Opinion Down on the street

It has been such a long journey, from the street vendors policy of 2004 via the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors of 2009 to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012. But now that the rights and duties of street vendors have been signed into law by Parliament, some 10 million of the most industrious workers of the country have gained formal recognition. The insistence on duties as well as rights is enlightened. Not only does it define vending as a legitimate means of earning a living, in line with an earlier Supreme Court ruling, but the conditional, contractual nature of the law situates street vendors, hitherto regarded as unorganised workers, in the mesh of formal urban planning.

Apart from regulating the sector with the involvement of its members, and protecting vendors from arbitrary or rapacious action by the state, the law has raised a couple of interesting issues which could alter the spirit of town planning. First, it acknowledges that vendors should be placed in “existing natural markets”. Besides, it stipulates that locations should be chosen that offer “convenience” and “cost-effective distribution”. That’s progress, in a country where planners have generally believed that neighbourhoods should be reorganised into residential and commercial regions with an aseptic barrier in between. The distinction between these two forms of usage is artificial and has interfered with the organic growth of cities.

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Vendors have been invested with a sense of ownership since they will have to pay fees, be responsible for the cleanliness of the vending zones they use, and have considerable representation in local regulatory bodies. It has taken a decade for street vendors to be gentrified by law, but this is a comprehensive and carefully considered step. And in eschewing planning from on high, it acknowledges the organic nature of communities.