It is obvious that no attention has been paid to enhancing the ‘capacity building’ abilities of vendors (“ >Living on the city’s sidelines ”, June 18). They need organisers. Many organisations have initiated worker education classes aimed at leadership development, awareness of legal rights, municipal corporation procedures, a sharpening of negotiating skills, dealing with the police and even learning accounting procedures. It is only through exposure and exchange that professional solidarity can be strengthened.
Cooperatives can also be a powerful mechanism in organising street vendors. As cooperatives are profit-oriented organisations, they will suit the needs of vendors who are instinctively entrepreneurial. However, ‘capacity building’ is needed to manage and meet statutory and mandatory requirements. Cooperatives would enable vendors to pull in the resources and rid themselves of exploitative forces relating to their trade.
Chitvan Singh Dhillon,
Chandigarh
Vendors are a major cause of nuisance, blocking pedestrian pathways and generating enormous amounts of garbage. The solution lies in banning hand-driven carts. A city which aspires to be world class cannot have medieval ways of selling articles. Instead, motor-driven carts should be promoted. Urban local bodies should also be pressured into promoting welfare measures for this vulnerable class.
Sweety Gupta,
New Delhi
