Right Under Your Nose

The UPA government has repeatedly assured the aamaadmi (and hopefully aurat?) that the benefits of economic reformswill not remain confined to the corporate sector that provides employment to nomore than 2 percent of our workforce, while 93 percent of people are in theunorganized sector which has yet to experience the healing touch ofliberalization. However, the wide gap between promise and performance, thedisconnection between policies and their implementation is creatingunprecedented anger and demoralization, as evidenced in recent electionresults. 

In 2001 when a liberalized licensing regime for street vendors was firstannounced by the PMO – which was further revised and adopted by the cabinet asthe new National Policy for Street Vendors in 2004 – many of us had hoped thatthis would usher in an era of pro poor economic reforms. Far from freeing thelivelihoods of other segments in the informal sector, the fate of the NationalPolicy for Street Vendors (NPSV) itself is in jeopardy. City governments allover India are either making a mockery of implementing the new National Policyor doing it reluctantly as a halfhearted token measure. Right under the nose ofthe central government, the Delhi Municipal Corporation is leading the way insabotaging the honest implementation of the National Policy for Street Vendorsthrough new and old devious means.

Nearly one crore persons in India earn their livelihoodfrom street vending in India. If one calculates at Rs 1100 per day turnover pervendor, the annual business turnover of this sector comes to over Rs. 400,000crores. More than 99 percent of vendors are forced to operate illegally becausefor decades municipal corporations have stopped issuing vending licenses. Theirillegal status forces them to part with a large part of their income as payoffs. In Delhi alone, over 300,000 vendors lose nearly Rs. 500 crores per yearby way of bribes and losses due to confiscation of goods and periods of enforcedidleness due to Clearance Operations. 

Because of the reluctance of municipal agencies to put their act together,the matter has once again landed in the Supreme Court. MCD is the cause andfountainhead of corruption. Its officials have minted hundreds of crores everyyear by way of bribes from street vendors on account of their illegal status dueto a perverse policy of denying them licenses. And yet, the very same officialshave been allowed to get away with drafting a new scheme, in the most highhanded and undemocratic manner that makes a mockery of the reformist thrust ofthe National Policy. The schemes submitted by the MCD and the NDMC are inblatant violation of the National Policy for Street Vendors. But no one from theUrban Development Ministry, which formulated the new policy for vendors, isthere to call them to account.  

Consequently, those of us who spent years campaigning and lobbying forreforming the archaic and exploitative licensing regime, are once again fightingan unequal battle in the Supreme Court exposing the devious provisions beingintroduced by municipal agencies to facilitate the continuation of extortionrackets.   

Frauds in Declaring Hawking Zones
For example, the MCD and NDMC have submitted to the Hon’ble Supreme Courta list of areas to be declared as Hawking Zones. There is no indication as tothe process through which the MCD identified those areas.  They neitherconsulted urban planners nor vendors’ representatives in earmarking hawkingzones. There is no evidence that the MCD tried to even assess the currentlocation of street vendors or the holding capacity of the area designated as ahawking zone through any identifiable and scientific procedure. The promised300,000-tehbazari licensees cannot possibly be accommodated in the given spaces.The areas earmarked are insufficient and in many cases unsuitable. Under suchcircumstances, the declaration by the MCD that "If vendors are found hawkingin non-hawking zones, their allotment will be cancelled" is likely to causehavoc.  

Reneging Commitment Regarding Photo Census
The MCD had at one time agreed to our demand that a systematic survey andphoto census of street vendors be carried out by some independent and credibleorganizations such as the CSDS or NCAER to determine who is actually vending onthe streets so that genuine vendors got licenses in hawking zones rather thanpolitically influential touts. However, the MCD has reneged on this commitmentmade before the Court in writing. They do not want a credible agency to collectdata to show who is located where so that they can allot the vending sites towhom they please and where they please. This has the making of a humungous scam.Schemes are already afoot to secretly auction these sites to the highest bidder.At an average conservative figure of Rs. 100,000 per stall, the 300,000 hawkingsites have the potential to deliver Rs. 300,000,000,000 to those who control theallocation of these sites. 

Clearance Operations in Full Swing
In its Affidavit before the Court, the MCD has submitted that street vendorswill not be removed for flimsy reasons and that vendors would be moved only forspecific public good and that too after 30 days’ notice being served on them.However, we have evidence that large scale Clearance Operations, includingconfiscation of goods are being carried out daily in the city without any dueprocess, without serving any public purpose and without vendors being providedan alternative space. The game plan of municipal agencies is clear: Remove allgenuine vendors and corner all the spots for its own relatives, associates,touts and henchmen or those willing to buy space at hefty amounts.  

By way of pretending to the Court that the work was done in a democraticmanner, the MCD has submitted that Ward Vending committees, and Zonal VendingCommittees have been constituted in all the 12 Zones of MCD.  

However, there is no evidence of these Committees being actively engaged increating hawking zones. I was myself a member of one such Ward Committee in theCentral Zone of MCD. So far not one serious meeting of this Committee has beenheld. On one occasion when the meeting was actually held, the chairman of theCommittee spent the entire time gossiping about other matters. He closed themeeting saying the task of identifying vending zones will be undertaken in alater meeting because they had been unable to locate any hawking areas thus far.Known bad characters of the area, including those who have been part and parcelof the local bribe collecting mafia from street vendors, have been included asmembers of these Committees. 

Many devious controls have been sneaked into theimplementation of the new policy, which will enable the MCD to tighten itsextortionist grip on the livelihoods of street vendors instead of creating aliberalized licensing regime for them.  

Proof of Vending and Residence: There is a great deal of mischiefinherent in the MCD demand that a person applying for a vending license willhave to submit the following proofs:

Recent migrants to the city are most in need of finding a source oflivelihood because they have no experience of the city and have left behindfamilies in distress. By requiring that they provide proof of having been aresident of an area under MCD jurisdiction for 5 years on the date ofapplication is to bar those who are most vulnerable. By blocking the entry ofrecent migrants, the municipal corporation would be forcing them into theclutches of mafia elements that will take hefty amounts as "protectionmoney." 

Likewise to demand old challans and receipts of confiscation of goods amountsto putting old wine in new bottles. A similar criterion has been in force allthese years. After years of battle in the Courts, in 1991 vendors were told theywould be eligible to apply for a Covered Tehbazari if they could prove that theyhad been continuously squatting and carrying on business in a fixed spot between1970 and 1982. In order to be eligible for Open Tehbazari people had toproduce evidence that they had been continuously squatting and hawking atthat particular location from 1983 onwards. In both cases they were also tofurnish proof of nationality and residence from 1970 or 1983 onwards.  

The absurdity of expecting police and municipal challans and receipts ofpunitive fines as proof of eligibility becomes obvious if one considers the factthat more often than not municipal inspectors confiscate goods without issuingofficial receipts so that vendors cannot claim their goods back nor have anyproof of their existence in that spot. At other times, they make an on-the-spotsettlement and let the vendor save his goods in return for a bribe. Many runaway as soon as they see the municipal or police authorities swoop down on amarket. Therefore, every incident of confiscation cannot be proved. The fact ofa person being present as a hawker on the day there was a raid is impossible toprove, if the person happens to save his/her goods by running away. Moreover,most vendors are either illiterate or people with minimal education. They livein crowded jhuggis where it is difficult to safely store documents, especiallysince even their jhuggis are often targeted for removal. A large proportion ofstreet vendors and hawkers live in unauthorized slums or by the side of drains, nalasand many even sleep on footpaths. To expect documentation from such hawkers andvendors is impractical.  

Moreoever, a person who began hawking in 1982 was not informed and had no wayof knowing that the challan papers would acquire such high value a decade laterand that the document showing economic assaults and violence inflicted onhim/her by state agencies would be treated as the only qualifying criteria ofhis existence as a vendor and his right to earn a modest living. After theannouncement of these criteria the municipal officials themselves created awhole new industry of bogus challans. Many legitimate vendors were forced to buyforged documents just as many who did not really qualify but had the money topay up ended up getting tehbazari application files prepared through MCD andNDMC touts. 

Manushi has testimonies of numerous vendors on film alleging that MCDofficials and their touts took a fee ranging from Rs 20,000 to 50,000 per personto prepare forged backdated documents and for filling in application. Despitesuch big payoffs, 85,000 people managed to apply in the MCD area and 10,000applied in the NDMC area despite the above-described absurd and stringentcriteria. But only 2300 got clear tehbazari after a long drawn procedureinvolving additional bribes. MCD has admitted in its affidavit that even todaythere are approximately 578 cases waiting for allotment, which were foundeligible under the Gainda Ram scheme way back in the early 1990s. 

By deliberately delaying the entire process of granting sites to even thosewho qualified the absurd and stringent criteria, municipal officials haveensured that the level of insecurity remains very high and they can continuecollecting bribes even from those who have tehbazari.  A large number couldnot even apply because they either failed to get the required information intime or failed to procure up the required resources for forged documents.Similarly, the process of inviting applications for mobile hawking was initiatedin the year 2001, 12 long years after the Supreme Court directions. Thousands ofhawkers submitted a fresh round of applications under the impression that theywould be allotted fixed tehbazari sites. Those applications have yet tobe processed. Even for preparing these applications MCD touts charged poorvendors Rs 10, 000 to 20,000 per person. 

Barring those above 60: Another absurd criterion for vending licenseis that a person should not be above 60 years of age. This amounts to inflictinggreat cruelty on old people and will lead to a flourishing racket of bogus birthcertificates or old people being forced to apply under false names. It is wellknown that among low-income group families, children are often not in a positionto take care of aged parents. In India we do not have any social security systemworth its name for the poor. Therefore, most old people have no choice but tofend for themselves, for as long as they can. Those who have children capable ofsupporting them withdraw from work when they find they cannot manage any more.But those who have no support cannot be barred in this manner. Street vending isa relatively sedentary form of occupation. Therefore, it is one of the fewoccupations suitable for the old and infirm. They cannot possibly take on jobsinvolving hard manual labour. To mindlessly apply the retirement age criteria ofgovernment employment that has PF, pension and many other benefits, for theself-employed poor who have no safety net is both absurd and cruel.  

Absurd Income Criteria: Yet another devious provision is that a personis qualified to apply for a vending license only if the income of his/her familyis less than Rs 45000 a year or Rs 3750 per month. This amounts to forevercondemning people in this sector to grinding poverty. It is absurd to limit thegrant of vending sites on the basis of income proof or declaration. How can anSDM know or verify the genuine income of a vendor? Why do we force vendors tomake false declarations? For a city like Delhi, it is impossible for a family offive or six people to survive in dignity with such a small income consideringthat the rent of a jhuggi is no less than Rs 1000 per month in most partsof Delhi; a small tenement in a pucca colony costs nothing less than Rs.1500 to 2000 per month. Transport expense of one earning person comes to no lessthan Rs. 600. Such an income leaves no room for children’s education, clothes,and other daily necessities. Most vendors have to support their village-basedfamilies, as well as old parents. They ought to be enabled to earn more ratherthan expected to remain forever below the poverty line. If the government isserious about poverty alleviation, it should be happy if people can earn morefrom street vending and climb up the economic ladder rather than insist on theirremaining forever poor. 

Street vending provides one of the few entry points to poor people in theworld of entrepreneurship. We would do well to remember that some of the mostsuccessful entrepreneurs of India such as Gulshan Kumar of T. Series startedtheir lives as street traders. Many of the Punjabi refugees of the 1947Partition restarted their lives on the footpaths of Karol Bagh and Chandni Chowk.Many of them built huge business empires on the basis of those humblebeginnings.  

If we want to ensure that well off people do not corner vending spots whichare then rented out to others, it is enough to say that a person must runhis/her own vending stall. He cannot sell or rent it out. Those with real highincomes are unlikely to operate on the street braving harsh weather conditions. 

Ban on Street Foods: The MCD has proposed a total ban on street foodsand says it will only allow pre-cooked foods, despite repeated objections by us.This was done ostensibly on the grounds that street foods are unhygienic and ahealth hazard. This is contrary to facts. Studies have shown and common senseconfirms that freshly cooked foods in full public view have much lower chancesof bacterial contamination than foods cooked in ordinary Indian restaurantkitchens, which observe abysmal hygiene standards. Restaurant kitchens arehidden from public view and what happens inside is not open to public scrutiny. Even in the kitchens of five star hotels, there is far greater scope of mischiefwith food than is possible for street vendors who cook under the gaze of thepublic.  In a hot country like India, pre-cooked food turns bad very fastand can cause serious health hazards. Street vendors not only cook on the spotbut also buy the raw materials on a daily basis. Their stocks are purchased inquantities that last only till the evening / pack up time. This minimizes thepossibility of stale materials being used for cooking foods.   Bycontrast in restaurant kitchens, you cannot tell whether the chicken, meat orvegetables being served are actually fresh or have been lying in therefrigerator or deep freeze for days. If vendors are provided the requiredinfrastructure such as a clean and sufficient water supply and an efficientdrainage system, they can be easily motivated to observe higher levels ofhygiene, as Manushi has done in the Sewa Nagar pilot project. 

For the vast majority of people in Delhi, street foodsellers are a survival need. Delhi is a city of migrants, both poor and middleclass. Many of them are compelled to leave their families in the village andlive alone in their pursuit of livelihood. The poor migrants live in miserablejhuggies without adequate space for cooking. Middle class migrant bachelorsincluding young students also find it more convenient to eat out because they donot get the time to cook after long hours of work and long commutes. Even whenmiddle class families go shopping or for an outing, their idea of fun includeseating chaat, pakoras, jalebis, chhole bhathures and other snacks fromstreet vendors.   Only street vendors can manage to serve consumerswith a freshly cooked full meal for ten to twenty rupees. Food in even ordinary,modest restaurants is far more expensive, especially in a fast globalising citylike Delhi.  

Recognizing the important role of street vendors in meeting the nutritionalneeds of the urban poor, FAO has adopted the mandate of promoting theproduction, distribution and marketing of safe, wholesome and nutritious foodthrough street vendors. Dr. Boutrif, Acting Chief, Food Quality and StandardsService, FAO Rome has stressed that it is important to formally recognize streetfood vending as an important component of the food distribution system anddevelop policies to make it easily accessible while making efforts to improveits hygiene and quality rather than ban or artificially control its access.