|
|
The economic roots and realities of vending
October 2001: 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. Middle class people buy a large proportion of their daily requirements from street vendors, whereas for the poor, hawkers are often the only affordable source for items of daily consumption. Thus, they are a vital link between consumers and producers and make a valuable contribution to the economy. But for their enterprise, urban consumers would have to travel long distances by buses, cars and scooters to procure their daily necessities. This will lead to more vehicular pollution and congestion. A detailed study of street vendors selling food on the streets of eight cities in Asia and Africa documents the important service rendered by vendors, who provide the poorer sections of society, nutritious food at affordable prices. It was found that street foods are not only far cheaper than restaurant foods, but actually cost less than even home prepared foods, especially if we take into account the time spent on shopping and cooking. In large and congested cities working people have to spend more and more time on travel. They tend to eat out more often because cooking proper meals at home takes a lot of time and energy. The study also showed that in terms of nutritional value, street foods offer far better bargains than restaurant foods. Most surprising of all was the finding from Pune that the cheapest street meals, cooked under the most abysmal conditions by the poorest of vendors, were often less contaminated with bacteria than samples taken from restaurants. Even a cursory comparison of the hygiene levels in the kitchens of most Indian restaurants bears out the relative neatness of street food suppliers. Despite lacking basic amenities like regular water supply and place to wash, the arrangements they devise are far better than available in most restaurants where filth is cleverly hidden from sight. Moreover, as road safety expert Dinesh Mohan pointed out at our Lok Sunwayi, by their very presence, street vendors bring safety and security to the neighbourhoods. Deserted streets and neighbourhoods facilitate the job of criminals. But wherever there are clusters of open shops on pavements, the crime rate is also low. A group in IIT Delhi has studied the space requirement for Delhi's vendors and found that all the existing vendors can be easily accommodated in the available space, provided the city authorities are willing to plan space allocation in an efficient and rational manner. The importance of this sector cannot be undermined, especially considering that the government does not have the capacity to provide jobs to the millions of unemployed and underemployed people in India. Even the corporate sector is able to absorb only a tiny proportion of our expanding work force. Overall employment in the formal sector is actually declining. This means most people in India have to fend for themselves. People in the informal sector ought to be encouraged to grow and prosper if the governments want to reduce unemployment and poverty in our country. Madhu Kishwar
October 2001