Context :
BMC lists 32K legit
hawkers in city; unions demand fresh survey
……….. HT / 05 May 2023
Extract :
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC)
town vending committee (TVC) on Wednesday approved a list of 32,000 hawkers who can carry out their
trade. This, members of hawkers’ unions feel, will deprive over a lakh of their
livelihood. Eight unions have demanded a fresh survey be conducted and those
left out in the cold be allowed to participate in the TVC elections, failing
which they will move court.
TVC has the authority to implement the hawker’s policy. It
is headed by the civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and has representatives from
various departments of BMC, MMRDA, traffic, police, members of the hawker
association and civil society.
Shashank Rao, president, Mumbai Hawkers’ Union
encapsulated the street vendors’ voice – that the survey be done according to The Street Vendors (Protection
of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 in which BMC
had received more than one lakh
application. (See box)
“This is unfair as there
are over 2.5lakh hawkers in the city and the act says 2.5
percent of the population can be accommodated. Mumbai’s population is 1.4crore,” said Rao. “Over 80 per cent have been ignored. What will happen to their
livelihood?”
The unions --- Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers’ Union, Mumbai
Hawkers’ Union, Azad Hawkers’ Union, Jai Hindustan Hawkers’ Union and four
others have given a written representation for a re-survey, failing which it
will be termed a mock exercise, benefitting neither the city nor hawkers.
Rao called attention to the objective
of the act – to regularise
hawkers. In the absence of that, money is “spent by way of haftas to
the officials”. “They do not want to stop this because they have no other job. There is a major hitch there,” he added.
Nawaz Khan, president, Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers’ Union
said the act was formulated in 2014 after eight unions pooled in their energies
and moved Supreme Court. “The TVC was formed in 2013 and the act formed the
next year. The committee was authorised to conduct a survey on hawkers. Today
we have a 20-member committee with eight members from hawkers’ union. Blaming
the pandemic, Chahal conducted the meeting for the first time on Wednesday.”
Khan added BMC charged ₹100
for each form distributed to 1.28 lakh hawkers for the survey, seeking their
personal details.
The civic body started working on the hawkers’ policy
after the Parliament passed the act in 2014. In 2016, the BMC started issuing
licences to hawkers, following which a survey of 1,28,444 hawkers was carried
out; 99,435 submitted their applications of
which only 15,361 hawkers were found eligible in
2019 since the state government had made domicile certificates mandatory for
them.
The Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and
regulation of street vending) Act, 2014, mandates that the town vending committee (TVC) survey and give licence to those in the
business of hawking.
In 2014, a survey was conducted to ascertain the number of
hawkers in business within the limits of BMC. Many
hawkers who have been carrying on their trade for years were not included in
the survey – their applications were not accepted.
On the other hand, applications of many who were not
related to the trade were accepted.
Nine years have
gone by since the first survey.
TVC is expected to conduct a survey of hawkers every five years.
MY
TAKE :
I presume the rationale behind “ restricting “ the
number of “ licensed “ hawkers ( to 2.5 % of Mumbai’s population of 140 lakhs =
3.5 lakh hawkers ) is :
“ The hawkers are permitted to occupy foot-paths, in
order to carry on their trade. Mumbai
has strictly limited length ( area ) of foot-paths, which is frozen. Hence , a limited number of hawkers can be
licensed “
This “ condition “ sounds logical
BMC seems to be telling the millions of “ Unemployed “
:
“ Hey guys ,
Get self=employed by all means - but ply your trade
INDOORS , not on the STREETS
Look at the INDOOR trades listed at :
Ø Rejoice , You , Self - Employed ! …………..
15 May 2016 “
But the questions that needs to be answered are :
# As of today , neither any State Government , nor the Central Government, has
released a “ Policy of Self Employment “
# Restrictions imposed , either by a local Municipal Corporation or by a State
Government , or by a
what kind of a trade / business / profession , can be carried
out
inside of a person’ s home.
If violated , police harassment is
guaranteed !
# In the absence of a clear cut law encouraging “ self employment “ , are we not
inviting a huge
I once again urge the Central Government to examine my
suggestion at :
A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER ? aka "
Start Up Act - 2015 " …12 Sept 2015
With whatever modifications deemed necessary to my above-mentioned
suggestion , I urge the Central Government to announce a SELF EMPLOYMENT
POLICY , as soon as possible
It does not require a genius to guess ( - and correctly too ) that , in the next 2 /
years, millions of clerical jobs will disappear due to launch of hundreds of “
productivity-enhancing “ apps based on ChatGPT and its
cousins
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.hemenparekh.ai / 07 May 2023
Related Readings :
Ø Thank
You, Shri Sanjog Kabare ……………………………….
22 Sept
2022
Ø Thank You, Shri
Hardeep Singh Puriji………………………. [ 01 June 2020 ]
Ø BMC proposes :
Hawkers will dispose ? …………..[ 26 Feb 2020 ]
Ø Street Vendor
Loan Scheme ………………………………………….[ 14 May 2020 ]
Ø Eke
Out a Living ( aka, “ Papi Pet ke Khatir “ ) ……………. 01 May 2022
Ø Fresher
need not apply ? ……. ………………………………………09
Sept 2020
Ø
Street Vendors : How to Organize ? ………………………………[
21 July 2021 ]