Jeevika: Law, Liberty & livelihood
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Property Rights: Identity, Dignity & Opportunity for All competition.
The objective of Jeevika is to ensure legal recognition to informal sector entrepreneurs to uphold their right to practice their livelihood and private property. By developing policy solutions and advocacy we intend to fight against undue harassment meted out to informal street entrepreneurs by public authorities and introduce sustainable solutions.
About You
Section 1: About You
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Organization Name
Centre for Civil Society
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+91 11 2653-7456 / 2652-1882
Organization Address
A-69, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016 India
Organization Country
India, DL
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Your idea
Name your project.
Jeevika: Law, Liberty & livelihood
Describe Your Idea
The objective of Jeevika is to ensure legal recognition to informal sector entrepreneurs to uphold their right to practice their livelihood and private property. By developing policy solutions and advocacy we intend to fight against undue harassment meted out to informal street entrepreneurs by public authorities and introduce sustainable solutions.
Country your work focuses on
India, DL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
The concept of providing legal status to informal entrepreneurs derives its uniqueness from its potential for long term impact and sustainability given its foundation in concepts of freedom, liberty and private property.
The focus of this idea is to ensure the right to property and economic freedom to the poor entrepreneurs of the informal sector of the economy who have so far been neglected from development and policy discourse. Special emphasis will be laid on street entrepreneurs such as vendors, cycle rickshaw pullers, auto rickshaw drivers, barbers, small stationary shop keepers etc.
Our current efforts include advocacy for policy solutions in the States of Rajasthan and Bihar demanding protection and regulation for the livelihoods of vendors and hawkers. This can provide a permanent solution to all the problems faced by street vendors such as illegality, eviction, extortion, confiscation, challans and street mafias. This idea has the potential to make the street entrepreneur legal, recognize their contribution in the economy and open the door to financial, insurance and other services which are currently only available to formal sector entrepreneurs. This initiative can be replicated by other states in India and can benefit more than 10 million poor entrepreneurs making their livelihood on street.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
According to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, about 77 percentage of the Indian population is engaged in the unorganised or informal sector to make their living. The sector contributes more than half of the national income. The Commission estimates the number of street vendors as 2% of the urban poor which can be estimated to around 10 million. This initiative can directly benefit these street entrepreneurs to earn their livelihood with dignity. Apart from benefiting the target group directly it can also have multiple indirect outcomes such as:
1. Make the city clean, beautiful and planned
2. Boost the market of local goods, services, arts and craft
3. Reduce corruption and red-tapism
4. Better transport movement
5. Better urban planning
6. Improve the reach of goods and services of daily use
According to the Planning Commission of India, around 37% of the total population of India lives below poverty line. Moreover, a large proportion of the population also belongs to the lower middle class. This population, comprising of the poor and the lower middle class, depend on street vendors to meet their requirements of daily use. This initiative would indirectly benefit this population as well. Besides this, the project can also make a case for policy solution in other professions of the informal sector.
Problem
Most of the professions and livelihoods in the informal sector of the economy in India have either no or limited regulatory frameworks. This makes informal entrepreneurs vulnerable to harassment from local authorities, government officials and street mafias and forces them to live under constant threat of closure of business. Street vendor face harassment in the form of eviction, extortion, confiscation and challans which make them to stay under forced poverty. Due to this threat these entrepreneurs are unable to expand their business because of the fear of losing their capital.
Due to illegality, support services to businesses are also unavailable to the poor entrepreneurs. The poor still live under the draconian license-permit-quota raj, as the system of extensive government intervention in India is known. For entry-level professions that need low skills and little capital, licenses are still mandatory. If someone is caught driving a car without license, police/authorities don’t take away his/her car, just a fine is collected. But if a street vendor in India is caught operating on the street without permission (finding a vendor with permission is rare due to excessive requireme
Actions
The action plan for this initiative includes the following steps:
1. Regulate and legalise livelihoods and work areas within the informal sector
2. Advocacy to ensure local governing bodies be legally equipped with the process and machinery to identify problems, ensure genuine public participation and evolve local solutions
3. Promote local governance in cities especially in the management of public space, facilities, etc.
4. Empower street entrepreneurs to achieve (maximise) all the legal protections and the support that the formal sector enjoys, like property rights over space, machinery and equipment, access to formal banking system and insurance options.
5. Develop proper vending spaces using a Dili Haat model (completely new area for vending) or Seva Nagar Market model (refurbishing existing vending space).
We are adopting different ways and strategies to target different stake holders such as street vendors, government officials, political leaders & ministers, policy experts, media, active citizen and youth aiming at the policy change for long term sustainable solution for people working in the informal sector.
Results
Over next three years regulation of the street market can open many doors for street entrepreneur to prosper. The livelihoods and profession is also expected to go through a big change as recognition of their work will open scope for innovation in running the business as well as support services. Till date, we have been successful in to convincing the government to come up with policy solution for street vendors. The Rajasthan Government has already started working on this initiative. Out time bound action plan includes:
• Year One: Government should pass the Bill/Policy for Urban street vendors
• Year Two: Implementation of the Bill/Policy giving street vendors entitlement over space and capital
• Year Three: Innovate and create mechanisms to deliver services to aid the profession as well as promote the use of technology
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
If so, how?
The main focus of our campaign is to develop public policy solution to poor entrepreneurs in the informal sector. To be specific, our current advocacy efforts in two states focus on demanding a Policy/Bill for urban street vendors. In fact, the Rajasthan state governments has already announced and drafted the Bill. We are now in dialogue with the government to bring it into state assembly soon. We will also work with local bodies to ensure proper implementation of the Bill and help them over come challenges of execution. Along with the demand for policy solution for the target group we are also working on empowering the local governing bodies to be legally equipped with the processes and machinery to identify problems, ensure genuine public participation and evolve local solutions. We are promoting local governance in cities especially in the management of public space, facilities, etc.
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your innovation.
This initiative requires collective effort from several organizations to influence policy makers. Also, taking the nature of the problem into consideration, it requires local solution for which it requires the engagement of organizations and people at all levels of policy advocacy work. Currently, we are running the campaign with support from Sir Dorab Ji Tata Trust. We have also partnered with Nidan, a grass root organization working with street vendors in Bihar. At national level we partnered with NASVI (National Association of Street Vendors of India). For other specific deliverables under the campaign we will also partner with several formal and informal organizations. Hence partnership, engagement, continuous follow up and maintaining the relation other organizations is very important for the success of the campaign.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
To begin with, Jeevika was financed by Centre for Civil Society along with small grants from a few organizations and high net worth individuals. After some initial success, Sir Dorabji Trust, Mumbai decided to support us and has been doing so for our three year national livelihood freedom campaign.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
It was mostly an intellectual journey, I became familiar with the idea through the reading of Hernando De Soto’s book The Other Path. On seeing the reality of the informal sector in urban India, it became clear that the idea had direct application in India. After some preliminary research we developed and articulated the nature of regulations, their impact on informal sector operators and possible ways to free street entrepreneurs from the regulatory stranglehold and guarantee the right to their property (goods, cart, weighing balance, cycle rickshaw, etc.). It was quite clear that it was not the just the payment of bribes to government officers who would allow the entrepreneurs to operate but the lack of legal status even after paying the brief was the real culprit. Unless regulations and policies addressed the legal status of street entrepreneurs, the other usual remedies would not have a sustainable and lasting impact on their livelihood prospects.
Tell us about the social innovator—the person—behind this idea.
The innovator Parth J Shah is the founder of Centre for Civil Society, a think tank in New Delhi, India. He got his PhD in economics in the US and taught at the University of Michigan before returning to India. The Centre works in the area of livelihoods, education, governance, and environment. It works with policy makers and opinion shapers as well as college students to promote better social and economic policies. The websites www.ccs.in, www.jeevika.org, www.schoolchoice.in, www.righttoeducation.in and www.azadi.me capture the work and impact of CCS.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Friend or family member
If through another source, please provide the information.
Approximately 50 words left (400 characters).
Additional
Which (if any) of the following strategies apply to your organization or company (check as many as apply)
Policy advocacy to strengthen property rights or increase security of tenure, Legal education and awareness, Developing/applying technology for surveying, mapping and documenting property rights.
Please explain how your work furthers one or many of the above strategies (if you selected “other”, please explain your strategy)
Vending on street is considered illegal by authorities. Hence, we are working for regulation of street vending which will give entitlement over space and their capital/goods. We have documented few of the street markets and are documenting more street markets for easily access of information to authorities during legalization process.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Meeting_with_CM_Rajasthan.jpg | 519.66 KB |
| Workshop_for_Journalists.jpg | 442.16 KB |
| Meeting_with_UD_Minister.JPG | 464.75 KB |
| Launch_of_Livelihood_Regulation_Study.JPG | 443.12 KB |
| Workshop_for_Government__Officers.JPG | 391.49 KB |
| Human_Chain.jpg | 526.09 KB |
| Rally.JPG | 83.59 KB |
| One_of_the_group_meetings.JPG | 359.98 KB |
| Press_Conference.JPG | 45.23 KB |
 | 111 weeks ago Matt Guttentag said: On February 2, 2011, the judges reviewed entries for the Changemakers Property Rights: Identity, Dignity, and Opportunity for All ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 123 weeks ago satyajit dey said: You are right, Alphonse! But, this essential element of justice is missing in India. Our socialist constitution no-longer protects ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 123 weeks ago alphonse crespo said: Property rights over the product of ones' work is an essential element of justice. We must strive to ensure that laws recognize this ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 123 weeks ago Amit Chandra said: You are right Alphonse. We need to keep government out of private business as much as possible but we also need to understand what ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 123 weeks ago alphonse crespo said: Informal entrepreneurship allows the poor to work their way to prosperity without administrative shackles. Efforts to regulate informal ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 126 weeks ago Amit Chandra said: Dear Krish, Thanks for your post. Yes, the unique identity number or any sort of digital instrument that helps easy access to basic ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 126 weeks ago Kris Dev said: A random and unique identity number linked to the biometrics (fingerprint, retina, iris, facial, palm vein and DNA) encrypted and stored ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 127 weeks ago Amit Chandra said: Right Parth. Your this idea has potential of changing life of 10 million urban street vendors forced to live in poverty in lack of right ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 128 weeks ago parth shah said: The biggest challenge is to make sure that the people at the bottom benefit more from the India's unprecedented economic growth. We see ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 133 weeks ago Amit Chandra updated this Competition Entry. |
