STREET VENDING AT CROSSROADS
Street Vending has come a long way from the time the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) was formed 26 years before on 26th September 1998. Beginning as a network of few organizations, NASVI went on to organize the Street Vendors at the National level giving voice and visibility to a large section of urban poor who were present all across Indian cities but absent in Government Policies and Programs. NASVI went on to organize street vendors across India developing leaders and organizations at the city and state levels. Responding to the advocacy efforts, Govt of India organized a National Workshop of Street Vending in the year 2000 which led to the setting up of a Task Force and a Drafting Committee and ultimately a National Policy on Urban Street Vendors in 2004. The Policy had mixed responses but the numerous communication between the Govt of India and State Govts in the making and implementation of the Policy sensitised the State Govts and to some extent Municipal Bodies. Implementation led to many experimentations and soon NASVI began demanding for a law which could incorporate the lessons from implementation and experimentations. Some states began enacting law by themselves but finally, after many ups and downs The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 was enacted by Parliament. The National Urban Livelihood Mission too was launched where implementation of the law became an integral part.
