and the sizeablenumber of widows. More than 1,000 tribal are vendors at the Ima Keithel. Permanentvendors carry on their trade for as long as 12 hours and earn between Rs. 3,000-5,000a day, while the temporary and roadside ones earn a maximum of Rs. 100-200 daily.The Keithel opens early in the morning and business continues till the evening.Customers address vendors as Ima (mother), whether they are married or not. Thecollective identity at this market connects buyers and sellers, not only in terms ofbusiness but also creating a bonding. For Manipuri women, life revolves around theKeithel. Besides being the main commercial hub of the state, this unique market isrun exclusively by women folk. Vendors at the market share their joys and sorrowsand the daily gossip.

Most of the women vendors belonged to Meitei community. Most of the womenvendors reported that they have licence for selling of goods and products. On an average,Rs. 15 per month is being charged as rental amount by the Imphal Municipal Councilfor allowing them to vending in the developed market. Most of the women vendorsbelonged to the age group of 40-60 years. However, about 25 per cent vendors werefound to be above 60 years of age. About 2/5th women vendors were reported to be illiterateand very few women vendors were matriculate. Most of the vendors reported that theywere sitting in the Keithel for more than 5 years. However, a large proportion ofrespondents revealed that they had been sitting there for more than 20 years. A majorityof the women vendors revealed that they had obtained loan from moneylenders andtheir friends and relatives. However, the average amount of loan was reported to beabout Rs. 10,000 only. The overwhelming majority of women vendors reported thatthey strongly believe in traditional method of credit rotation that is called Marup. Asum of Rs. 20 to Rs. 1000 is being collected daily or monthly by the member of Marup.The total amount of saving is given to members according to the lottery system. Themember who gets the money first has to pay every time till the circulation of membersis over. Most of the women vendors accepted that there had been a significant increasein their business since they shifted to the newly constructed market. They furtherreported that their daily earnings had increased significantly. They also pointed outthat there had been a large increase in the number of customers who visited them forpurchase of certain goods and products. The women vendors further reported that theirearnings were generally small, ranging between Rs. 100 to Rs. 1,000 daily and their netprofit was between Rs. 50 to Rs. 300 daily, depending upon the type of products andgoods. The women vendors dealing with perishable items such as fish, fruits, vegetables,etc. get low profit and even incur loss due to wastage of goods at times. However, theprofit margin was reported to be high in the case of handloom products. Most of thewomen vendors reported that they were doing their business permanently. On an


average, women vendors sit in the market for more than 10 hours daily. The womenvendors do their business mainly during 8 O’ clock in the morning to 6 O’ clock in theevening. They returned to their homes before dark so that they would be able to performdomestic chores. The women vendors also reported that they contribute significantly tothe family income, to an extent of 30 to 60 per cent. Even, a large proportion ofrespondents reported that they were the sole earners of their families. Most of thewomen vendors purchase items in small amount and sell them during the day, as theydo not have adequate space to store the goods and products. Some of the respondentsalso revealed that they purchase items in bulk and sell it throughout the day (Singhand Vermani, 2011).

Bhubaneswar Vending ZonesBhubaneswar, being the capital of Orissa is one of the fastest growing cities since itsinception in 1948, popularly known as the “temple city” of India. One of the majorchallenges of municipal administration is to keep main roads and public space of thecity free from street venders, hawkers etc. However, in spite of several removal,enforcement and demolition drive the results were not very significant. Even thoughlaw prohibits hawking on the street, public space, still then it is a common practice dueto growing informal economy. In practice it has become a problem for MunicipalCorporation, development authority and police. The street vendors association and areacorporators have played a prominent role in establishing vending zones, besides thejoint venture of BMC, BDA and lGA Department. Special vending zone have been setupfor Fruit, Flower, Garments, Shoe, Vegetable and Non-Veg vending items etc. Theestablishment of vending zones have not only provided a human face to the MunicipalAdministration but also bolstered the image of Corporation in the eyes of the public.The concept of ‘Vending zone’ is the brainchild of Smt. Aparajita Sarangi, the thenMunicipal Commissioner of BMC who conceived it as a major initiative for urban povertyalleviation. The civic body has realized every day eviction will not solve the streethawking; rather it is hurting the informal economy. It begun as a model approach tounderstand the behavior of venders to sift into organized vending zones but successfulexperience wild fired to other part of the city. Illegal vending in major streets is nowencroached free. Around 52 Vending Zones were come up with 2182 vending shops inall parts of the city. The vending zones are more organized than previously. Civic Bodygenerates annually revenue income of Rs. 15.00 Lakh as trade license and Rs. 1.96Lakh as advertisements. Civic Body is not required to spend money for construction ofvending zones. Revenues for constructions were mobilized from Advertisements onPartnership basis. This is a win-win situation for all vendors in terms of stability andpartner in city development. Citizens are happy in identifying reliable informal businessvendors. Civic Body got ride off from every day eviction drive. Organized informalhawkers in Vending Zones provide venders their identity and stability. City gainedland from encroaches by sharing different unused space equality. The market value ofthe land allotted to the venders has been estimated to be Rs. 47 million while the rentalvalue of the land allotted to venders is whooping amount of Rs. 78 million. Civic Bodyincome increased with no investment. The annual revenue generated through vendingzone is about Rs. 1.1 million. Location of these vending zones to a walking distance hasreduced use of vehicle (Singh and Singh, 2010).


Hawkers’ Corner, BhopalMadhya Pradesh is perhaps the first state to recognize the importance of services ofstreet vendors. The instruction of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to the UrbanDevelopment Department is an example to other states. The Hawker Zone/Hawkerconcept is an ambitious scheme for the street vendors. Presently Hawking Zone is beingdeveloped in 50 cities including Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Jabalpur and Gwalior. In Bhopal13 places have been developed as vending zones. About 400 street vendors have beenaccommodated in these zones. A total of Rs. 20 lakh were invested to create hawkercorner in Jinhi Haat Maidan, Itwaria Bazar, Rajkumar Mill Area, Dushera Maidan,Indira Complex Bajrang Nagar, Har Sidhi, Sindhi Colony, Machli Bazar and FoothiKothi area. The Municipal Corporation is charging Rs. 7 per day from the street vendor.Municipal Corporation, Bhopal has developed hawker’s corners at different places inthe Bhopal city for providing a suitable place to the street vendors for setting up theirstalls and their empowerment. In these hawkers’ corners, the food stalls including fastfood, tea coffee snacks, south Indian foods and other local foods are made available tothe city dwellers on low price. The basic minimum civic services such as street lighting,drinking water availability, collection and disposal of solid waste, drainage, and cementedfloor, parking facility etc. are being provided by Municipal Corporation. The hawkerswho are interested to set up their business in hawkers corners are supposed to informthe in charge in their wards however; they are not charge as one time deposit amount asfee. They are charged on daily basis and that is also very low. One employee from MunicipalCorporation has been given the task to recover Rs. 7 per day from each stall on dailybasis. Those hawkers, who do not do their business in certain days due to their ownreasons, are exempted from this user charge. The hawkers are also provided identity cardfrom the Municipal Corporation. Thus, the hawkers have availed adequate and suitableplace for marketing of their products and services. They are also relieved from the tensionof police harassment due to encroachment, and other type of malpractices and corruption.The beneficiaries are also availing financial support from the banks for setting up theirbusiness as they get assured market and income. Some of the hawkers reported that withthe creation of hawker’s corners, they become empowered. Their earnings havetremendously increased with the assured self-employment Singh and Singh, 2010).

S3IDF’s Business Model, Bangalore:

Adequate lighting for street vendors during dusk and late evening business hours isimperative. Most vendors use kerosene based petromax lanterns or LPG based gaslighting to serve this need. S3IDF in Bangalore has developed a business model to providereliable, clean, high quality lighting to these vendors that dovetails with their dailybusiness. The model involves fostering a local micro enterprise that on a daily basis,rents batteries for running highly efficient electrical lights to the vendors. The dailyrental payment is less than what the vendors pay for kerosene or LPG, and enablesvendors to have better quality lighting. The batteries are charged during the day bysolar photovoltaic panels, full grid electricity systems or hybrid grid PV systems at acentral charging station. In evening, the batteries are delivered to the vendors. Vendorstypically need the lighting for an average of four hours every evening, after which thebatteries are collected and returned to the charging station. S3IDF has joined hands


with SELCO Solar Light Pvt. Ltd. and other technology suppliers to develop theappropriate lighting product for vendors. S3IDF has also identified appropriateentrepreneurs, NGOs or self-help groups who want to own and operate a micro enterprisefor vendors’ community. It enables the micro enterprise to access finance from localfinancial institutions, through its intermediation services and the provision of partialrisk loan guarantees, and enables access to technology, know-how and service by linkingthe micro enterprise to SELCO and other technology partners. S3IDF has thus fosteredprojects in many places at Bangalore, Udupi and Hassan in Karnataka and Chennai inTamil Nadu. The loans extended by the local banks are typically three years with 7-12per cent interest rates. The first project requires 60 per cent of the loan amount as apartial risk loan guarantee by S3IDF. The daily rental charge is Rs. 10 per vendor for fourhours of lighting. S3IDF also provided assistance in accessing an interest rate subsidyunder UNEP scheme administered by certain local banks. The banks provide at threeyear loan at an annual interest rate of 7 per cent with equal monthly payments. S3IDFcharges Rs. 14,550 for partial risk loan guarantee and developer fee from an entrepreneurof enterprise. The enterprises are promoted by non-government organizations likeMASARD, Micro Enterprise Investment Entity, etc. (Singh and Singh, 2010).

GuwahatiVending system in Guwahati city exists before the formation of Municipal Board whichultimately came under the Municipal Corporation. Expansion of the city and city streetsin the form of roads, complex and colonies generate and multiply vendors and magnifythe problem. Guwahati Municipal Corporation has evicted these street vendors frequentlyand repeatedly during 2009, and carried out eviction 230 times on street vendors. Theestimated number of street vendors in the Guwahati city is 15,000 persons. There arearound 6487 numbers of vendors in Ganeshguri, Chandmari, Ulubari and Beltola area.Out of which 5881 are male and 497 are female as per a survey conducted in 2005. Mostof the vendors are tribal people who hail from Sonapur, Khetri, Naziraghat, Bornihat,Dimoria, Kalangpar, Basistha and Baihata-Chariali etc. Two unions have emerged whichare involved to sensitize the street vendors about their fundamental rights. The Draft ofthe Street Vendors (Protection & regulation of Street Vending) Bill has already beenprepared on the basis of the Model Street Vendors Bill, 2009. It is now under the reviewand within a short period, it will be sent to different departments for their observationand opinion. DPR for the Food Street component of the scheme “Upgradation of Qualityof Street Food” has already been submitted to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.A baseline survey has been carried out on Street Food Vendors and it is found that thereare 4,500 persons engaged in Street Food Vending. From the baseline survey, it is foundthat there exist three categorizes of Street Food Vendors in Guwahati city: StationaryFood Vendors, Semi-Stationary Food Vendors, and Mobile Food Vendors. GMC with IIT,Guwahati has undergone into a contract of preparing/designing a specific vehicle forstreet food vendors to make their vending process more convenient.

AgartalaAgartala Municipality is one of the old cities of India. Municipal Administration Agartalawas established in 1874. It is the nerve centre of all political, administrative, cultural


and commercial activities of the state. There is no policy on Street Vendors. StreetVending is ordinarily treated as illegal. No trade license is issued in ordinarycircumstances. However, Provisional Touji is issued for a temporary period to thepineapple sellers, orange sellers, vegetable sellers in some pockets at ParadiseChowmuhani, MG Bazar. Trade License and Perpetual Touji is being issued to streetvendors when they are rehabilitated at Municipal or Govt. land. Earlier attitude of theGovt. was negative towards street vending. No trade license or Touji is being issued.Present attitude is somewhat positive towards street vending. However, street vendorsare unregistered. Trade Unions have helped to organize street vendors. Most of thestreet vendors get support of the Trade Unions. Sometimes, eviction of hawkers is reactedby local touts, middlemen, leaders as they want to protect them because of unholylinkage. The estimated number of hawkers in Agartala is 7245. No. There are differentcategories of vendors viz., groceries, cobblers, fruit and veg., fish, meat, other articles.Although there is no clear-cut policy or regulations for the street vendors in Corporation,yet it tries to rehabilitate the vendors when removed. Many street vendors were removedand opportunities for them were opened at Hawkers’ Corner on the HGB Road. Tradelicenses and Toujis were issued in the past. Rehabilitated vendors are given otherassistance. Rehabilitated vendors are provided space on lease basis for 33 years. Thesharing cost may be made in installments within 3 years by the vendors. In sheds alump sum amount is being charged as monthly or annual rental with agreements signedwith vendors and Corporation.

New DelhiDelhi being the national capital has a large number of street vendors. Street vendorscontribute largely to the economy however; street vendors in Delhi are facing problemson part of harassment and competitive business environment. The national policy onurban street vendors has been implemented in Delhi. Municipal Corporation, Delhihas been given the responsibility of implementing national policy and to regulate streetvending in the national capital. During 2007, the Corporation invited applications forhawking and squatting in Delhi and received 1.31 lakhs applications out of which only1.25 lakhs applications were from vendors. However, rough estimate of street vendorsin Delhi is more than 3 lakhs. Street vending in Delhi is concentrated in natural markets.Nehru Place is hub for all forms of IT, such as personal computers, servers, networkingequipments and software products, documentation services, and all allied services.A large number of vendors are engaged in selling items such as printer toners, cartridges,blank optical media, printer paper and even software from a small stall or cart. Metrostations and bus terminus also attract millions of commuters who use Delhi metro andstate transport services to reach their destinations on daily basis. A large number ofstreet vendors are engaged in vending to these commuters. The trade unions workingwith the vendors are of the view that the number of legal street vendors is in between4 to 5 lakhs. However, Municipal Corporation officials state that the legal vendors inthe city are 1.25 lakhs only. Out of them, about 10-15 per cent vendors are women. TheMunicipal Corporation has implemented the national policy on urban street vendors in12 zones of the Corporation in Delhi. The Corporation has proposed to increase thenumber of wards with the constitution of ward vending committee which will beresponsible for identifying the vending site in concentration of Residents Welfare


Associations, Trade Unions, Hawker Unions, NGOs, etc. The vendors will have to payone time registration fee of Rs. 1000/- in addition to monthly Tabazari chargesapproved by the Corporation. The Corporation is developing schemes for vendorshowever; vendors are still vulnerable due to tough attitude of officials and policeharassment (Bhowmik, 2012).

IndoreIndore is one of the large cities of Madhya Pradesh. It was once a industrial city andfamous for textile industry. Indore has a rough estimate of more than 40000 streetvendors. However, most of the vendors are not associated with trade unions. About 20per cent vendors are women. With the increasing demand of trade unions for constructinghawking zones to pursue vending without harassment, the Municipal authorities haveidentified four major places for vending zones. The income of vendors is low andoverwhelming majority of vendors earns less than Rs. 100 daily. Most of the vendorssell perishable goods such as vegetables, fish and fruits. This is because of the fact thatperishable goods are easily accessible on lower and affordable price to the vendors fortheir marketing (Bhowmik, 2012).

LucknowLucknow is the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. The street vendors constitute an integralcomponent of urban economy in the city. The city has around 1.5 lakhs street vendorshowever we lack authentic data on street vendors. The state government has statedthat vendors should be provided proper space for vending. However, Municipalauthorities have launched massive anti-encroachment drive in the city which has badlyaffected street vending. The protests of anti-encroachment drive have gainedconsiderable momentum in the recent years. State government has also introduced aBill to regulate street vending in the state. The weekly markets constitute an integralcomponent of vending retailing in the city. A large number of vendors in the city areinvolved in weekly markets besides huge markets like Aminabad, Hazratganj, Charbagh,etc. provide opportunities for street vendors. Aminabad market is one of the oldestmarkets of the city which is situated in the heart of the old city. The market constitutesa huge congregation of retailers and wholesalers and a large part of business to thesmall towns of the state is directed through this place. Most of the bulk purchases in anaround city are done from the market. There are around 600 to 700 street vendors inthe market according to rough estimate. The female street vendors are nominal however;female and children contribute to the business of vendors. Chinhat market is alsosituated on the outskirt of the city. The market provides a platform for a large numberof potters for vending of ceramic, terracotta and earthenware. During the festivals, thesale of these items increases however, in the rainy season; it is tough time to safeguardthese items. There are abound 300 vendors associated with the market. HAL Fruitsand Vegetable market is situated in the residential area of Indira Nagar. There aremore than 300 who vendors were displaced with the construction of market complexesin the area. The market is dominated by Muslims. The evicted vendors were provided aspace for vending however; less than 100 vendors could settle there and the presentmarket has mushroomed to about 600 vendors today. Dandahiya market is the oldest


market which is located in the Aliganj area. The market caters to a huge population tothe adjoining areas like Aliganj, Kapoorthala, Vikas Nagar, Mahanagar, etc. The marketcomprises of about 400 vendors who have migrated from small towns. Most of the vendorsare engaged in perishable items while a significant proportion of vendors are engagedin the profession of non-perishable items. The Hahnemann market established in 2003has about 300 vegetable vendors, located in Gomti Nagar area. The vending conditionsare observed to be better as vendors manage to sell their items under a temporary shedhowever, many vendors are not aware about their rights (Bhowmik, 2012).

PatnaPatna is the capital of Bihar. The urban poor of the city are working in the informalsector. There are about 3600 mobile vendors as per latest survey of DFID, 2011. Most ofthe vendors are males and however, about 20 per cent vendors are women. The income ofvendors has been reported to be low i.e. about Rs. 120/- a day. Majority of the vendors arereported to be static vendors who sell mainly perishable goods. Vendors are mainly fromlower communities. They do not have credit linkages and thus, they are depending onmoneylenders for capital requirements. Vendors also face problems on part of eviction bymunicipality and police harassment. During 2005, Municipal Corporation issued licensesto vendors while the trade unions mainly Nidan, NASYI and Aditi have made seriousattempts for rehabilitation of street vendors in Patna. Nidan started with self help groupsfor increasing credit worthyness among street vendors. Thrift and credit cooperativesamong the informal workers have been promoted by non-government organizations. Themicro credit programme of Nidan has strengthened the informal workers while networkingand policy advocacy by NGOs for the cause of rehabilitation of street vendors has organizedthe poor vendors. The state government has also introduced a Draft Bill namely BiharState Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Trade) Bill, 2009. Nidanhas multiplied its portfolio from organizing the street vendors in SHGs to attain collectivestrength to access financial services and to voice their issues, to introducing healthinsurance, legal aid support and education for the children.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS• The cities are in need of comprehensive land use planning. The efforts should be

made to allocate proper land in city plan for selected informal activities and thus tointegrate it with the urban economy.

• It is imperative to allocate lands for creating market places by constructing lowcost structures where petty traders, street vendors and hawkers might locatethemselves.

• Building capacity of vendors’ organizations, community based organizations, NGOs,and other associations are essential for organizing, strengthening and protection ofstreet vendors and hawkers.

• The interests of the street vendors and hawkers should be protected by involvingthem and the representatives and officials of urban local bodies in Town VendingCommittee . The venders should get proper representation in Area Shabha, WardCommittee Community Development Societies etc..


• It is imperative to pass a central law for protection of livelihood rights and socialsecurity of street vendors besides effective functioning the Town Vending Committeeand Zonal Vending Committee and their self regulation.

• The concept of natural markets should be legally defined in the central law andstate Acts dealing with protection of street vendors and regulation of informalactivities.

• The street vendors should be protected through social security coverage insurance,health and medical benefits, credit linkages etc. through convergence of urbanpoverty alleviation programmers and schemes with social development programmes.

• There should be effective check on police harassment and recovery of bribe fromstreet venders and hawkers. The registered street vendors should not be disturbedby the police in the designated vending zones.

• There is need to set up a national level forum to discuss the matters related tostreet vendors and setting up an Appellate Authority for grievance redressal of thevendors and other stakeholders.

• The registration of the street vendors should be through a proper, systematic,transparent and participatory manner. The Identity Card may be issued to thehousehold of the family.

• There should be minimum 50 per cent representation of street vendors in TownVending Committee and Ward Vending Committee.. The vendors may be allowedfor vending the vacant land of Railways, Tourism, National Highways, Parks etcprovided that it doest not create inconvenience to public and government authorities.

• Public Private and cavil society partnership in developing informal market structuresand construction of sheds for street vendors in designated vending zones should beencouraged by local governments through providing incentives and concessions.

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