- Background Characteristics
As shown in Table-1, out of total participants, 17 males and 3 females participated in the study from 14 different districts of Maharashtra ranging from age 19-59 years. The average age was 38.95 years (sd ±10.45). Their education level ranged from no schooling to 12th standard. Out of 20 street vendors, 15 were non-migrant, whereas two were migrant workers from the States of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and three were migrated from their home villages to district places within Maharashtra state. Almost all the participants were working as street vendors for more than three years, and it was their sole source of income. Out of all, eight were fruit or vegetable vendors whereas rest (12) were food vendors. Less than 50% (9) participants were able to continue their vending activity during the lockdown period ( see Table 1).
- Before Lockdown
i. Working hours and Earnings:Before lockdown, street vendors used to work around 16-18 hours a day. Over half of them mentioned that they were earning a profit of up to rupees 200 per day (USD 2.66) whereas others earned more than Rs.300 (USD 4) and sometimes up to rupees 800-1000 (10-13 USD) per day. However, they also mentioned that their business did not yield consistent profit and they had to incur losses at times.
One of the migrated participants stated that, Usually, on daily basis, I earn rupees 600-800 out of which after cutting expenses I am left with 5-6K (Indian rupees) by the end of the month. In case of an emergency, such as health issues, I am not able to save even this much. How much ever it is, I send it to my family.
ii. Tax: Before lockdown, approximately half of the participants were paying tax in between 5-20 rupees (less than half USD) daily to the local authority.
iii. Loans: Most of the vendors (13) had to take loans from relatives, friends, or self-help groups to either set up their business or to keep it running.
iv. Challenges before lockdown:The majority of the vendors mentioned, they were able to work before lockdown freely but few mentioned that they had to face the problem of frequent evictions by the local authority. Some participants mentioned that due to competition from financially sound vendors they were unable to sell their goods. In this study, the participants are those who sell perishable goods. All agreed that if they fail to sell off the goods, it gets spoilt and has to be thrown away leading to financial loss. One of the vegetable vendors stated that “
When I am unable to sell particular goods on the same day, I have no other option than to throw away. But this only incurs the loss.”
- After Lockdown
i. Essential perishable goods (fruits and vegetables) vendors: After the announcement of the lockdown, fruits and vegetable vendors were given limited time to sell their goods. Also, other daily wage earners have been impelled to turn into vegetable vendors; this resulted in more number of suppliers with declined demand from the customers. This affected their regular work. Fruit and vegetable vendors were also facing difficulties since as per the government orders they had to roam and sell their goods rather than being stationary. Vendors have mentioned that in their traditional stationary kind of shop, customers were familiar, now they have to go around the colonies to find new customers. It is time-consuming and due to high competition, the vendors were compelled to sell their goods in cheap, leading to loss.
In the current situation, customers’ confidence has waned. They prefer buying from vendors who are reaching their doorsteps. As a result, many regular customers of these vendors had been reduced. One of the vendors quoted, Earlier, when working, there was a stationary vegetable shop, so the customers used to know it, and this yielded some profit to us. But at present, it takes time to find a customer as we have to roam through the colonies with our vegetable cart. In that too, if the customer buys the goods within the time allotted by the government, there is no profit as they ask for less than half of the actual rate and we are not able to sell all the goods.
ii. Non-essential perishable goods (food) vendors: Half of the food vendors (10) could do nothing during the lockdown period. With the loss of income, they faced financial difficulties which forced them to consider starting other businesses. It was easy to sell only vegetables and fruits at that time, so few food vendors (1) started selling vegetables and fruits; one such participant stated that “After one month of lockdown, I started selling vegetables…as only this was allowed. Opening a grocery store would have required more investment which was out of the question for me.”
Others (2) have started their food vending activity through home and parcel service.
iii. Loans: During the lockdown, approximately half (9) of the participants had to take a loan to cover their daily expenses. Two months of lockdown has brought their businesses to a standstill leaving no option to repay the loan.
iv. Precautions against COVID-19 pandemic: Vendors who could somehow work amidst lockdown have reported usage of sanitizers and masks as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. They also follow the rule of physical distancing. The majority (13) mentioned that they are not able to wash their hands regularly at the workplace due to the absence of water.
Most vendors (16) say that COVID 19 is a pandemic disease that has spread all over the world, so the crisis is everywhere. We will have to endure until this time is over and they mentioned that they have to face this crisis with courage.
“This disease is different, what to do? We should all save our lives first; a business can be started later. Life is more important than anything else. Once the situation is under control, I will be able to resume my work, "quoted by one vendor.
But about half of the vendors (9) who have lost their daily bread & butter and feel worried said that it may be the biggest health crisis for the entire world but it is a huge financial crisis for them.
v. Home environment: Most of the vendors (17) mentioned that the home environment has changed drastically. They had to reduce their household expenditure to less than half. Over half of the vendors (12) said that their income had stopped during the lockdown so they did not have money to buy rations at home. “I am not allowed to open my shop; hence, there is no income. A neighbor’s aunt offered to help me with wheat, and a friend gave me some money. This is how I run my house,” one of the vendors stated.
vi. Health issue: During the study, it was found that some (6) of the vendors' household members suffer from diseases like diabetes and hypertension, so the cost of treatment became unaffordable. Few (2) expressed their fear of inefficiency in getting any treatment if any family member falls sick. They can hardly afford it.
vii. Hoarding of food and other necessary items: Many of the participants (18) mentioned that they make money daily and run household expenses by buying daily needs on an everyday basis. But the lockdown has created a problem for them as they don’t have enough money to buy daily needs in bulk. Almost all of the participants have mentioned that they cannot afford to stock commodities.
viii. Experience of Migrated workers on their journey to their homes: Some vendors (3) said that when they reached their village, they were sent to a nearby government hospital for examination. Some migrants (6) received masks, train tickets, biscuits, water bottles free of cost for their journey. Six migrants returned from Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh. It took them 3 days to reach. He said that to earn a living he has migrated to Maharashtra where he spends most of the year. As a result, his family members’ names have been removed from the ration card by the village Sarpanch. He complains that the Gram Panchayat does not pay attention to the plight of poor people like him.
In another case, the family of a vendor was renting a house in Maharashtra. The inability to pay rent during lockdown compelled them to return to their village. In the absence of public transport, his relatives had to spend a fortune to rent a private car to return to their home village.
- Governmental aid during COVID-19
a. Help received from the government: Eleven of the twenty participant vendors told about receiving free rations from Public Distribution System (PDS) shops or political leaders. Some vendors responded well in this regard. One of the vendors said, “Even without a ration card, our Sarpanch used to give me grains, etc. He is a good man. He always helps me and he helped me exceptionally in this situation.”
But the rest of the participants who approached the PDS shopkeeper were warded off since they did not have a ration card or needed documents. Few PDS beneficiaries complained that their ration cards have been damaged or they need to be replaced with new ones.
"I have not received any ration. I lost my old ration card. I have applied to the authorities to get a new card but the process has stopped due to lockdown. So I could not get free ration.”
The migrated families (3) who returned to the village were denied free ration as few of them did not have a card stating they belong to below the poverty line. Most of them (2) had heard in the news that they would get free ration without the card, but it did not happen. Nineteen out of 20 participants neither have an idea about Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana nor do they have Jan Dhan Yojana account in the banks.
b. The behavior of police and local authority towards street vendors: According to some vendors (9), despite following norms of social distancing at their stationery shops, police confiscate their weighing machines and goods. One vendor states, “
We cannot walk around the colony and sell our goods. Even though we try to sell our goods within the norms, the police seize our measuring machines and items. We are asked to pay a penalty for our goods in return. But if we can't sell anything during the day, we can't pay the penalty. By the time we get our goods back they are spoilt and have to be thrown. “Very few vendors (2) reported that they received cooperation from the police. In some areas, the government has issued identity cards to vendors and laid down some rules. Violation of those rules was punishable.
c. Street vendors’ perspective towards government welfare initiative during COVID-19. The government is managing this time of crisis quite well but the major responsibility lies on the shoulders of the people in the loop i.e., to cooperate with the government. One of the vendors states
“Government facilities are reaching out to many places for the public hence their lives are better to some extent. But in other places people’s life is pathetic.”
Concerning the current situation, “The government should work out vaccination against COVID-19 with all its might,” the reaction of one of the vendors. Those vendors who have procured loans expect that the government should provide loan assistance or debt forgiveness to them or politicians should come forward and offer some financial help individually. On the other hand, some vendors said that distributing ration alone is insufficient; instead, the government should assist them in terms of monetary help which will enable them to bear everyday household expenses crucial to sustaining life.
d. Packages and Schemes announced by the government: Most of the participants (17) are not aware of the schemes announced by the central government. Some said that due to prevailing loopholes at various levels, there is no guarantee that government schemes would benefit the needy. Even though the relief fund of Rs 20 lakh Crores to overcome COVID-19 has been announced, yet no concrete steps have been taken for street vendors. The aware vendors know that under this scheme there is a facility of availing loans up to rupees 10,000 but no further details have been issued. In this regard, one of the participants commented that “People who do not repay their loans on time get short-term loans but the bank does not give loans to the honest and poor working people like us.”
Some vendors (3) say that the government does not pay much attention to street vendors. Even if the schemes are implemented, they get lost midway. And then there are never-ending procedures of documentation to be able to get benefitted. There is no guarantee of when the current declared plan will be implemented.