Adding another loop in the chain of struggle to get their business back, around 500 street vendors demonstrated at Jaipur Municipal Corporation headquarter on January 05, 2012. Gherao was after a day from the press conference projecting their agitation for violation of their Right to Livelihood. Authorities have umpteen excuses to escape implementing Pheriwalo Ka Sansar, State Policy for Street Vendors, 2007. But taking away vendors’ only means of subsistence, to make jaipur welcoming for “Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas” is a day process for them.

“Global Indian, inclusive Growth”, the much written slogan for Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas was surely not much claimed. Indians are going global indeed but inclusive growth is far away from the sight. And this has been exemplified currently in Jaipur, as to welcome global Indians inclusive growth is getting hindered. This unfair attitude of Municipal Corporation towards street vendors goaded them to demonstrate. Vendors were found saying, “If we take the right path for our sustenance, government put endless constraints in our way and when illegitimacy is the only option gets left out then jail is our destination. There is no way out for us in this absurd democratic form of government”. Had the policy been implemented of giving authorized land to vendors to run their business and registering them to give identity, eviction of vendors to beautify the city and consequently pain to them wouldn’t have happened. Higher authorities had passed the order to evict vendors mainly from 8 routs of the event. But seeing the new source of making money, police threatened vendors and seized their belongings from also. Furious by all this the demonstration continued for 5 HOURS from 11 AM to 4 PM with cries against authorities including CEO, Dr. Loknath Soni of JMC and Mayor, Jyoti khandelwal. Proactive street vendors and union leaders addressed the whole group pointing out their problems and claiming that they wouldn’t put an end to Gherao unless this eviction doesn’t stop, they aren’t given their belongings, policy of 2007 not implemented and an officer to look after their issues is not appointed. After a long wait of 5 hours a representative group got called inside to talk to Additional Chief Executive Officer, Mr. M. P. Meena, Vigilance Commissioner, Mr. Dinesh Sharma on the issue. A group of 6 people including  Banwari Sharma, President of Heritage City Thadi Thela Union, Amit Chandra, Centre for Civil Society and Sanjay Garg, Centre for Policy Solution went inside to put the  following demands of Street vendors :

1. To stop harassment and eviction of street vendors on the name of encroachment immediately.
2. Compensation to be given to the evicted street vendors for loss of their livelihood and returning of the belongings.
3. Implementing the National Policy, 2007 at the earliest after forming a committee to work on it and appointing an officer.

The demonstration ended after following promises by JMC authorities:

1. Street vendors wouldn’t be evicted in future any more.
2. Belongings of the vendors from other areas than the 8 main rout of the event would be released immediately.
3. Belonging of the vendors from main 8 routs of the event would be given back after 9 January 2012.
4. Implementation work on street vendor policy would be started soon.

Hundreds of street vendors were evicted in Jaipur while the administration was trying to beautify the city for Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas program. Street vendors of Hassanpura, Vaisali, Pandit Ji Ka Chauraha, N.B.C. road, Sindhi camp, Railway station, Ajmer road and Sodala have been the major target of authorities apart from the main rout of the event. The eviction drive badly impacted livelihood of poor street vendors.

In this regard the street vendors met the Chief Minister, Urban Development Minister, Collector Jaipur, Chief Executive Officer of Jaipur Municipal Corporation and other officers in line to stop the eviction drive immediately and complete their demands within two days. Disappointed by insensitiveness of the administration the street vendor unions decided to Gherao Jaipur Municipal Corporation on January 05, 2012 and protest during the PBD summit in aegis of Jeevika campaign of Centre for Civil Society. Centre for Civil Society organised a press conference on January 03, 2012 wherein representatives of all the street vendor unions of city came together to address their grievances.

Addressing the press conference Jeevika National Coordinator, Amit Chandra said, “National Street Vendor Policy was prepared by Government of India in 2004 which has provision of legalizing street vending and protecting the right to livelihood of poor street vendors. It has provision of license, identity card to street vendors along with other several provisions of vending zones, insurance and pension schemes, training on hygiene etc. Following the national policy state government made Rajasthan Street Vendor Policy ‘Pheriwalon Ka Sansar’ in 2007 which is effective in state till date. The state government also passed a bill in state assembly in August to give legal status to poor street vendors. In such a scenario evicting street vendors is unconstitutional”.

Banwari Sharma, president of Heritage City Thadi Thela Union said, “Jaipur Municipal Corporation and Jaipur Development Authority has started a cleaning drive and are evicting poor street vendors everyday. They are seizing all our goods and carts. We don’t have any other option to make our living. Hence, we are forced to come on street to make two square meal for our family.”

Sanjay Garg of Centre for Policy Solutions said, “The government is trying to show a fake city to the foreign guests during the PBS summit. It is against the right to livelihood with dignity of poor street vendors. Such a step of dictatorial step of administration is not acceptable in a democratic society such as ours.”

Nathus Singh Rathore, Nagarmal Prajapati, Kailash Verma, Babulal Sharma, Basant Haryana, Yaqub Bhai, Hanif Bhai and many other street vendor representatives were present in the press conference.

Here are few pictures of the press conference:

Here is press coverage of the conference:

Here is a clip from BTV News of the press conference:

CCS Academy

presents

ìpolicy

Certificate in Public Policy for Development Leaders

Delhi, 18 – 20 November 2011

List of Shortlisted Candidates

CCS Academy

presents

ìpolicy

Certificate in Public Policy for Development Leaders

Delhi, 18 – 20 November 2011

Last Date for Application: 30 October 2011
Selected candidates will be informed by 03 November 2011

To expand its services to peer civil society organizations, Centre for Civil Society is organizing a residential workshop “ìpolicy: Certificate in Public Policy for Development Leaders”. The goal of the workshop will be:

• to hone development leaders’ understanding of the policy perspective on social change
• to strengthen development leaders’ understanding of principles of sound policy and the relevant institutional frameworks that will help them create and advocate for polices conducive to wider, more comprehensive, and sustainable social change.

CCS Academy has organized similar courses across the country for journalists and young leaders. Successful participants from these events go back to their organizations and share what they have learned, initiate work on issues discussed, and integrate principles they have learned to help advance the issues closest to their hearts.  This particular course is being organized in partnership with Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation.

To know more and apply visit http://ccs.in/ngos.asp

Rajasthan state assembly passed Urban Street Vendor Bill 2011 (Nagar Path Vikreta Adhinyam) on August 29, 2011. The bill is based on the Model Urban Street Vendor Bill which was prepared by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India in 2009. The bill would replace the existing Rajasthan Street Vendor Policy, ‘Pheriwalo Ka Sansar’ of 2007 which couldn’t be very effective. The bill aims to ensure protection of livelihood of more than 1 million urban street vendors who live under constant threat of loss of their means of livelihood and will regulate street markets of Rajasthan. To recognize the historic development and create awareness among the street vendors, Jeevika Campaign along with Heritage City Thadi Thela Union, Jaipur organized a huge conference of street vendors of Jaipur. Thousands of street vendors from all over Jaipur along with street vendor representatives fromJodhpur, Jallore, Jaisalmer, Sirohi andKota participated in the conference.

Dr. Mahesh Joshi, Member of Parliament joined as Chief Guest and Mr. Pratap Singh Khachariwas, Member of Legislative Assembly joined as guest of honour in the conference. Mayor of the city, Mrs Jyoti Khandelwal couldn’t participate in the conference even after giving confirmation due to last minute important meeting.

Amit Chandra, Jeevika Campaign coordinator briefed the street vendors on the major provisions of the bill. Addressing the conference he said, “The objective of the conference is to create awareness about the recently passed bill on street vending to all the street vendors. The bill recognizes street vendors a legitimate part of the city. Passing of the bill is a major achievement for all the street vendor unions of the state. However, the bill is silent on few of the important aspects of street vending. Hence, it is important to keep a close watch on schemes and rules which will be prepared under the provisions of the bill. We need to plan our strategy to push the local government to start implementation of the bill in a manner that benefits the ailing condition of poor street vendors.”

Addressing the conference Member of Legislative Assembly, Mr Pratatp Singh Khachriyawas said, “Our government is committed to work for poor of the state. Street vendors play important role in local economy but still they were illegal so far. This bill recognizes the positive contribution of the street vendors and gives them legal identity. I congratulate the organizers for organizing the seminar and urge them to continue their effort until benefit of the legislation reaches to the target group.”

Chief Guest at the conference Dr Mahesh Joshi said, “Street vendors are the self employed poor who contribute significantly to convenience of common citizen by providing goods and services at our door steps. By the passing of this law on street vending, Rajasthan government has fulfilled its promise to work for development of the poor. It is a historic development for poor in state. This bill would prove to be a milestone in getting the legal recognition to millions of poor street vendors of the state.”

The conference was also addressed by Mr Uday Singh Rathore, former MLA, MrSanjay Gargand all the street vendor representatives. Thanking note was given by Jeevika Campaign Associate, Mr Amit Kumar Gond.

Here is the news clip which appeared on BTV News:

Here is press coverage of the conference:

Press Coverage

Here are few pictures of the conference:

Rajasthan state assembly passed Urban Street Vendor Bill 2011 (Nagar Path Vikreta Adhinyam) on August 29, 2011. The bill is based on the Model Urban Street Vendor Bill which was prepared by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India in 2009. The bill would replace the existing Rajasthan Street Vendor Policy, ‘Pheriwalo Ka Sansar’ of 2007 which couldn’t be very effective. The bill aims  to ensure protection of livelihood of more than 1 million urban street vendors who live under constant threat of loss of their means of livelihood and will regulate street markets of Rajasthan.

The Government of India enacted the National Policy for Urban Street Vendors in 2004. Based on the Policy, the Govt of Rajasthan adopted a State Policy called Pheriwalo Ka Sansar in 2007. Despite the efforts by various Street Vendor organizations the policy was not implemented in the state. In 2009 a model law was drafted by Government of India and was sent to the State Government for enactment in the state. Even the Prime Minister ofIndia, Dr. Manmohan Singh wrote letter to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in August 2009 regarding the enactment of the law.

Centre for Civil Society has been running advocacy campaign ‘Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood’ since 2009 demanding an act to protect the livelihood of street vendors in Rajasthan.

Here are the major provisions in the bill:

• Provides legal status to street vendors
• Provisions hawking zones in urban development/ zoning plans
• Provides access to basic facilities in street markets
• Make street vendors a special component of the urban planning and development
• Promotes self-compliance amongst street vendors
• Promotes organizations of street vendors
• Sets up participatory mechanisms for orderly conduct of urban vending activities
• Rehabilitation of children engaged in vending/hawking
• Provides social security to street vendors

However, the bill aims to give urban street vendors a legitimate identity it also lacks some important aspects which would most probably surface as a challenge during implementation of the bill.

Here is copy of the bill passed in the state assembly:

Rajasthan Urban Street Vendor Bill 2011

Here is CCS comments on the bill:

Comments Comments Hindi

Here are two news clippings which appeared during the assembly:

Jeevika Campaign organized a Panel Discussion on ‘Informal Economy: Law, Liberty & Livelihood’ on 27 August 2011, Saturday from 2:15 to 3:15 PM in India Habitat Centre,New Delhi. We had Mr. Suryamani Raul (Vice President – Livelihood at Access Development Services), Mr. Arbind Singh (Coordinator NASVI and Executive Director of Nidan), Dr. Parth J. Shah (President of Centre for Civil Society) in the panel to bring important aspects of informal economy in the discussion and Amit Chandra (Jeevika Campaign Coordinator) to moderate the discussion. The panel discussion was an attempt to create a platform for open discussion on the livelihood challenges of people working in informal economy and building up consensus on the way forward.

Mr. Suryamani Raul in his talk tried to portray the picture of livelihood condition in rural and urbanIndia. He emphasized on potential and opportunities in the informal economy which needs to be recognized and strengthened. He also mentioned the need to bring financial inclusion and creating new market for the product and services available in informal economy.

Dr. Parth J. Shah talked about liberty status in informal economy. He explained the reasons for people in informal economy not going up in the economy ladder. He said that not having proper regulatory framework is forcing people to remain in poverty. He told that the parts of economy which have been reformed are doing well than before such as banking, aviation and telecommunication and there is need to reform the informal sector as well. He also mentioned about the huge corruption in informal economy because of illegality of business.

Mr. Arbind Singh spoke on the status of law in informal sector. He said that there are several flaws in the laws which apply on informal sector and there are also laws conflicting with each other as well. He emphasized on the need of powerful laws by Government of India. Giving example of street vending he said that there isn’t one single department and scheme that deals with street vending. Only a few states have been able to make legislation for poor street vendors.A streetvendor needs to run from pillar to post today to get his/her evicted goods back from Municipal Corporation. He said that in lack of proper regulatory framework, people in informal sector are compelled to operate illegally which creates the entire problem that poor people have to face to survive.

There was also a Question & Answer session after the talk by all the panelists to respond to the concerns raised by the audience. The discussion was moderated by Amit Chandra.

Here are few pictures of the panel discussion:

Centre for Civil Society and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) came together to raise the demand of a legislation protecting the right of livelihood of street vendors by the Government of India. Thousands of street vendors from different parts of the country took to streets ofDelhion 18 August 2011.

Thousands of street vendors fromDelhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar assembled at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. They marched right up to the parliament police station where they were restrained from moving further by a large contingent of police. The agitating vendors slammed the government for sitting idle on the direction of the Supreme Court of India as well as the recommendation for central law for vendors by the National Advisory Council (NAC). Addressing the agitators NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh said, “Government of India has enough jurisdiction to enact a strong and comprehensive central law in favour of street vendors under Entries 20, 23 and/or 24 of concurrent list of Indian Constitution. The only thing that the government has to do is to demonstrate strong moral courage and political will towards safeguarding the rights of street vendors and other sections of urban poor. Inclusive growth would remain a hoax until street vendors and other vulnerable sections are integrated in city development plans as well as urban renewal missions. When it comes to protect the fundamental right to livelihood of millions of street vendors, it starts shirking away from its responsibility by throwing ball in the court of states.”

A seven member delegation of street vendor leaders and civil society met Kumari Selja, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, to apprise her with the problems faced by the vendors across the country and demand initiation of the process for law making. The minister also agreed in principle to the need of one central act and has asked suggestions from Ministry of Law and Justice. The delegation also drew the Minister’s attention to incidence of increasing displacement and marginalization of street vendors in different cities and asserted that the protection from displacement could only be ensured through a comprehensive central law. A 10 point Charter of Demand was placed before the minister.

Here is a video clip of the demonstration:

Here are few pictures of the demonstration: