Street vendors 'not allowed' to do business despite Modi's PM Svanidhi loan scheme

By Arbind Singh*
Delhi has seen the worst forms of violations of human rights of street vendors, even after passage of Street Vendors Act 2014 and Distribution of 75,000 Certificate of Vending (COVs) to street vendors of Delhi.
Even after having a Law, there has been no change in the security of life and employment of the vendors, rather the situation has become even worse. There are cases of gross administrative disobedience towards the provisions of the Act and the scheme.
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 was implemented for protection of livelihood of street vendors in view of right to life and employment under Section 19-1 (G) and 21 of the Constitution respectively.
The municipal authorities and police forces, continue to act in a feudal way, disregarding the law and related policies of the government. The Prime Minister launched PM SVanidhi, a credit scheme for street vendors, but it's sad that on one hand they get the loan and on the other hand they are regularly evicted and not allowed to the business. Vendors are beaten up if they don't give bribe to the police. They are slapped by municipal authorities when they don’t get money from them.
Delay in survey, non-issuance of certificate of vending/ recommendation letter and even after issuance, not giving respect to it is common. Vendors are being harassed due to regular evictions and fines by police and municipal bodies, without rehabilitating them in the vending zone and without any notice, in violation of Section 3.3 of the Act.
Therefore, on the occasion of the Human Rights Day (December 10), it is necessary that the government should ensure the following:

Encroachment should be defined and vendors should be excluded from this scope of encroachment in the light of Street Vending Act.
All the street vendors surveyed should be given certificates of sale and the vendors should not be harassed at any cost.
Vending zones should be identified as soon as possible and all the vendors approved by the Town Vending Committee (TVC) and obtained Certificate of Vending should be given place in the vending zone.
Regular meetings of the committee should be organized by forming an elected Town Vending Committee (TVC) in each municipal body. Minutes of the meetings should be shared with the street vendors’ members.
The list of vendors should be shared by the municipality with the police so that police harassment stops. On the decision of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development, the Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MoHUA) vide letter (D.O. No: K-12017(30)/6/2020-UPA-II-UD-Part(1) dated 18 May 2021) to the Chief Secretaries all States are requested to instruct local municipal bodies to share the list of identified street vendors in the area with local police stations so that incidents of harassment against street vendors do not take place.
There should be social audit of implementation of Street Vendors Act 2014.
All government officials and responsible authorities should be trained on The Street Vendors Act 2014.
Government should speed up loan disbursement under PM SVanidhi Scheme

---
*National Coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

50 years of the Port of Spain miracle: The chase that redefined Indian cricket

By Harsh Thakor* Fifty years ago, India turned the tide to rewrite cricket history, rising from the depths of despair to a moment of enduring glory. Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is celebrated among cricket grounds for its poetic beauty. For India, it became a theatre of historic triumph. In 1976, it showed the cricketing world what it was made of.

Search This Blog