A day in the life of Street Vendors of the Blue City, Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Jodhpur, the blue city of India which is located in Rajasthan is known for its heritage, culture, food and traditions. The people of Jodhpur are welcoming and sweet. Street Vendors are one of the most important attraction of not only Jodhpur but the whole India. The definition of the term ‘Street Vendors’ as defined by section 2 (1) of Street vendors (protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending) Act 2014 is- “Street vendor means a person engaged in vending of articles goods wares food items of merchandise of everyday use for offering services to the general public in a street, lane, sidewalk, footpath, pavement, public parks or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built-up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawkers, peddlers, squatter and all other synonyms terms which may be local or region specific; and the words Street vending with their grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly”.
As defined by the Delhi Street vendors (protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending) scheme 2019, there are mainly 5 types of street vendors- static vendors, mobile vendors, weekly Bazaar vendors, temporary vendors, night bazaar vendors etc.
This is the story of three street vendors, out of which two are brothers, Ramesh Shah and Shyam Shah, they own a vegetable and fruits stall respectively (Thela’s) and Neetu who is a mobile vendor sells steel utensils.
Ramesh Shah and Shyam Shah , born and brought up in Jodhpur. They have inherited the stalls from their father.
Ramesh, after every 4 days, leaves at 4 am in the morning for mandi on his bicycle, which is approximately 10 Kilometres from his house and it takes him around one hour to reach. Around 5:30 am the mandi opens and he buys various types of vegetables and fruits from the mandi like onion, tomato, spinach, cauliflower, corn, capsicum, ginger, garlic, lemon, chillies, coriander, mint, etc. and fruits like, apples, oranges, watermelon , pomegranate, bananas, coconuts, etc…
In the meantime Shyam puts up the shop (the thela) around 6 in the morning which is just 2 kilometres away from their home. Ramesh sells vegetables and Shyam sells the fruits.
At the mandi Ramesh rents a tempo to carry his vegetables to his shop (thela). The rent of the tempo comes around 300 rupees. The total amount of vegetables and fruits he buys for 4 days is around 350 kilograms and the rate of the total items is according to the day, because it keeps on changing as all commodity markets do.
Then Shayam collects the items from the tempo and sets them up on the thelas. There are other items too that are brought along with vegetables and fruits, like the polythene’s.(packaging)
Ramesh and Shyam told that they are required to pay 20rs to the Municipal Corporation of Jodhpur but in reality they are asked for 100rs, which is unfair.
“Ab kya karein, itna toh karna hee padhta hai, rozzi roti kaha se kamaye phir”
In one day Ramesh sells approximately 150 kg is of vegetables and Shyam sells 100 kg of fruits which is sufficient according to them.
“Kabhi kam kabhi zada, koi fix nahi hai beekai ka”
They mentioned that every day they face a lot of challenges. Both of them mentioned that travelling is a major challenge since it takes a lot of time to travel long distances, from home to mandi to shop and so on.
“Ab humari umar bhi hogai, lekin karna padhta hai, kya karein”
Another challenge that they face every day and with every customer is that the customers always try to bargain.
“Ab batao, hum gareeb aadmi se bhi daam kam karwate hai, ye sab logo k paas gaadi hai, aache ghar hai phir bhi, ab hum toh vahi daam bataenge jo market mein hai”
When asked about whether police helps them or harasses them, they mentioned that both, but mostly its harassment since they are superior to them. One of the police constable sahib comes and takes their items for free, they don’t even pay and just show his superiority.
“Police sahib badhe log hai toh kuch nahi bol sakte”
They also mentioned that the rate of the vegetables and fruits at the mandi keeps on changing and there are no set rates. The rate of the vegetables and fruits went really up due to the pandemic Covid-19.
Covid-19 impacted them the worse, they mentioned that it has not only impacted them but everyone. It was a really hard time for them; there were days when they had nothing to eat. They also mentioned that even after the lockdown, people were hesitant to buy vegetables and fruits from our shops/ thelas.
They also mentioned that there are no facilities in their area where they live, for example they just have one bathroom in their house and the area is not that safe for women and the lanes are very narrow and there is constant issue of sewage.
Sometimes when they forget to get their own food or tiffin’s they have to buy it from the outside. The timings are so hectic that because of this they don’t get to spend time with their family or have time for themselves.
They mentioned about an incident which involved a police constable and a harmless poor vendor.
Once a police constable had come (in civil uniform) and as usual he asked for money and threatened the poor vendor , he said that if the vendor has to put up his stall he will have to pay the constable for it. The vendor refused to pay and said that I am already paying to the Municipal Corporation. The constable got agitated and started shouting at the vendor and even thrashed him for refusing.
Another street vendor who was selling sukha petha, joined the conversation and mentioned that most of the thelas come under jurisdiction of different police stations and the vendors have to pay rent to them to put their thelas. For example, the police asks for money and say that you give us 500 rupees per month and we will let you put up your thelas and as soon as the big officers are out for inspection they will inform them before hand to remove the thelas. Therefore, there is a mutual relationship between them. But Ramesh and Shyam refused and said that “he doesn’t know anything, don’t listen to him”.
Towards the end I asked them if they have ever asked for help and their reply was that nobody helps anyone here everyone says that they will help but in the end nobody does anything for their betterment or livelihood. There are days when there are no profits or some vegetables or the fruits get spoilt so these are also one of the challenges that they face.
“kaha didi, (didi- little sister) koi kisi ka nahi hota, madad maange toh koi kaha aaj kal k zaamane mein madad karta hai, sabka apna apna hee hai”
They shared another incident which happened in their area. The police when they came to a thela wala nearby, they asked for money and the owner of the thela said that right now it is a very hard time for him and asked for some extension. The police then took his weighing scale,along with the weight and his earnings and asked him to come to the police station to collect the same by paying the fine.
Ramesh and Shyam were nice to talk to, even though they did not mention much about their family, they pointed out major issues and challenges which almost every street vendor faces.
Another street vendor the trainee interacted with was a lady named Neetu, she was referring herself as a Lohar(blacksmith), who sells utensils on her head while walking and travelling to different places.
She also mentioned that she faces a lot of challenges. She mentioned mostly the same issues and challenges which were pointed out by Ramesh and Shyam, like she has to travel on foot, long distances. She has to travel and identify the crowded area so that she can sell utensils. She mentioned that Covid-19 impacted her life badly since it becomes difficult to interact and identify crowded regions.
She mentioned that they are not allowed in the resident areas. People bargain with her and that she has to agree out of choice to the bargained rate.
“Bina paise se toh accha kam paise hee hai, kuch toh pet bharne layek ho”
There is a lot of pressure for her. She mentioned that the Seth ji gives them utensils to sell and 20% commission has to be given to him otherwise he is sweet and helpful and gives loan without interest.
There are many such challenges faced by each and every street vendor. Even though the government says that they have done a lot for their up-liftment, the real question is whether is it actually working or adequate for the street vendors or not.
There are many benefits of having street vendors since, the items which are sold in vendors shops or by vendors are much cheaper in price and more economically suitable for most of the people. Another reason is that their shops or they work on all days. Other reasons like, flexibility in the sense that the buyer and seller know each other because of which these shops give goods on credit also, proximity in the sense that these shops or vendors are in our neighbourhood and hence close to our homes are there. Therefore, the street vendors play a major role in the functioning of our society. Street vendors make lives easy for all classes of people.
This story has been covered by Tarana Adhikari of Department of Social Work, University of Delhi.