Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014

Mains level: Challenges related to Act implementation

Why in the News?

The Street Vendors Act was celebrated as a progressive legislation, but the law now faces numerous challenges in its implementation.

The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014:

	Details
Introduction and Objective	Introduced in Lok Sabha on 6 September 2012 by Kumari Selja, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Objective: Regulate street vendors and protect their livelihoods.
Enactment and Implementation	Came into force on 1 May 2014. Aims to legalize vending rights and establish mechanisms for protection and regulation. State-level rules and schemes are developed for execution.
Roles and Responsibilities	Delineates roles of street vendors and government. Commits to accommodating existing vendors in vending zones and issuing vending certificates.
Participatory Governance	Establishes Town Vending Committees (TVCs). Representation: 40% of TVC members, with 33% for women SVs. TVCs tasked with including all existing vendors in zones.
Grievance Redressal	Mechanisms for addressing grievances and Establishes Grievance Redressal Committee chaired by civil judge or judicial magistrate.
Survey and Identification	States/ULBs conduct surveys to identify vendors at least once every five years.
Certificate of Vending	Granted to vendors above 14 years. Can be transferred to family members. Can be cancelled

Role of Street Vendors: Street vendors constitute about 2.5% of any city’s population and play multifaceted roles in city life, providing essential services, modest income for migrants and the urban poor, and affordable goods for others.
Integral to Urban Life: Street vendors are essential for maintaining affordability and accessibility to food, nutrition, and goods distribution, and they are integral to the cultural fabric of cities like Mumbai and Chennai.

Administrative Challenges: Increase in harassment and evictions of street vendors despite the Act’s emphasis on protection and regulation.Outdated bureaucratic mindset viewing vendors as illegal entities.
- Lack of awareness and sensitization about the Act among state authorities, the public, and vendors.
- Limited influence of street vendor representatives in Town Vending Committees (TVCs), often remaining under the control of local city authorities.Tokenistic representation of women vendors in TVCs.
Governance Challenges: Weak existing urban governance mechanisms.
- Lack of integration of the Act with the framework established by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act for urban governance.
- Insufficient powers and capacities of ULBs.
- Focus on top-down policies like the Smart Cities Mission on infrastructure development, ignoring provisions for the inclusion of street vendors in city planning.
Societal Challenges: The prevailing image of the ‘world-class city’ tends to be exclusionary.Marginalization and stigmatization of street vendors as obstacles to urban development rather than legitimate contributors to the urban economy.
- Reflection of these challenges in city designs, urban policies, and public perceptions of neighborhoods.

Decentralization of Interventions: There’s a need to decentralize interventions and enhance the capacities of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to plan for street vending in cities.
Shift from Department-led Actions to Deliberative Processes: Moving away from high-handed department-led actions towards actual deliberative processes at the Town Vending Committee (TVC) level is crucial.
Amendments to Urban Schemes and Policies: Urban schemes, city planning guidelines, and policies need to be amended to include provisions for street vending.
Need-based Welfare Provisions: Broad welfare provisions of the Act should be used creatively to meet the emerging needs of street vendors, such as addressing the impact of climate change, competition from e-commerce, and reduced incomes.
Adaptation in National Urban Livelihood Mission: The sub-component of street vendors in the National Urban Livelihood Mission should acknowledge changed realities and facilitate innovative measures to address needs.

Q To what extent, in your opinion, has the decentralisation of power in India changed the governance landscape at the grassroots?