Street Vending

"Street vendor' means a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, food

items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public,
in a street, lane, sidewalk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public
place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from
place to place."

-The Street Vendors(Protection of Livelihood and Regulation

of Street Vending) Act, 2014(No. 7 of 2014), India

Street vendors have been in existence since ancient times. In all civilisations,
ancient and medieval, one reads accounts of travelling merchants who not only
sold their wares in the town by going from house to house but they also traded
in neighbouring countries. Street vending is an important economic activity and
it is one of the most visible and vibrant aspect of an urban informal economy.
The proportion of this segment of the informal economy has grown significantly
over the past decade not just in India but throughout the world. Street
vending in India falls under unorganised sector category, it has been a
profession since time immemorial, with street vendors as an integral part of the
history and culture. Street vending, is one of the means of survival for the
urban poor in India, it adds imageability to public spaces which act as banners
illustrating different cultural components of the city like language spoken, what
people like to eat, buy etc.

Urbanisation is one of the major characteristics of economic

development. With the gradual growth of the economy, the process of
urbanisation depends on the shift of surplus population from rural to urban areas
along-with the growth of some industrialised urban centres. Due to social and
economic pressures, people from backward villages move towards urbanised
centres in search of jobs, where newly established industries and ancillary
activities continuously offer job opportunities to those people migrating to the
cities in India.
An increasing trend towards urbanisation has been recorded from the
very beginning of this present century. The census data on the rural-urban
composition reveal a continuous rise in the rate of urbanisation in India and
more particularly during the second half of the present 21st century.
The proportion of urban population to total population which was only 11 per
cent in 1911 slowly increased to 11.3 per cent in 1921 and then gradually rose
to 14 per cent in 1941 to 28.53 percent in 2017.

In the era of globalisation, the retail sector is the fastest growing emerging
sector after agriculture in India in terms of providing employment. However,
besides formal retail chain, small retailing including street vending has been one
of the easiest ways to survive for working poor in the urban informal sector.
There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of street vendors
leading to an increase in the number of workers in the informal sector. In
current Indian labour market scenario, a magnitude of labour force comprising
around 92 percent derives their livelihood from the informal sector.

Street Vendors & their origin

According to National Commission on Labour, street vendors are identified as
'self-employed workers in the informal sector who offer their labour for selling
goods and services on the street without having any permanent built-up
structure' .
Urbanization refers to the growth of towns and cities often at the expense
of the rural areas, poverty and lack of employment opportunities in the rural
areas drive large number of people to the cities for work .
 Urbanization has a direct influence on the development of a country,
effect of an increasing population growth in the era of globalization has led to a
rapid migration from rural areas to the urban centres.
This accelerated pace of migration has led to employment problems as
urban labour force expands faster than job creation, also all these migrants do
not possess the skill set or the education required to secure employment in the
formal sector. So as a result they are forced to find other opportunities for
earning their livelihood such as employment in informal sector.
For the urban poor, street vending is one of the major means of earning a
livelihood, as it requires minor low initial investment requirement and efforts in
searching a job and the skills involved are low.

Influence of Informal Sector on Economy

"Street vendors are an integral part of urban economies around the world,
offering easy access to a wide range of goods and services in public spaces.
They sell everything from fresh vegetables to prepared foods, from building
materials to garments and crafts, from consumer electronics to auto repairs to
haircuts."

-- Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing

(Wiego)
The informal sector represents an important part of the economy and the labour
market in many countries, especially in a developing country like India. It plays
a major role in employment creation, production and income generation.
Vendors tend to sell goods produced by someone else or goods produced
by themselves. Since they tend to sell local items, they contribute to the local
economy.
Vendors are an important link between the rural farmers and their urban
customers. they buy local products and make them available throughout the
city, thereby increasing sales, which benefits the producers of the goods as well
as the vendors. Government legalizes these vending units which in turn brings
revenue as licensing fees and taxes, thus directly contributing to the economy.

Basic Characteristics of Informal Sector

(1) Does not have any written rules or agreements.

(2) It exists merely on verbal understanding.

(3) It does not have fixed wages or fixed hours of work and mostly relies on
daily earnings

(4) In most cases, the work atmosphere is congested and unhygienic.

(5) The workers in this type of economy usually fail to come together and
address their problems through an association or a group. They have poor
awareness levels regarding social protection schemes, are unable to make
savings and do not see the necessity of insuring themselves.

People working as small farmers, street vendors, hawkers, small traders,

micro-entrepreneurs, home-based workers, cobblers, rag-pickers, porters,
labourers, artisans, etc. all belong to the Informal Sector

Vendors have to exhibit remarkable entrepreneurial skills, purchasing of

commodities under constant market fluctuations, commodities have to be in
sync with both consumers taste and paying capacity. It was found in a survey
by NSSO that the largest concentration of vendors are in the age group of 16-
35 years with little to no formal education. The middle and lower class
consumers specifically prefer to purchase from them owing to affordability and
convenience .
 Nevertheless, there are a number of problems stemming from the rise of
street vending , the vendors are regularly victimised, harassed, marginalized
and pushed from one area to another, they are regularly subjected to mental
and physical pressures of city officials. The vendors have to deal with multiple
authorities like Municipal corporation, Police, Regional Development
Authorities, District Administration, Local Panchayats and so on , leading to
exploitation and extortion.

With the educational level, being generally low among the street
vendors they are often seen to fall into a debt trap, since they have no access
to credit from the formal financial institutions. In order to survive they borrow
money from other sources at an exceptional high rate of interest. Child labour
is another issue prevalent in India, with children above the age group of 10
sometimes even lower are sent to work in the streets to support their families.

Government of India in order to tackle these problems has implemented a

number of policies to protect the rights of street vendors firstly it setup NASVI
(National Association of Street Vendors of India) an organisation formed
mainly to protect the rights and civil liberties of street vendors . Since its
inception it has helped the government in creating and implementing a
number of laws aimed to protect the rights of street vendors.

Following are the examples of such acts NASVI helped to implement

(Protection and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 the problems of street
vendors are starting to get sorted reassuring their civil liberties.
(Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 mandates
municipalities to setup restriction free vending zones/night bazaars where they
can sell their wares without being harassed.

(The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education) Act 2009 mandates
every child up to the age of 14 years is entitled to free education .

The following project report is based on street vendors that are primarily based
in Siliguri region, also known as the "gateway of North East India" expanding
to a size around 41.9 km is the main commercial city of North Bengal,
surrounded by tea gardens its importance comes due to its strategic placement
near international and state borders. It is a melting pot of cultures as majority of
its population are immigrants of different backgrounds.
The vendors of Siliguri cater to not just one ethnic group but many from
all over the country. Effects of which can be directly seen on the local fast food
and apparel market. Due to the diverse culture vendors have to accommodate
to the diverse taste and make quick entrepreneurial decisions about what would
match the local taste.