Published Paper Details:

Street vending, which provides gainful employment to millions of migrant workers and the poor in cities, suffers from negative perceptions, lack of regulations and subsequent contestations over the use of urban spaces. The street vendors' positive contributions to the public spaces and government receipts go unnoticed due to the failure of urban governance to create adequate infrastructure and the persisting informal economy. Consequently, the substance of the spatial-temporal claim of street vendors to urban public spaces becomes obscure and in conflict with the narratives of the development of urban spaces. In India, the street vendors' right to livelihood is protected and their social protection is guaranteed by the national policy for street vendors. The policy was expected to provide street vendors with legitimacy, dignity, and social inclusion. Nearly two decades later, the policy has evidently brought about various positive impacts in the well-being of street vendors. Little information is published by governments and city authorities to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. But how far have we accomplished? This is a question that needs careful observation. "Crisis reveals the character," so goes an old saying. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns of cities exposed the vulnerability of street vendors and the limitations of the policy. Lockdown forced all industrial and commercial activities to be suspended and the streets of the country to be left deserted and empty for months. The crisis left the street vendors with no option for a livelihood but to stare at insecurity and uncertainty. This provided the context for a critical evaluation of the policy for street vendors.