Voice of the vendors
|
COMMENTS 
Street vendors form a federation to look out for their rights.
Street vendors everywhere are fighting a daily battle for their existence. Till a few years ago, hawkers had the sympathy of the public when they were harassed by the police. Since liberalisation in the early-'90s, however, there has been a compulsion to clean up our cities and streets not only of garbage but also of hawkers. Life for hawkers in big cities is particularly difficult. The bigger the city, the more demanding the motorists, civic authorities and local mafias.
A heartening development therefore, is the formation of unions by several thousands of footpath vendors and hawkers. They have also formed a federation called the National Alliance of Street Vendors (NASVI). Stories about their struggles are reported in a magazine called Footpath Ki Aawaz (Voices from! the Footpath).
In Bihar, a trade union called the Janwadi Tela Chalak Footpath Fruit Vegetable Vendors Sangh (JTCFFVVS) was formed to protect the interests of pavement hawkers. Nearly 2,500 members (but just 12 women) joined the union. The bane of their existence was the local mafia in the shape of contractors who regularly extorted exorbitant sums of money from the vendors. They had bid and won the licence for the contractor system leased out by the local civic authorities. This entitled the contractors to collect revenue from the vendors. The contract-wielding mafia, in cahoots with the police, regularly harassed the vendors, confiscating their goods and beating them up if they did not have the money to pay them.
The JTCFFVVS went to the district collector. They held several dharnas (protest meetings) and were beaten up for their pains. However, the collector consented to give them the contract if they came up! with the money. It is a measure of their enthusiasm that they raised Rs 3,91,000 to buy the contract. For the vendors it was a huge relief to pay only Rs 3 instead of the exorbitant Rs 30 to 40 that the mafia had extorted from them. Everyone was overjoyed.
Unhappily, their joy was shortlived. The next collector backed the goons. However, the union has not given up. They have appealed to the labour department and hope for the best. Victory once tasted is a heady experience. "If we call a bandh tomorrow all the local shops will close. They know ours is a just fight," the local sangha leader declares. The struggle will go on.
Contact: Arvind Singh,
NIDAN,
3rd Floor, Sudama Bhawan
! Boring Road, Patna 800001
Bihar, India
Tel: 91-612-265 705
Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.