Introduction
Street vendors are an integral part of urban economies around the world, offering easy access to a wide range of goods and services in public spaces. But for the vendors, it is one of the most difficult sources of livelihood. In India, they fall within the informal, largely unlicensed sector. Their already existing vulnerabilities are heightened multiple times in a crisis such as the pandemic. Many found themselves in containment zones. They have been negotiating with the customers with their products as well as for the spaces for their carts to be placed. Customers are few and sale is down.
The Street vendors in Semiliguda block Koraput are usually tribal women who sell their products that range from fresh vegetables to other everyday requirements have been severely impacted. These women are from the Parajas, Kondhs, Gadabas tribes of Odisha. They travel on a daily to peddle vegetables and other goods like fruits, flowers, clothes and natural products. This often sells natural products from their own gardens and contributes to their household economy. Their economic resources are limited and their general health suffers. The ‘normal’ insecurities and vulnerabilities that they face have got aggravated during the pandemic.
The vending market in Semiliguda a block in Koraput Odisha is flooded with women vendors. The pandemic has impacted all but unequally. Physical distancing and work from home are not possible for these women. It is a matter of livelihood and subsistence. This paper focuses on the challenges that these women face and the need of the times.
Laws, Street Vendors and Women
The complex set of regulatory measures on street vending and urban space management in the pandemic often become a source of greater uncertainty, fear and distress to the vendors. And we need to revisit the laws that pertain to street vendors.Article 19(1)g of the Constitution says that the right to carry out any profession, occupation, trade or business to all Indian citizens. The Street Vendors Act 2014 (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) enumerates and protect their rights. The Report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation 2019 states that there are more than 10 million street vendors in India.
Article 39(a) and (b) specifies that (a) all citizens – men and women – equally have the right to adequate livelihood, (b) the ownership and control of the material resources of the community should be distributed in such a way that it should promote and serve the common good. It is accepted that most of the vendors are women (Roever 2014) and when a woman earns, she contributes to the household needs (Thomson 2011).
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) reports, the impact of COVID-19 on the informal sector is equal to 195 million occupations denied. According to the UN Women latest report, the pandemic will push 96 million people into poverty by the year 2021 out of which 47 million will be women and girls.
Policies like Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission, for catering for the needs of street vendors, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) to address the street vendor challenges and SEWA for women working in informal sectors have to be implemented to safeguard their rights.
There have been other laws that have been introduced for the street vendors during the pandemic such as the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors’ Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi) in June 01, 2020, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
There have been huge data gaps as women’s voice and the agency is negligible. But the pandemic has made it clear that by creating awareness among these tribal women vendors and preventing vaccine hesitancy can lead to a better post COVID scenario. There is enormous potential for capacity building among these women. As the city grows and the populace expands, women have become major contributors to street marketing zones. However, this phenomenon is not acknowledged in public discourse and everyday life and needs urgent intervention.
References:
1. Roever, S. (2014). Informal Economy Monitoring Study Sector Report: Street Vendors.Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).
http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/ files/IEMS-Sector-Full-Report-Street-Vendors.pdf, accessed on 13th September 2021.
2. Thompson, D. (2011). Women Are More Responsible With Money, Studies Show. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/women-are-more-responsible-with-money-studies-show/70539/, accessed on 30th July 2021.
3. Mann, K. (1996). Tribal Women on the Threshold of Twenty-first Century. New Delhi: M.D. Publications.
4. UN Women. (2020). COVID-19 and its Economic Toll on Women: The Story Behind the Numbers. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women, accessed 30th July 2021.
***
Dr. Nupur Pattanaik Teaches Sociology, Department of Sociology, Central University of Odisha, Koraput.