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The problem of street hawking is not only a national issue but also an international one. Lack of gainful employment coupled with poverty in rural areas has pushed people out of their villages in search of a better existence in the cities. These migrants do not possess the skills or the education to enable them to find better paid, secured employment in formal sectors and so they have to settle their work in the informal sectors. The first category, namely low skill rural migrants, exists in all countries of Asia such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, and Vietnam etc. Again some workers who were earlier in the formal sectors, lost their jobs because of closures, downsizing or merger in the industries and had to seek low-paid work in the informal sectors in order to survive. The second category, namely, workers who were earlier in the formal sectors, exists in the countries like Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India etc.
The number of street vendors in Bangladesh is large. According to information from Dhaka City Corporation, there are around 90,000 street vendors and here street vending is considered as an illegal trade and the street vendors face constant harassment from the authorities. The vendors have to pay a sizeable part of their income as bribes in order to keep playing their trade. |
Street Hawkers in Dhaka City |
Street Vendors in Sri Lanka appear to be in a slightly better position than their counterparts in Bangladesh and India . Street vending in most urban areas is not totally illegal and vendors can carry on their trade on the pavements by paying a daily tax to the municipal council. Despite gaining some legal recognition, vendors are evicted if the municipal council feels that they cause problems to the general public.
The most observable fact about Bangkok is its street vendors. Almost every street in this city has street vendors selling an array of items-clothes, curios, electronic items and a wide variety of cooked and raw food. In fact, food vendors of Bangkok are known for their cheap but nutritious fare. The municipal authorities in Bangkok have demarcated sites where street vendors can operate. There are such 287 sites in the city. There are also 14 sites on private land. The sites officially allotted for street vending are not sufficient for accommodating all street vendors. Moreover, these areas do not cover all sections of the city and hence customers are not catered to.
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This led the street vendors operating in unauthorized areas. There are 407 sites where operate in the sites that are unauthorized.
Singapore is the only country in the world where all street vendors are licensed. It is the duty of Hawkers’ Department to check that there are no unlicensed hawkers and it issues licenses to those waiting to hawk goods on the pavements. One significant fact about street vendors in Singapore is that over the past 30 years they have helped to keep the cost of living down since workers, students and the poorer sections depend on them for their daily necessities, including their meals.
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Street hawkers in Bangkok |
The significant feature about Malaysia is that it is one of the few countries in Asia that has given some form of recognition
to street vendors . In 1990, Malaysia formulated the National Policy on Hawkers. The regulation and control of street vendors is under the department of hawkers and petty traders (DHPT) established in 1986. According to DHPT the number of licensed street vendors rose by 30% between 1990 and 2000. |
Picture of Street Hawkers in Malaysia |
Street Vendors play an important role in urban Vietnam's commerce. They provide low priced goods and generate employment for a large number of people, specially women.
In 1989 the Vietnamese government adopted a law on protection of people's health. A survey on food samples in the Hanoi showed that 47% were microbiologically unsafe. Within a few years the scene changed and 23.4% of the food vendors had changed their unhygienic practices. The government has adopted two practices for ensuring safer street food, namely, monitoring street food vendors through a licensed system and educating and training them on hygiene.
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Street Hawkers in Vietnam |
The government of South Korea, like most of other governments in Asia, is insensitive to the problems of urban poor. Street vendors and slum dwellers are under constant attack by the government. Another peculiar feature about South Korea is that the government hire gangsters to evict street vendors and slum dwellers. The economic crisis in South Korea in 1998 resulted in massive restructuring. As a result several workers in the formal sectors lost their jobs and had to move to informal sectors. At present Seoul has around 8,00,000 street vendors.
Unfortunately, the governments in these countries have more or less refused to recognize street vending as a legal activity and they in fact view these vendors as irritants to the city's development. Even in the countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, which do not have a large formal sector, the governments did not give legal recognition to street vending. India has recently framed a national policy for street vendors, which if implemented, will provide security to them. At present, the street vendors face constant harassment from the authorities.
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