Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival
27-29 August 2010, India Habitat Centre, Delhi

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Kochi Corporation is all set to bring in a novelty in street vending. Now people can think of more hygienically prepared food off the streets in a modern vendor cart.

The makeshift shack is to undergo a change with the local body’s intervention with an aim to upgrade street vending of food, by standardising the quality. This is the first in its kind of scheme in the State that is being implemented in the city with Rs. 25 lakh from the Poverty Social Fund of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project.

The first such cart would be handed over this week to a vendor at Vyttila. The stainless steel hand cart has been designed by city-based C-Earth with many facilities such as to stocking of potable drinking water as well as a waste management system, with a waste collecting bin attached to the cart.

The quality of water would be checked by the Corporation authorities and they would also check whether the waste management is properly done. The placement of carts is also important as the surrounding needs to be hygienic. The aim is to provide safe food for the people.

The cart would have a strong body frame and wheels with a stainless steel work top, a stainless steel sink with necessary plumbing, a washbasin with necessary plumbing. The vendor would have to invest Rs. 2 lakh to start the business in which Rs. 30,000 would be the working capital fund and Rs. 50,000 would be the cost of the cart.

The cart would be powered by solar photovoltaic lighting system and a backup of gas lights would also have to be arranged.

An attractive display board, tarpaulin sheet to protect from rain and stackable plastic chairs are some of the items that the vendor would have to arrange. The vendor cart comes with two sets of uniforms complete with shoes, caps and gloves.

The Corporation had taken up this project with an aim of improving hawking of street food. The street vendors cater mainly to the student community and the workers.

To launch the project the Corporation has identified about 12 vendors for which the Social Project wing of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India is providing the support.

The funds provided by KSUDP would be utilised to support 25 vendors in the city.

Source: The Hindu

The global meltdown has affected everyone’s lives these days. All we hear are discussions on how to tackle the ever-increasing price-rise and how to survive on a fairly decent salary. But have we ever considered how people in the informal sector, especially those at the entry level, cope with these issues?

For instance, does anyone know that a cobbler in Amritsar has to pay Rs 1,000 just to obtain a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Municipal Town Planners? And a Dhaba owner in the same city has to procure an NOC from his neighbors as well as from the departments of Municipal Town Planner (MTP), the Fire Brigade, House Tax and Water Supply and Sewerage Department before he can even apply for a license? Coming to Thiruvananthapuram, an interesting fact found is that although there is an existing plan, the renewal fees for most informal trades, and the license fees for some, depend upon the annual income of the shop!

Such details, not really known to the public, were brought to light by the Law, Liberty and Livelihood Project, a study conducted by Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) and Centre for Civil Society (CCS). The project which was aimed at documenting the livelihood regulations and entry level barriers in the informal sector was conducted in 63 cities across India with the help of young interns.

The purpose of the study aimed at unveiling laws applicable to entry-level professions like cycle-rickshaw pullers, mobile and stationery street vendors, butchers, vegetable-sellers, and to document them with the effort to create public attention to issues faced by common poor citizen of India. The data collected is uploaded on a website www.livelihoodfreedom.in.

Mr. Amit Chandra, Campaign Coordinator, CCS brief about the objective of the Study. He said, “we are releasing the study and going to start a mass mobilization activity in Jaipur to change some of the rules which restricts urban poor from earning an honest living”. Mr. M. L. Mehta, Former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan released the study. Mr. Rakesh Tripathi, Nidan, Patna, Ghanshyam Kotwani, Secretary National association of Street vendors of India (NASVI) and others were present at this occasion.

Please contact Mr. Amit Chandra at 09784258630 or amit@ccs.in for more information.

We are organizing a press conference to release the Livelihood Regulations Study & mark the starting of Mass Mobilization Activity on August 9, Monday, Press Club, 54 Narain Singh Circle, 4 to 5 PM. Mr. M. L. Mehta, Former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan has graciously agreed to release the study.

Please accept invitation of the program. Your presence and participation would be highly encouraging for us. Don’t hesitate to contact my colleague Mr. Amit Kumar Gond (agond9@gmail.com, +91 9351781458) at any point of time if you require more information.

Tathya-II, Short and Documentary Film Festival

Date: 27 & 28 Nov. 2010

Venue: Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad

Organiser: Access Livelihoods Consulting India Pvt. Ltd

Contact: Rajyashree Singh, rajyashree@alcindia.org, 09160927837

It is to inform you that we are postponing our mass mobilization activity for some unforeseen reasons. We will come back with the revised schedule of the program soon.

We apology for inconvenience caused to you. Please contact Mr Amit Chandra at + 91 9784258630 for further information regarding the activity.

As a part of the Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood Campaign CCS organized a Mass Awareness and Mobilization Activity in 17 No. Market, Badhana Road, Vishwakarma Industrial Area for creating an environment which is conducive enough for the government to implement Policy/Bill on Urban Street Vendors in 17 No Street Market, VKIA at 6 PM with the participation of street vendors of the market and active citizens of the area. The activity started with a street play portraying the problems of street vendors and the provisions under street vendors’ policy to solve those. The street play was followed by talks by local vendors’ leaders and other influencing people of the community. There was a crowd of around 100 people who stayed there to know about the solution of problems faced by street vendors and others on the street. It was overwhelming to see the response of street

vendors who found the play very touching and then carefully listed to the talks knowing how the policy can solve their problems. Now the street vendors have started talking about the possible action needed to be taken to get the policy implemented.

Mr. Amit Chandra, the Campaign Coordinator of Centre for Civil Society talked about the provisions of the policy and how it will be beneficial for street vendors as well as pedestrians and other stake holders on the street. Mr. Ghanshyam Kotwani, Executive Member of National Alliance of Street Vendors of India talked about the stigma of traffic hazard attached to street vendors and the need to get out of this mindset. Mr. Babulal Ramchandani, representative of Jaipur Mahanagar Thadi Thela Footpath Vyawasayi Union at the gathering briefed the crowed about the status of policy in Jaipur Municipal Corporation.