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:

CCS organized a Policy Roundtable with Members of Legislative Assembly: Enhancing Livelihood and Education in Rajasthan on National Policy on Urban Street Vendors Policy and Right to Education Act. The discussion was chaired by Dr. Parth J. Shah (Noted economist, writer of several books, columnist and professor at Michigan University, USA. For more information about Dr. Shah, please visit http://parthjshah.in/ ).

Policy Roundtable: Enhancing Livelihood and Education in Rajasthan

21 July 2011, 11 AM – 1 PM, Hotel Park Prime (Park Plaza)

C-59, Prithviraj Road, C-Scheme, Near Statue Circle, Jaipur

Discussing issues of street vendors with MLAs Amit Chandra said, “Street vendors constitute an integral and legitimate part of the urban retail trade and distribution system for daily necessities of the general public. After the landmark judgment by Supreme Court of India in a 1989 case of Sodan Singh & Others versus New Delhi Municipal Council, there have been some steps taken by local authorities but necessity of a national policy/law was always felt to heel the ailing condition of the street vendors. Central government introduced a National Policy on Urban Street vendors 2004 for the first time and once again came up with National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 recognizing the positive role of street vendors in providing essential commodities to people at affordable prices and at convenient places. Government of Indian also drafted a model act in 2009 and asked the state governments to make state legislation following the model act but Rajasthan Government has yet not been able to bring the legislation in the state as yet.”

Policy analyst Dr. Parth J. Shah shared his comments on Right to Education Act with MLAs and said, “With the passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) 2009, the education sector in India stands at the cusp of a great transformation. One year on, RTE still holds the promise of expanding access, improving quality and ensuring equity – but only 15 states have notified their state rules while other states are in the process of finalizing. An analysis of different states rules reveal diverse and innovative ideas that are being explored in different states. Some states have been more inclusive in their process and have worked together with experts from the civil society. An initial analysis of state rules and the process indicates benefits that states could accrue from an exercise that would enable them to share their experience and ideas that have emerged in their individual states.”

Given the current status of the Right to Education and Street Vendor Act in Rajasthan MLAs found the program, one-of-its-kind inIndiawhich was designed to create a platform for open interaction between policy makers and policy analysts. 25 selected MLAs from Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota and other parts of Rajasthan who had demonstrated strong interest in social policy solutions in past and had encouraged frank and open discussions on the problems facing our country participated in the Policy Roundtable. The MLAs went back with a clearer understanding of the issue and suggestions for reforms in these areas from the program. Few MLAs also promised to take the issue forward.

Here are few press clips:

Press Cutting 1 Press Cutting 2

Here is a video clip from BTV News:

Here are few pictures of the program:

Street vendors of Civil Lines Zone area of Jaipur Municipal Corporation organised a mass demonstration with support from Centre for Civil Society on 06 July 2011. Hundreds of street vendors from Vaishali Nagar, Hassanpura, Char Number Dispensary and Pandit Ji ka Chauraha and other parts of the area participated in the demonstration. The street vendors were demanding implementation of State Street Vendor Policy 2007 which is in effect in the state but not executed till date. They met the commissioner of the zone and submitted a memorandum along with the copy of the policy and the order letters issues to zone office.

Addressing the crowd Banwari Lal Sharma said, “According to the policy the zone office of Municipal Corporation is supposed to survey and provide license and identity card to each of the street vendors. Several order letter and reminder letters have been sent to the zone office from headquarter have been sent to the zone office but the zone office isn’t doing anything.”

Amit Kumar Gond, Campaign Associate of CCS addressed the street vendors and informed them about the right of street vendor under the policy. At the end of the demonstration a group of street vendor representatives met the commissioner of the zone and submitted a memorandum.

The demonstration was lead by the Mr. Kailash Verma (Vishali nagar), Mr. Yakoob bhai (Hasanpur), Mr. Naagar Mal Prajapati (char number dispensary), and Hanif Bhai (Pandit ji ka choraha) under the banner of Heritage City Thadi Thela Union. Former Member of Legislative Assembly, Mr. Uday Singh Rathor also joined the demonstration.

The demonstration was covered by news papers (Rajasthan Patrika, Daily News, Mahanagar Times, Dainik Aaj, Samachar Jagat) and electronic media (India TV, Bhaskar News, Digi News, HSBC).

Please watch news clip from BTV News here:

Please find the press cutting here:

Press Cutting

Here are few pictures of the demonstration:

Jeevika campaign organised a workshops on ‘Urban Street Vendor Policy’ for the street vendors in Vaishali Nagar area of Jaipur on Sunday, June 26, 2011. We have been doing several small group meetings and street meetings with the street vendors of the area. The workshop was an attempt to bring all the small groups of street vendors of Vaishali Nagar area together and device collective effort by them along with educating them about the street vendor policy.

The objective of the workshop was to educate the street vendors of Vaishali Nagar area of the city about the street vendor policy in detail and strategizing their efforts to put local pressure on Municipal Corporation to implement the policy in the city. More than 100 street vendors of Vaishali Nagar and nearby area participated in the workshop.

Amit Kumar Gond, Campaign Associate at CCS briefed the street vendors about the effort made by CCS so far to get the issue of street vendors resolved. He used pictures, videos and order letters of Rajasthan Government to demonstrate the progress.

Amit Chandra, Campaign Coordinator at CCS took an input session explaining major provisions of street vendor policy. He emphasized on the benefits of the policy to the street vendors.

At the end of the workshop street vendors also wrote postcards to the Chief Minister of the state mentioning their problems and demanding early implementation of legislation for street vendors.

It was also decided that all the street vendors would do a collective mass demonstration on 6 July at Civil Lines Zone office of Municipal Corporation and submit a memorandum.

Here is press cutting of the workshop:

Vaishali Workshop

Here are some pictures of the workshop: