Street Vendors get government support

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Street Vendors get government support

Helping those who need it: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) will launch the ‘Main Bhi Digital (me too digital)’ drive for the street vendors to enable them to accept and make payments digitally. The drive was encouraged by the success of the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi) scheme, launched in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown, to provide vendors microcredit.
Highlights:

Main Bhi Digital Drive - As part of the new drive, between 4th January to 22nd January 2021, over 10 lakh street vendors across the country who have availed of the Rs. 10,000 loan will be trained in using digital payments. The vendors would be able to not just receive payments digitally but also pay for material they procure from sellers using unique QR codes. The mobile phones of the vendors will be equipped with the software needed for the transactions, and training provided to them on safe and secure payments.
PM SVANidhi Scheme - It is a scheme of the MoHUA launched in June 2020 which entitles the street vendors to Rs. 10,000 interest-free loan as working capital to restart their businesses. Data shows that only 20% of the beneficiaries are digitally enabled.
Street Vendors in India: Anyone who doesn’t have a permanent shop is considered a street vendor. According to estimates, street-vending accounts for 14% of the total (non-agricultural) urban informal employment in the country. There are an estimated 50-60 lakh street vendors in India, with the largest concentrations in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.

Issues: Licence caps are unrealistic in most cities, for example, Mumbai has a ceiling of around 15,000 licences as against an estimated 2.5 lakh vendors. So most vendors hawk their goods illegally, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation and extortion by local police and municipal authorities. Often, local bodies conduct eviction drives to clear the pavements of encroachers, and confiscate their goods. Fines for recovery are heavy.
Organizations:

National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI): It is a membership based organization of 1,024 street vendors organizations representing 10,00,000 street vendors from almost all parts of India.
National Hawker Federation (NHF): It is an association of street vendors across 28 States in the country, with 1,188 Unions, including 11 Central Trade Unions and over 20 International Trade Unions abroad.

Other initiatives: The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 was enacted to regulate street vendors in public areas and protect their rights. The Act defines a “street vendor” as a person engaged in vending of articles of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in any public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place”.
Socio-economic: The government has also launched its first-ever official socio-economic survey of vendors, to bring street vendors under schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, the Jan-Dhan Yojana, Building and Other Construction Workers Act 1996, the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana etc.
Summary: Despite multiple schemes running for the street vendors, there are various gaps in implementation, identification, awareness and accessibility of various schemes which should be plugged in a timely manner. Benefits like maternity allowances, accident relief, natural death compensation, education support for children for higher studies, pension during any crisis should be provided to them.

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