Vendors make city streets safer and distinctive street food adds flavour to a city. In the din in Parliament over the creation of Telangana, the Rajya Sabha's ability to pass the bill to regulate street vendors (the Lok Sabha had passed it last year) has gone virtually unnoticed. As this legislation now enters the statute book, there is a chance of a qualitative improvement in urban life by curbing, if not ending, a highly unacceptable duality. Street vendors and hawkers have proliferated, making not just sidewalks but even carriageways in some cases unusable. In some cities, ambulances have even found it difficult to get in and out of some hospitals because of hawkers on the approach roads. On the other hand, periodic raids on hawkers (they have till now lacked any legal right to ply their trade) to "clean up" particular areas have eventually ended with them returning and remaining in business by keeping local policemen and toughs happy.
Once the President gives his assent to the bill, there will be a chance to strike a balance between a hawker's right to ply his trade and earn a livelihood (important in a poor country) and the public's need for usable roads and pavements. The latter has become more important in recent years as cities have consciously tried to make themselves pedestrian-friendly. Under the bill, hawkers will be able to register themselves with town-level vending committees (hawkers will be represented on these) and get certificates and identity cards. Virtually anybody will be able to become a hawker and will have the right to appeal against any decision of a vending committee and be heard. Conversely, a hawker who breaks rules may have to pay a fine or lose his registration. A critical regulation will be demarcating urban public spaces into three categories - vending freely allowed, allowed in a restricted way and not allowed at all. The local authority will prepare and update a street vending plan every five years and the state will approve it. Critically, there will be no permanent vendors' rights and they could be relocated. States can have their own vending laws so long as they do not contradict the central legislation.
The bill goes some way towards bringing in a better system but several issues remain and will have to be sorted out. The real issue for a vendor will be to get some space where there is high footfall. Vendors' representatives will not be consulted in the formulation of street vending plans and it is still an open question how many vendors will be allowed in a particular area. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, while still under the control of the Left Front, had formulated a plan under which not more than a third of a pavement could be occupied by hawkers and no individual could take up more than 40 square feet. But this was never implemented. In many towns and cities of India, there are roads that have no pavements. Will hawkers be allowed to operate on these roads creating further chaos? Another issue will be whether to allow food to be cooked (a messy business) on pavements or not. It seems reasonable to say that a hawker has a right to a livelihood but not to make public spaces filthy. Groups of hawkers in an area may have to organise vans to carry cooked food from kitchens located elsewhere. Perhaps the biggest uncertainty is a possible conflict between the rights of states and the Centre. The rights and obligations of hawkers come under the concurrent list but municipal zoning is in the domain of the states.
