Street Vendors at Delhi Congress Office

Street Vendors delegation with the President, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee at its office on 9th August, 2015

Informal Workers Convention

Hon'ble Minister of Labour, Govt. of India addressing the Informal Workers Convention, organized on 6-7 August, 2015 in Delhi.

Traders National Convention

Open to amendments in future once GST Bill is passed: Rajnath Singh 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/open-to-amendments-in-future-once-gst-bill-is-passed-rajnath-singh/articleshow/48413246.cms

NEW DELHI: With Congress and Left opposing the GST Bill, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today appealed to all parties to lend support to the proposed legislation for its passage in Parliament, saying the government will be open to amendments in future. 

"I appeal to all parties to support us in Parliament so that we can pass it. We are open to amendments of GST Bill in future as per suggestions of traders," he said addressing a conference of traders here. 

Singh said the government was trying its best to pass the GST Bill in Parliament but due to the continuous disruption of the House by the opposition, the effort has not been successful. 

The GST Bill was passed by Lok Sabha but the Rajya Sabha is yet to pass it due to opposition of Congress, Left parties and AIADMK. These parties want changes in the Bill. 

Terming retail traders as the backbone of country's economy, Singh said the government would not allow their interests to be affected by globalisation. 

The Home Minister said the central government understands the difficulty faced by the retail traders and would do its best to resolve them as no one can undermine their importance. 
"We were, are and will always be business friendly. You had demanded that there should be no FDI in multi-brand retail and we ensured that it does not happen," he said. 

Farmers, street vendors & CSOs protesting RCEP negotiation on 1st Dec 2014

For the video pl click:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUpznU7Bfnk&feature=youtu.be

                                                                                    Press Release (1^st Dec. 2014)

PROTESTS BY FARMERS AND TRADE UNIONS AGAINST THE MEGA FTA RCEP

December 1:  As negotiators from 16 nations met today in New Delhi for 5 day consultations on the Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP), Farmers, Trade unions, retailers groups, and civil society organisations protested outside the India Expo  Mart in Greater Noida. Amidst a large police presence, protestors, raised slogans such as  'Protect Indian Agriculture: Say No to RCEP FTA', 'Stop Undemocratic RCEP FTA' , ' Protect Indian Dairy Sector' , 'If FTAs benefits people why are texts kept secret' , ' No secrecy - We Want  Transparency'.  Later, adelegation submitted a memorandum (attached letter) to the Government officials negotiating the RCEP.

The RCEP is a complex North South Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that India is negotiating with the 10 member ASEAN block plus Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Rakesh Tikait of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)said that the RCEP FTA will seriously affect Indian agriculture. ' Indian agriculture is in deep crisis and a large number of farmers continue to commit suicide. The Government's free trade strategy is flawed. If RCEP is concluded, it will intensify the crisis in agriculture.  The Government has not conducted any impact assessment of already concluded FTAs. We do not want the government to go ahead with RCEP agreement even without knowing what implications it will have on Indian agriculture', said Tikait.

Vijoo Krishnan of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said that the India ASEAN FTA has seriously affected South Indian farmers. Now the RCEP with 15 other countries, will affect farmers across India. Countries like Australia, New Zealand want to export their dairy products to India. If the negotiations go through, it will have a disastrous  impact. We demand that the government stop its engagement on RCEP.

Yudhvir Singh, Convener of Coordination Committee of Farmers Movement said, 'farmers' organisations  in India oppose the RCEP FTA. We are concerned that RCEP will increase imports of agricultural products into India. We are also worried that farmers' access to affordable medicines may also be affected. The Government of India has not consulted farmers' organisations before going ahead with RCEP negotiations. This kind of secrecy is in the 21st century is not acceptable'.

Afsar Jafri from the NGO  Focus on the Global South said that, the NDA government is merely following the free trade path laid out by the UPA regime. He argued that the Commerce Minister had said that the Government will conduct a review of all FTAs. 'But it has not come out with any socio economic impact assessment of FTAs. All negotiations are kept secret, away from public scrutiny. Every decision taken at these secret negotiations will affect peoples' lives. We want transparency in trade negotiations, he added.   

Dharmendra Kumar of India FDI watch expressed concern that RCEP negotiations may change India's position on FDI in retail policy. Further India ASEAN FTA had adverse impact on India's manufacturing sector. The promises to create manufacturing sector and provide jobs through Spcial Economic Zones (SEZs) has also failed and the new Indian Government fail to learn lessons from adverse impact of already concluded FTAs and now aggressively pursuing the free trade policy and signing mega FTAs like RCEP.

Protestors demanded the government to make pubic all RCEP documents and negotiating texts. They called on the government to hold public consultations with all who will be directly affected by RCEP including farmers’ organizations, trade unions, patient groups, generic medicine manufacturing companies, SMEs and civil society organisations. As many subjects discussed under RCEP fall under state subjects, protestors demanded that the government must hold consultations with state governments and evolve consensus.

Street Vendors Protest at Walmart India Head Quarter on 19th Nov, 2014

Hawkers move towards historic victory

Meeting Rahul Gandhi on 3rd Feb 2014 and Hawkers Joint Action Committee protest and march at the Parliament on 5th Feb 2014 resulting into making passage of the street vendors bill top priority of Govt. Its listed as no 1 item of legislative business of the upper house. Hope its gets passed from the Parliament. The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill on 6th Sept, 2013.

Hawkers Public Hearing

Hawkers Public Hearing

More than one thousand hawkers representatives from various street markets of Delhi participated in a hawkers public hearing organized by Hawkers Joint Action Committee on 6th January in Delhi.

Nagraj Shetty of Saket, Joginder Sah of Okhla, Suryalal of Jangpura, Rupender of Lodi road, Sugan Pandey of South Ext, Laxmi Narayan of Madangiri, Santara Devi of Khan Market, Jhapari Devi of Malviya Nagar, Sunder Chouhan of Holy Family, Kamaluddin of Hauzrani, Munna Lal of kalka ji, Madho Singh of Sewa Nagar and Dilip of Janakpuri market were among those who spoke at length on how they are victimized by agencies of govt. including Delhi police, MCD, NDMC, PWD, DDA and DSIIDC.

Hawkers passed a resolution demanding:

1.       Enactment of Street Vendors Bill

2.       Implementation of Hon’ble Supreme Court order to follow street vendors policy 2009

3.       Ban on FDI in Retail