Roadside seduction

MOLE'S EYE VIEW

Even the most hygiene conscious of us succumb to the temptations of street food now and then. And we do survive it, as do tens of thousands of others who do not have the option of fine-dining in an air-conditioned eatery. Some countries in Southeast Asia are in fact promoting street food as a tourist attraction.

These food vendors form a small part of the overall roadside economy of India, which, in a sense, oils the wheels of the organised economy by providing service to the walking and cycling class of low-paid unskilled workers in offices and factories, and also to non-workers in the lower income categories.

After being dismissed as a nuisance for years, these vendors may be a little closer to getting a legitimate right to provide retail services, subject to regulation.

Street vendors are estimated to number anywhere from 2-10 million, and provide a huge source of rent (read bribes) to the municipal and police authorities.

They have had their own share of court directives, task forces and policy drafts, the last one coming from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) about three months ago which recognises their "valuable services to the urban population while trying to earn a livelihood and it is the duty of the state to protect the right of this segment of the population to earn their livelihood".

This right to livelihood of the vendors "" Parth J Shah of the Centre for Civil Society refers to them as "street entrepreneurs" "" should not however encroach upon the right of the pedestrians on the footpath or those driving on the street. The spillover vendors are proposed to be housed in special hawking zones. The idea seems workable, except that the services provided are useful only on the roadside.

"People will not go off the road for their cold drinks, icecreams, water, cobbler or paan," says IIT professor Dinesh Mohan who has spent a lifetime pushing for an "Indian" model of city transport development.

There is another critical reason for keeping these vendors on the road "" security. "Don't you feel safer walking down a road which has vendors, rather than one which is deserted," he asks me. These vendors are the "eyes" of a city.

"And if they are encroaching on public space (5-8 sq m per vendor), your car parked on the road (20 sq m) is doing that too...and much more than them," he argues.

So the next time you pass a bustling hawker filled street, and the food fragrances get overpowering, you may choose not to indulge yourself, but do remember to be a little more indulgent of those who offer such a brave example of private enterprise!