Street Vendors in India get Legal Protection

Sharit Bhowmik

On the 5th of March 2014, the President of India approved a law passed by both houses of Parliament, titled ‘Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.’ This is a landmark legislation for around 10 million street vendors operating in different cities in India. The Act has not yet been operationalised because the day it received the presidential assent, the Model Code of Conduct for the general elections came into effect. Under this code, no new laws can be enforced till a new government is formed after the elections namely after 16 May 2014.

Extent of street vending
India is perhaps the only country that has provided legal protection to street vendors for conducting their business. According to the act, between 2 and 2.5 % of the urban population is engaged in street vending. In metros like Mumbai and Delhi, street vendors number 250,000 in each. The Act defines a street vendor as:

a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler, squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region specific...