Blackmail, Bribes and Beating
This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-244, May-Jun 2001)
On June 25, 2001, MANUSHI NAGRIK ADHIKAR MANCH organised a Lok Sunwayi of vendors and hawkers, which was presided over by Central Vigilance Commissioner of India, Sh. N. Vittal. The panelists included S.P. Shukla of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Tavleen Singh, leading columnist; Prof. DineshMohan, HTDelhi; Rani Jethmalani, Supreme Court lawyer and Dr VijaySheelKumar, leading neurosurgeon affiliated to Apollo hospital. Mr. Kuldip Nayyar, MP, participated in part of the hearing. The meeting began with screening of a film in Hindi made on street vendors of Delhi by Madhu Kishwar, entitled, ‘Udarikaran: Kewal Oopar Ka Udaar?’ (License Permit Raj: A View from Below). First made in 1995, the film has been updated with recent information on the plight of vendors, current bribe rates and the actual working of the “clearance operations” undertaken by the police and municipal authorities.
Over 90 per cent of India’s work force earns its livelihood in the informal sector, which accounts for 63 per cent of the country’s GDP. Street vendors and hawkers are among the most visible and active parts of this large informal sector. Most of them come from impoverished rural families. Given the poverty in agriculture, they are unable to feed, clothe and provide other basic necessities for their families by working on the small
landholdings they own, or as wage labourers in rural areas. Street vending absorbs millions of those who come to cities as economic refugees from villages, because they can enter this occupation with very small amounts of capital. They not only create employment for themselves through their own entrepreneurial skills, but also help generate employment in agriculture as well as small scale industry. They are the main distribution channel for a large variety of products of daily consumption— fruit, vegetables, readymade garments, shoes, household gadgets, toys, stationery, newspapers, magazines and so on. If they were to be eliminated from the urban markets, it would lead to a severe crisis for fruit and vegetable farmers, as well as small scale industries which cannot afford to retail their products through expensive distribution networks in the formal sector. Hawkers provide a low cost, decentralised and highly efficient system of distribution covering an incredible variety of products, at prices far lower than those prevailing in the established markets. They reach the consumer at convenient locations, even at their doorsteps…