Pawan, a former electrician, set up chow mein stall in the over-crowded Sundar Nagri area in north-east Delhi, after an accident. When the COVID-19 lockdowns hit he had to wind up his business. Trade unions helped him to get a loan of ₹10,000 in 2022 from the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi). He now sells vegetables from a cart in the same area. “I have to take care of a family of 10. My monthly instalment towards the loan and its interest is ₹950. I am sure I can pay that back,” he said, hoping the government would do something more to compensate the loss he suffered during the pandemic.
The UPA government passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and the current NDA regime launched the PM SVANidhi scheme in June 2020, but street vendors like Pawan — one of the most vulnerable sections of society both economically and socially — are facing the brunt of poverty and administrative neglect, especially after the pandemic.
While agreeing that PM SVANidhi has helped street vendors with Letters of Recommendation (LoR) from the Centre, which were used to get bank loans, the unions working among street vendors in Delhi-NCR complain that the offering did not match the lockdown distress they faced. The BJP government, ahead of the elections, has claimed that it has spent about ₹8,600 crore under the scheme.
Street talk
Usha, a migrant from Gujarat, stays at Raghubir Nagar a suburb in Delhi that houses thousands of migrant street vendors like her. She barters steel kitchen utensils in return for barely used clothes that are cleaned and sold through weekly markets in Delhi. For the last 20 years, she has also been a volunteer for Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a 51-year-old trade union that works among women, including street vendors.
“Our families have been doing this job for more than five decades. Earlier it was ceramic pots, now it’s steel utensils. The monthly earning is about ₹6000. When we lost even that income during the COVID-19 pandemic, the PM SVAnidhi loans helped us to start afresh. But still, we find it difficult,” she said, adding that proper implementation of the Street Vendors Act can solve many problems they face. “Members of the Town Vending Committees should be elected democratically,” she said.
Lata, who leads about 10,000 women street vendors through SEWA, managing four weekly markets in Delhi, including the famous Sunday book market of Daryaganj, says, that post-lockdowns, several women started working as housemaids. Most are Dalits, minorities, and people from backward communities. Additionally, they are migrants, adding many layers marginalisation. Many men began working for food delivery apps or as guards.
Delhi has approximately 6 lakh street vendors as per trade union records. “For a 2-crore population, the government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) can provide more licenses to street vendors,” she said.
Loan complexities
The Union Urban Development Ministry said the aim of the PM SVANidhi loan was to help street vendors restart their businesses after COVID-19. Under the scheme, only available to those under 60 years, a collateral free working capital loan up to ₹10,000 was provided. It had a one-year tenure, with an enhanced loan of ₹20,000 and ₹50,000 in the second and third tranches respectively, on repayments of earlier loans.
“Earlier, banks were not ready to provide us loans even with a strict directive from the Union Urban Development Ministry. We had to hold several meetings with banks, MCD officials, and Delhi government officials to get these loans passed. We also organised protests for this,” said Shakeel Ahmed Siddiqui, the general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Rehri Patri Khomcha Hawkers Union, a trade union of street vendors affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
To incentivise regular repayment, the Centre had offered interest subsidy at a rate of 7% per annum and a reward for digital transactions, by way of cash back up to ₹1,200 per year. In the first year, the Centre got 68,23,294 eligible applications from across the country, and loans were sanctioned to 55,94,150 people; 52,20,140 loans were disbursed from this. Up to 20,61,513 loans were repaid, a second tranche was distributed to 14,57,955 street vendors. Out of this, 2,37,499 loans were repaid and a third instalment was given in June this year to 1,76,481 vendors.
“The number came down because verifications were slow. Many people who applied did not get the money, but on paper banks said they had provided the loans. Banks feared that money will not be returned. We have to be persistent to push files,” Ms. Lata said.
Mr. Siddiqui said street vendors need social security, while Ms. Lata said both Centre and State governments should constitute welfare boards for street vendors so that they will be of any help in the event of another crisis. “The issue is the approach of the governments towards poor. It has to change,” she said.
