Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Tuesday 21 July 2020

Street Vendors : How to Organize ?



Context :



Extract :

The 12-member GoM is learnt to be considering an integrated value chain system to

Ø  ensure minimum income for street vendors

Ø  protect them from local agencies’ harassment

Ø  provide them hygienic food from a centralised kitchen



The move is aimed at

Ø  drawing in street vendors into an ‘organised’ sector mechanism and

Ø  preparing them for a food scenario hit by Covid-19.



It is estimated that there are over 10 million street vendors in India, with the maximum in Mumbai, followed by New Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad



The aim is to look for economically sustainable models with public-private partnership and start with mega cities where street food consumption is high.

=========================================================

Heading of this news ( Financial Security ) is a kind of “ Sub Set “ of  the ( not adequately emphasized ) aim of :


“ …. drawing in street vendors into an ‘organised’ sector mechanism “


Focus on “provide them hygienic food from a centralised kitchen “, also seems to ignore the fact that :


Out of those 10 million Street Vendors, perhaps no more than 2 million may be vending “ food “ , with the rest vending all kinds of “ household necessities “, ( from footpaths or pulling around their hand-carts ) – items such as :


Fruits – Vegetables – Cutlery – Hosiery – Garments – Sanitary items – Toiletries – Pulses – Trinkets – Utensils – Stationary – Wallets – Photo frames – Purses – Sarees – Footwear – Umbrellas – Electrical Fittings – Lamps – Second hand books – Magazines – News Papers – Cheap Jewelry – Furniture – School-bags …………. The list goes on and on  !



There is every reason to include all of them into the proposed scheme for “ Getting Organized



And, by that , I mean issuing to all 10 MILLION , “ Vending License 




Such an official AUTHORIZATION ( to ply their trade unhindered ) , alone can , “ protect them from local agencies’ harassment “


A comprehensive / step by step, FRAME-WORK for organizing these 10 MILLION street vendors, is described in my following blogs ( earlier sent as –mails to Cabinet Ministers )


=========================================================

 Thank You, Shri Thawar Chand Gehlotji ……………………………………………..[ 05 July 2020 ]


Congratulations , Shri Mahesh Kumarji  ……………………………………………….[ 20 June 2020 ]


Providing Jobs : a Fundamental Right ?   ……………………………………………..[ 07 June 2020 ]


Thank You, Shri Hardeep Singh Puriji   ………………………………………………….[ 01 June 2020 ]


Street Vendor Loan Scheme   …………………………………………………………………[ 14 May 2020 ]


Social Distancing : Safest – Surest Method  ………………………………………….[ 21 Apr 2020 ]


Unlocking Lockdown : Calibrated – Gradual   ………………………………………..[ 04 Apr 2020 ]


BMC proposes : Hawkers will dispose ?   ……………………………………………….[ 26 Feb 2020 ]


=========================================================

Members of the High Level GoM :


Ø  Rajnath Singhji  [  defence minister ]


Ø  Nirmala Sitharamanji  [ finance minister ]


Ø  Anurag Thakurji  [minister of state for finance ]


Ø  Nitin Gadkariji  [ minister for transport and MSME ]


Ø  Ravi Shankar Prasadji  [ law minister ]


Ø  Hardeep Puriji  [ urban development minister ]


Ø  Ram Vilas Paswanji [  minister for consumer affairs and food and public distribution ]


Ø  Thawar Chand Gehlotji [ minister for social justice and empowerment ]


Ø  Harsh Vardhanji  [  health minister  ]


Ø  G Kishan Reddyji [ minister of state for home affairs ]
    ( gkishanreddy@yahoo.com  )


Ø  Pratap Chandra Sarangiji  [ Minister of State for MSME ]
    ( mos-msme@gov.in )




Dear Policy Makers,



Congratulations for this initiative . 


From the news report , I get a feeling that focus of the scheme is going to be :

“ …… provide them ( the Street Food Vendors ) hygienic food from a centralised kitchen “


The report goes on to add :

“ ET has learnt that the ‘Indore model’, a centralised kitchen model, which was executed through a private firm, is being studied.


While feasible, this poses following problems :


Ø  Supplying hygienic mid-day meals to schools, calls for a fixed menu ( 5 items ? ), whereas Street Food Vendors would demand, a wide variety of food items ( say 50 items , such as Vada Pav - Pav Bhaji – Chat – Pani Puri – Sev Batata Puri – Dahi Bhalla – Idli – Dosa – Misal – Bhel – wide range of Sandwiches – Tea – Coffee – Cold drinks – Ice Creams – Kulfis – Fruit Plates of a dozen different fruits – Fruit Juices – all kinds of Pizzas – Cheeseburgers – Veg Burgers – Parathas – Lassi – Milk Shakes – etc etc )


Ø  Akshay Patra  have 51 “ Centralizd Kitchens “ , serving 18 lakh mid-day meals to some 19,000 schools ( approx.. average of 95 meals per school ). I suppose they have delivery vans to deliver meals to these schools.


Ø  The number of schools served by ONE central kitchen , varies from :

DMC ………………………… 27  Schools
#  Vadodara…………………..620   Schools
 
Ø  Let us assume that ,

     #  From Central Kitchens, we want to deliver food items to only 2 million ( 20 lakh )
         Street Food Vendors ( out of 10 million = 100 lakhs vendors )


     #  Each such “ Centralized Kitchen “ manages to cater to ( say ) 1,000 vendors ,
         which means, we need 2,000 “ Centralized Kitchens “ between 4 metro cites – 500
         kitchens in each metro !
        Imagine a long queue of 1,000 vendors lining up at 7 am, in front of a centralized
        kitchen to pick up their supplies – each wanting different combinations of food !



Ø  The entire supply chain would consist of dozens of private parties owning / operating these centralized kitchens. This would pose severe problems in terms of regulations / control / monitoring / standardization / pricing / payment terms etc


Ø  At present, a Street Food Vendor is backed-up by his entire family. They carry out following “ manufacturing processes “ ( at all times of day or night ) :

Cleaning-Washing-Sorting-Grinding-Mincing-Roasting-Frying-Baking – Packing etc


This could be considered “ Free In-house Labour “, enabling the Street Vendor to compete with other nearby vendors on SELLING PRICE – and, of course QUALITY


If he has to buy “ ready-to-serve “ items from a Central  Kitchen, what will his / her family members do ? They will be rendered idle !


As against this, a Central Kitchen would use “ paid / hired “ workers and build this “ manufacturing cost “ into its Selling Price ( - of course, same for all vendors )


Will such “ Bulk Food Bundles “ need to carry MRP tags when unbundled and sold loose ? 

Will this eliminate all price-based competition ?

Or, can vendors fix their own RETAIL PRICES ( fluctuating with demand ? ), for each food item ?

It must be remembered that, today, for same food item, different vendors give different QUANTITIES . 

A vendor offering better QUALITY can get away by offering less QUANTITY as compared to nearby vendor



How will his regular customers react when a vendor sys :


“ Parekh Saheb ,

- from today my selling price for Vada Pav is Rs 50 /- instead of Rs 40 / - ( a mere 25 % increase ), since from today I am sourcing this item from XYZ Central Kitchen, instead of getting my wife to prepare it at 4 am ( I think it was prepared by the Central Kitchen in day-shift 3 days back and stored in fridge ).


And sorry that the size is 10 % smaller as compared to my wife’s preparation . 

But what you get is prepared by machines and untouched by hands , to protect you from Covid Virus

God forbid, but if you get loose motions after consuming , Customer Care number / email ID is on the packet . What’s more you are covered by the Consumer Protection Act , whereby the XYZ kitchen is accountable for paying you the damages “



Ø  What would happen if , on any given day, 10 % of the 1,000 vendors assigned to a given Central Kitchen, fail to turn up to pick-up their supplies ? Will they get billed whether they pick up their QUOTA of food or not ?


Ø  Will vendors be required to deposit some money ( kind of an Advance Payment ) with Central Kitchens ? Will they pay the kitchen monthly ?




Dear Policy Makers ,


To dabble into distribution of STREET FOOD is something where “ Angels fear to tread

In order to launch the “ integrated value chain system “ as fast as you would want, I urge you to make a beginning with those NON-FOOD household items that I have described earlier

Let us cover those 8 MILLION non-food vendors first , who will buy their supplies from wherever they want / whenever they want / sell at whatever price they want




With regards,


Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  22  July  2020







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