An Insight into the Socio-Economic Profile of Urban Street Vendors of Assam
Author : Dr. Manoj Kumar Das
Abstract :
Street vending is a visible component of informal sector economy and government treats the street vendors as illegal ‘encroachers’. Street vendors contribute to an economy in terms of revenue generation, creation of employment, growth of industries, capital formation etc. Street vending is an easy source of livelihood for most of the street vendors. Majority of the street vendors are relatively poor and they primarily come from marginal populations In India. The number of street vendors in Assam is mounting up every year and it has been posing a threat to the district administrators and public as a whole basically in urban areas. The working conditions of street vendors are not sound and they do not have social security measures to lead a decent life. The social economic profiles of the street vendors are often not adequately explained in the mainstream economics literature. The study takes into account of 400 sample urban street vendors in three municipal cities of Guwahati, Tezpur and Jorhat of Assam (India) to analyze some socio-economic aspects of sample urban street vendors of Assam.
Keywords :
Street vendors, employment, informal sector, capital formation, social security
