LIFE ON THE STREET

LIFE ON THE STREET

There are more than five thousand towns and twenty-seven big cities in India. Big cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc. have more than a million people living and working here. They say that 'the city never sleeps!' Let's visit one and find out about the work people do in the city. Are they employed by someone or are they self-employed? How do they organise themselves? And do they have similar employment and earning opportunities?

This is the city where my cousin lives. I’ve been here only a few times. It is very big. Once, when I came here, my cousin took me around. We left the house early in the morning. As we turned the corner onto the main street we saw that it was already buzzing with activity. The vegetable vendor was busy arranging tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers in baskets at her stall so that people could see what she had to sell. Next to her stall was a lovely, colourful one that sold all kinds of flowers.

We bought a red rose and a yellow rose. On the pavement opposite, we saw a person selling newspapers with a small crowd of people around him. Everyone wanted to read the news! Buses whizzed past and there were auto-rickshaws filled with school-children. Nearby, under a tree, a cobbler sat taking his tools and materials out of a small tin box. Next to him, the roadside barber had begun his work: he already had a customer who wanted an early-morning shave!

A little way down the road, a woman was pushing along a cart with all kinds of plastic bottles, boxes, hairpins, clips, etc. in it while another person on a cycle trolley was carrying vegetables to sell to people in their houses.

We came to a place where rickshaws were standing in a row waiting for customers. We decided to take one to the market, which was about two kilometers down the road.

Activity:

1. What do you see in this illustration?

2. You have already read about the work that people do in rural areas. Now compare the work that people in this illustration are doing with the work that people do in rural areas.

3. Some parts of the city are different from others. What differences do you notice in this illustration?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

LIFE OF BACHCHU MANJHI

LIFE OF BACHCHU MANJHI

I, BACHCHU MANJHI come from a village in Bihar where I worked as a mason. My wife and three children live in the village. We don't own land. In the village, I did not get masonry work regularly. The income that I earned was not enough for our family.

After I reached this city, I bought an old cycle rickshaw and paid for it in installments. This was many years ago.

I come to the bus stop every morning and take the customers wherever they want to go. I work till 8.30 in the evening. I take rides of up to 6 kilometres in the surrounding area. Each customer gives me Rs. 10-30 per trip depending on the distance. When I'm ill I can't do this work, so on those days, I don't earn anything.

I stay with my friends in a rented room. They work in a nearby factory. I earn between Rs. 200-300 every day, out of which I spend Rs. 100-150 on food and rent. The rest I save for my family. I visit my village two or three times a year to see my family. Though my family survives on the money I send, my wife also earns from agricultural work that she gets once in a while.

Activity:

1. Why did Bachchu Manjhi come to the city?

2. Why can't Bachchu Manjhi live with his family?

3. Talk to a vegetable vendor or hawker and find out how do they organise their work, their way of preparing, purchasing, selling, etc.

4. Bachchu Manjhi has to think twice before taking a day off from work. Why?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

VENDORS AND SERVICES

VENDORS AND SERVICES

Provide a service

Like Bachchu Manjhi a large number of people in the city work on the streets. In a survey of Ahmedabad city, it was found that 12 percent of all the workers in the city were people working on the street. They sometimes sell things or repair them or provide a service.

They work on their own. They are not employed by anyone and therefore have to organise their own work. They have to plan how much to purchase, as well as where and how to set up their shops. Their shops are usually temporary structures: Sometimes just some boards or papers spread over discarded boxes or maybe a canvas sheet hung up on a few poles. They may also use their own carts or simply a plastic sheet spread on the pavement. They can be asked to dismantle their shops at any time by the police. They have no security. There are certain parts of the city where these hawkers are not allowed to enter.

Often workers who make a living in the city are forced to set up their homes on the street as well. Below is space where several workers leave their belongings during the day and cook their meals at night.

Vendors

Vendors sell things that are often prepared at home by their families who purchase, clean, sort, and make them ready to sell. For example, those who sell food or snacks on the street, prepare most of these at home.

There is almost one crore 'street vendors' in the country working in urban areas. Street vending was till recently looked upon only as an obstruction to traffic and to people walking. However, with the effort of many organisations it is now recognised as a general benefit and as a right of people to earn their livelihood. The government is thinking about modifying the law that banned street vendors, so that they have a place to work and that there is also a free flow of traffic and people. Hawking zones have been suggested for towns and cities. It has also been suggested that mobile vendors should be allowed to move around freely. Hawkers need to be part of committees that are set up to take these and other decisions relating to them.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK