Express News Service
CHENNAI: For the last three weeks, a group of street vendors who do business along the Marina beach have resumed their one-time ritual of picking up waste on a stretch of the shore from near the corporation swimming pool until the labour statue. This had been a weekly ritual where a group of us (vendors) assemble every Monday before 9 am and pick up waste along the beach. We had stopped the practice for around three years. Now, we are taking it up once again, said Sekaran, National Association of Street Vendors of India.
On Monday, a group of fifty vendors gathered on the beach to pick up waste. While this initiative by the vendors has remained largely unknown, they have, in the past, been accused of polluting the beach and dirtying it by some sections of the population.
Street food is an integral part of India’s culture and urban identity
The COVID-19 rupture offers a unique opportunity to both the Indian government and street food entrepreneurs to reorganise while keeping the romance of street food alive. Singapore should serve as an inspiration
REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
India’s street food vendors are among the communities and economic units worst hit by COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns. Overnight their businesses came to a standstill, many were forced to trudge their way back home to villages, and those who stayed back in cities saw the supply-demand equation of their fragile businesses crumble.
Impact of Lockdown Relief Measures on Informal Enterprises and Workers
Much has been said and written about the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the Indian economy, the stimulus packages announced by the Government of India and the sad plight of the migrant workers. This article brings into focus segments of the economy that constitute the bottom of the labour hierarchy, namely microenterprises, construction workers, street vendors and domestic workers. Will the relief measure help refigure their livelihoods after the lockdown is lifted?
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates informal employment worldwide to consist of 2 billion workers, or 62% of all workers. Informal employment constitutes 90% of workers in low-income countries, 67% in middle-income and 18% in high-income countries. Further, women tend to be more exposed to informality in low- and lower-middle-income countries, which makes them more vulnerable to economic shocks (ILO 2020).
Chennai s Marina beach vendors fear loss of livelihood as number of shops to be slashed
Sekaran and around 300 other vendors gathered in protest near the state guest house in Chepauk against the decision to restrict shops on the beach to 900, based on a High Court order
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Vendors on Marina beach who have been doing business for around 40 years protesting due to fears that it may be the end of the road for them (Express | P Jawahar)
Express News Service
CHENNAI: Vendors who have been doing business along the Marina beach for as long as 40 years now fear they may lose their livelihoods, with the city corporation set to allocate only 900 shops for them from at least 1400 that are currently on the beach, based on a Madras High Court order.