From Agenda to Action: Street Vendors Dialogue with Lawmakers to Convert Street Vendors Bill into Act

Labour day (1^st May 2013) was celebrated with great gusto by 800 street vendors from 8 states who gathered in New Delhi during a National Dialogue.  The dialogue was organised by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) in collaboration with Centre for Civil Society (CCS) to build momentum around the immediate enactment of The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act.  The dialogue brought together key stakeholders including Members of Parliament, civil society representatives, labour and human rights activists, and street vendors. 

During the dialogue street vendors shared the challenges that their work entails and the successes that they achieved as a result of sustain advocacy efforts with Municipalities officials and Commissioners in cities across various states.  The dialogue brought together a panel comprising of various stakeholders and civil society representatives.  One of the panellists, Mr. Suniti. K. R. Gupta representing the Department of Food Safety spoke briefly about what the Ministry was doing for the vendors in Delhi.  Mr. Shantanu Gupta from the Centre for Civil Society discussed the provisions of the Street Vendors Act. NAMHHR member, Ms. YK Sandhya was on a panel and spoke on the maternity benefits for the women working in the informal sector.

 Member of Secretariat, Ms. Aditi Sood also attended the event and disseminated the NAMHHR policy brief on maternity benefits during the event to the media, NGOs and other civil society members.