Anshuman
Sitting in our rooms amid the lockdown, scrolling continuously through the social media platforms like Facebook,Instagram,Twitter and WhatsApp, feeds are flooded full of photos of a variety of food items,prepared in the respective kitchens of our friends and family.Photos of biryani,choley bhature, pasta in white sauce,dalgona coffee, samosa and what not.The online viewership of cooking tutorials is on an all-time boom.India,in the times of corona,when everyone is compelled to stay at home is surely missing on its appetite.
South Asia in general and India in specific is known for its street food. In India due to its huge diversity in lifestyles, we experience different kinds of food items which have a traditional and cultural resonance to specific areas. Majority of them are sold on Indian streets, which under usual conditions takes time to get prepared at home.There are various kinds of secret spices which are added to the recipe which add specific blends in the tastes of the food.These are unique on the streets and difficult to replicate in our homes.
In the past due to rapid urbanization in India, a large number of people migrated from their home towns to other places in search of livelihood, education and better standards of living. This has resulted in people carrying their local food cultures to whichever part of the country they migrate to.We can find foods cuisines,catering to a varied palette, ranging ranging from regional to global dishes being served on the road side thelas,from “Shimla Chaat” and “Patna ki litti” to Pizza,noodles and sandwiches are sold on the streets, Momos coming from Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet can be eaten today in every locality in India.
Street food, though needed by everybody, has various kinds of problems attached to it.The street food vendors mostly have mobile establishments or occupy free spaces in public areas which can be termed as commons.This leads to a continuous contestation between the state and the vendors.As they don’t pay formal taxes and operate on a fine line between legality and illegality. They don’t get any kind of protection from the state.They rather have to maneuver financially and socially with the state in order to cater their transaction.
The lockdown imposed by the state to avoid the spread of the virus has created various kinds of problems to the street food vendors and hawkers.Firstly, maximum number of these street food vendors are migrants.They depend on the market to buy raw material and sell finished products,through which they earn their living on a daily basis.The lockdown has led to a complete rupture of the whole mechanism.
As a result, these vendors and hawkers are unable to cater their daily requirements.Krishna Thapa who used to run a momos stall near Karol Bagh metro station,talks about the problems he had to face during the initial days of the lockdown.He was not able to pay his house rent and arrange daily food requirements. Eventually through one of his contacts he started a car cleaning job in the locality.Not everyone is as lucky as Krishna. Majority of these vendors are forced to go back to their native places,walking as the public transports are shut too.
Secondly,though the food on the streets consumed a lot by the people, there has always been a big question around the hygiene of food which is being maintained.The pandemic has created a sense of awareness in the minds of each and every one of us regarding the requirement to maintain health and
sanity.Though this is a positive outcome which we all must adhere to, it will also create a distrust in the minds of the people in the future regarding eating on the streets and impact the overall demand in an astronomical way.
Third, as their volume of business is quite low, majority of the street food vendors maintain low levels of surplus creation. These vendors also depend on various kinds of informal institutions for credit at a very high rate of interest.This in turn reduces the probabilities of savings in these businesses.With low levels of saving it is impossible for the vendors to create a formal establishment.
In the times of the pandemic the state has permitted online delivery of food items through various online platforms like Zomato,Swiggy and others.These forums work only for formal establishments.The street food vendors who operate without any formal establishment and are not assimilated with the digital market are thus further marginalized. This also creates a monopolizing impact on the whole food
business where consumption is supposed be taken over by few big food merchants and restaurants.
Lastly,there is a section of the society who is dependent on these food vendors for their daily food requirements. Specially in urban areas, the mobile laborers, students and other workers. Who cannot maintain their food requirements for themselves and rely on these readily and easily available cheap food facilities for their survival. Due to the lockdown and closure of these facilities, it is very difficult for this class of people to take proper care of their nutritional requirements.
The pandemic with its nature of creating uncertainties and fear of the unknown will catalyze suspicion in the minds of the people and also create a demand upon the state to take precautionary measures and mass surveillance. There would be greater emphasis on the branded or authenticated food items which conveys quality of food. The consumption of ready to eat food items is also supposed to rise. The amount of home delivery and take away will also rise. This will altogether kill the essence of eating out on the streets and importantly the livelihood of a lot of people.
According to the estimates of the Ministry of Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, there are more than 20 lakh food vendors in India. An estimate of the National Vendor’s Association states that there are around five crore vendors in India involved in transactions of over 8000 crores per day. Centre for Monitoring Indian economy states that there are over 9 crore job losses of small traders, street vendors and hawkers which took place only in the month of April.
This sudden hike in the unemployment numbers and the coupling of availability in jobs in any other sector may push various kinds of antisocial activities. It may create a surge in frustration in the minds of the people resulting into increase in the number of suicides and cases of domestic violence.Unemployment may also lead to a huge jump in cases of unlawful activities such as robbery and theft which would result into pushing the national crime rates even further.
In the past there have been various steps taken by the government of India to establish a working mechanism and to provide proper sanitation to the street food. Initiatives such as the Food Corner Scheme under the 11th Finance Commission and the Clean Street Food Initiative of 2018 are some of the examples.There are non-governmental forums such as the National Association of Street Vendors which have worked efficiently towards providing solutions to the problems of street vendors.
The pandemic should be looked at as an opportunity by the state to build better infrastructure for these vendors.Educating about food hygiene and how to preserve them can be the first step forward. This can be done through the greater empowerment of Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI),which is an autonomous body under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by providing. It will build trust in the minds of the consumers and push the demands,resulting into giving money in the hands of the people.
There is a need for state driven forums to actively engage with the banks and these vendors.Providing them with formal loans at lower interest rates so as to enable these businesses to restructure themselves.There can also be a greater inclusion of these economic activities by providing an infrastructure to link them with the supply chains delivery system.This formalization will in turn boost government revenues through taxation and help the vendors in the longer run. Proper use of JAM trinity can show us the way forward in doing so.
The central government has recently proposed loans up to 10000 rupees to the street vendors. This is a positive gesture shown by the government by providing Rs.5000 crore special credit facilities through Atma Nirbhar Bharat program. What is also required is to take into consideration the immediate
requirement of cash in the hands of these vendors added up with the credit facility. The structure where these vendors transact also needs some state led alteration. As it is the structure which makes them more vulnerable to any kind of pandemic and facilitates the reproduction of economic and social epidemic through the pandemic.
(Writer is a Research Scholar, DU)
