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 ]
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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