TEAM



Celebration of the National Policy for Street Vendors

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 There are 5-6 million street vendors in India, concentrated in the large metropolises. They provide fresh produce to residents at convenient locations in the neighborhoods, or bring the produce to the doorstep, all at affordable rates. Recognizing that these congregations are a result of local demand where vendors sell coconuts and flowers near temples, or vegetables and fruits near homes, SEWA coined the term Natural Markets for these organically evolving marketscapes that are under constant threat of police harassment and eviction.

In November 1995, representatives of street vendors from five continents held the inaugural meeting of the International Alliance of Street Vendors in Bellagio, Italy, calling on governments to establish national street vending policies. Over the next decade, SEWA worked with the National Association of Street Vendors in India (NASVI), and the government, to help draft the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors in India. 

This ebullient photograph captures the moment Elaben Bhatt (1933-2022), SEWA founder, shares her joy with her “sisters” (bens), Manjulaben Patelai to her left, and Manaliben Shah (now National Secretary, SEWA) in the background to the right, when the Policy was finally announced in 2004. Elaben has noted in her writings that “organizing, the basis of SEWA, is the process by which women come together in solidarity with one another. It strengthens each woman, releases her from her fears and creates bonds of sisterhood across castes, religions, districts, states and even countries.”  SEWA’s principles of solidarity and cooperation seem particularly relevant in today’s climate of anger and division, even here in the United States.