Aid Street Vendors to restart their Livelihood post COVID

As the cities deliberately prepare themselves for unlock phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, “sustainability post crisis” has been brought to the fore. One can see MSME businesses, street or mobile vendors back to earn their means of living. Whilst the unprecedented situation has pushed various companies/industries to adopt new approaches and take necessary viable measures to sustain their profit flow post the lockdown, people belonging to low-income communities whose profit margins are already low face further challenges. Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation states that “there are approximately to 10 million street vendors in India” contributing to the country’s savings and GDP. According to data available with the National Urban Livelihoods Mission, state governments have identified only 15 lakh vendors and issued IDs to fewer than 10 lakh vendors. Although PM SVANidhi Scheme (providing a capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000 for street vendors via http://www.pmsvanidhi.mohua.gov.in/) has several lakh applications with a 10-20% approval rate.

The need of the hour so far has been to supplement the health safety measures and provide financial assistance to daily wagers and people of low-income communities meet their basic living expenses as they were affected from the nationwide lockdown since March 22, 2020. As the unlock phase is in effect across various cities, Bhumi’s COVID relief project has stepped in to bridge the need for aiding the street vendors to cope financially and get their livelihood to progress post the lockdown. We aim to directly support these businesses by providing financial assistance and ensuring they get back on their feet at the earliest.

Life post lockdown would be a fight for survival for everyone especially for the street vendors as they have to sell their goods on a daily basis to provide and sustain their families.

To revive their livelihoods and succor post the unprecedented situation we aim to support and impact the lives of 500 such vendors. 

The foreign currency donations raised for this campaign will be disbursed to Bhumi (a 501(c)(3) registered organisation) which works towards the same cause as the Indian nonprofit.