Thousand of street vendors from across Rajasthan marched to State Secretariat on September 30 on the streets of Jaipur demanding passing of long awaited Bill on Urban Street Vendors in the State Assembly and early implementation in the state. The bill would ensure protection of livelihood of more than 1 million urban street vendors and will regulate street markets of Rajasthan. Sep 30, being the day of decision on Ayodhya issue it was tough to organize any sort of gathering but the vendor groups were so committed that they wanted the Rally to be taken out on any cost. Bravo to Rahima Sheikh of SEWA who could mobilize many Muslim women to participate in the Rally which made the rally very harmonious.

A delegation of street vendors’ representative from different cities of the state and associated NGOs also presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Gehlot at the end of the Rally urging implementation of the legislation.

The occasion also marked end of 15 day long awareness campaign on the model legislation for street vendors through Rath (Bus) in the state which was flagged off from Jaipur on September 15. The Rath campaigned in mainly in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Jalore, Ajmer and other on rout cities of the state.

Centre for Civil Society has been running ‘Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood’ campaign in entire Rajasthan state. Under the campaign the organization in association with National Association of Street Vendors of India held a state level Rally and Mass Demonstration of street vendors of the sate on today. Hundreds of street vendor unions from Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Jalore, Ajmer and other cities of the state closed their market and participated in the event.

The Rally started at 11 AM from Geeta Ashram, Sodala to proceed for Udyog Bhawan (Statue Circle). The Rally and was addressed by Mr Arbind Singh (National Association of Street Vendors of India), Mr Nathu Singh Rathore (Street Vendor Leader Jaipur), Ghanshyam Kotwani (Street Vendor Leader Jaipur) Mr Uday Singh Rathore (former MLA of Jaipur), Mr Omprakash Devda (Street Vendor leader Jodhpur), Mrs Raheema Shiekh (Self Employed Women Association), Ms Archana Srivastava from (Heinemann Charitable Mission Society), Mr Ranjit Abhigyan from (National Association of Street Vendors of India) and many more street vendor leaders.

Oct 1 in Media i Oct 1 in Media ii Press Release Sep 30 Memmorandum