Essay
How will you help street hawkers who have lost their source of income due to covid.
Please help I have to submit this on Monday i just need a conclusion on this essay.
Answers
Answer:
Livelihood promotion for all vendors, including those selling non-essential goods: The impact of COVID-19 has been very harsh on informal workers who have exhausted their capital and earnings in trying to feed themselves during the extended lockdown period. Vendors need to be able to resume vending for survival and the government should take steps to begin to reopen markets and allow vendors back on the streets.
Reopening of Markets keeping in mind social distancing and hygiene: Delhi has many different types of traditionally crowded markets including weekly markets (for fresh food, cooked food and essential household items) and daily markets that operate on the sides of roads. These markets will need to resume keeping in mind the need for social distancing and the government should release guidelines for the same. Going forward, vending zones must also be designed keeping in mind the need for social distancing and for sufficient hygiene facilities (running water, washing stations and toilets). The authorities should work with Town Vending Committees (TVCs) for the same.
Provide direct support which is de-linked from existing registration requirements: As lockdown is lifted and vending resumes, vendors who have been at home for months will need direct income benefits to resume their work. The government stimulus package, while a welcome step, is insufficient in the nature of relief (credit not direct cash transfer) and eligibility (only registered vendors are eligible, which leaves out the majority of vendors in the country). In addition, government relief and support needs to be de-linked from very rigid registration requirements, as very few vendors have been registered in India. In Delhi, out of roughly 300,000 street vendors, only about 131,00 have some form of occupational identification. If the criteria for any kind of cash grant or livelihood support is linked to occupational identification by the state, then the government should also accept registration with a workers’ organisation/union as a proxy for government-issued vending passes.
Ensuring hygiene and social distancing at sites of vending: The government needs to take steps for provision of running water and soap/sanitisers for street vendors at their place of work. Additionally, vendor organisations should work with food safety authorities in the country to train vendors (especially cooked food vendors) in ways to maintain hygiene while working.
Taking steps to survey and register more vendors for access to government benefits: As mentioned earlier, the number of vendors who have some form of identification are a fraction of the actual population of vendors in Delhi. Before the crisis and subsequent lockdown, the Town Vending Committees (TVCs) were supposed to start surveying and registering vendors. As we get used to the new normal, the process of survey and registration should also begin to ensure that all vendors are able to access social security benefits and financial aid during this period of crisis
Answer:
This paper introduces a special issue on food vending in the city. It contextualizes a collection of papers on street food and markets across time and global space that authors submitted before the 2020 pandemic. Focusing specifically on the mobilization of urban space for food provisioning and microenterprise, we theorize markets beyond the singular narrative of capital accumulation. Given the particular moment of its publication – which comes almost one year after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus to be a pandemic in March 2020 – our introduction probes the impact of COVID-19 on food vendors as well as on the cities that sustain them. Drawing on examples from cities such as New Delhi, New York City, Los Angeles and beyond, we comment on how the pandemic has unleashed threats to livelihoods and liveliness, and we also draw attention to the possibility of new social and economic opportunities in this moment of crisis, including innovative uses of urban space.