NHF PROGRAMS

In India, to promote and protect the livelihood of Street vendors and informal sector is very enitial. Informal sector workers Working More than 127occupations. 93% of the workforce is employed in the informal economy approximately 430 millions. Where the people are employed informally.Prominent among them are agriculture workers, Street Vendors/ Hawkers, Construction Workers, Rag Pickers, Domestic Workers, Home based Workers etc. Out of them majority fall under the marginalized identities. 88% SC & ST, 80% OBC, 84% Muslims. 91% of the women in the workforce fall in the informal economy. 78% Informal workers earn on an average a meagre Rs. 20 a day.

In this Informal sector Street Vendors is playing an most important role. The fact that street vendors are the integral part of the urban dwellers in the global space. They provide services to every class of the society and almost 75% of the of the country’s population. The population of the hawkers is around 4 crores. Adding 5 times dependents directly in terms of livelihood, we are talking about 20 crores. just in this metropolis who sustain themselves by selling goods and services in this part of the informal sector. So for their safety and smooth functioning of this largest informal sector livelihood activity Street Vendor protection and regulation act have to implement effectively. But in so called digital and smart world government is prosperously failed to implement the same. The Hawkers provide a wide array of goods and commodities to the urban populace at reasonable prices and Quality products in convenient locations. A survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Health and Hygiene counted 300 types of eatables sold by the hawkers of Calcutta. This food found more quality and hygienic than five star hotel. Street vendors are an integral part of our urban history and culture. Shopping and marketing, in a traditional Indian sense, has primarily been informal. Social interaction is integral to Indian markets in contrast to the mechanized and sterile concept of shopping favoured by modern market and super market structures. Instead having this Social and National contribution Hawkers are forced evicted by Government. So, we need to protect and promote vendors livelihood, for that SV act 2014 need to implement.

Women hawkers constitute 30-35 percent and to be able to address their specific concerns we enabled the formation of the All India Women Hawkers Federation. Their effective representation within the TVC is important. Though it is mandatory that one-third of women representatives must be there it is not always the case. We insist that this happens.
We notice inequality in terms of the spaces used. Male vendors often locate themselves in more prominent places. In a study, we undertook in Kolkata, almost all the spaces under the lamp-posts held by men. Women vendors especially those who sell vegetables have very long and extended day. They need to be at the wholesale markets by 4 or 5 am and by the time they end the day and reach home it is 11 pm. During this window, they must cook and do other chores to keep the rest of the family going. The major concern of women vendors, which has been assuaged, is the fear of eviction and seizing of the goods. Further lack of toilets has led to several of them suffering from gynaecological complications. They are also subject to sexual harassment notably by police and other bad elements. It is in our experience that the women hawkers have never been subjected to such treatment by fellow men hawkers.
We have been demanding the establishment of sanitation facilities in markets and other regular vending zones, crèche and in places a separate market for women.
We demand that health-care, education of children and housing and pension must be a part of the social security package of the Government.

80% hawkers in India are Youth. Vending is the backbone of the informal sector . Vending is the biggest sector which has the capacity to not to chennalise the productive energy of the Youth but gives the opportunity to the the to contribute positively to the economy. Vending is seen as the biggest source of livelihood of the Youth. Today young hawkers have become the catalyst of informal economy. Millions of youth shaping their lives and realizing and chasing their dream of better future in the business of vending. The National Hawker Federation recognizes the role of the presence of youth in vending and attributes extraordinary importance by creating a special platform within in the form of All India Youth Hawkers Federation.

National Hawkers Federation contributes to several global and national campaigns which raise fundamental issues about the economy. We have the world’s largest number of actions during Reclaim Power and other Global Action on Climate and Sustainability.
This is an area where we intensely work with Environics Trust and have been deepening the involvement of communities directly impacted by this false economy and false climate solutions. This book is released to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Hawkers Movement in India.
On behalf of the NHF we wish that all of you are able to build stronger and stronger movements and are able to exercise the power of your movements to ensure that their rights are protected and bring the changes people desire.

We are united around the following demands:

1. Ban new dirty energy projects
2. End government subsidies and public handouts to dirty energy companies.
3. Stop excessive energy consumption by corporations and global elites.
4. Redirect and mobilize public finance to ensure people’s universal access to energy and make the complete shift to public and community/decentralized renewable and clean energy systems as soon as possible.

5. Divest from fossil fuel corporations.
And we came together under the following call to action, issued in 2013:
We face a planetary emergency and now is the moment to step up our efforts to transform our societies.

The Earth’s climate is destabilizing and the planet is in crisis. Climate change is already harming our food and farms, oceans and fish, our access to freshwater. It is causing the increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events that lay waste to lives, homes and livelihoods.