Jeevika Aazaadi Abhiyan
Published by Yazad Jal July 8th, 2005 in Economics, Libertarian, Governance, RegulationThe Centre for Civil Society has started a unique Livelihood Freedom Campaign.
After the 1991 liberalisation, the poor do not seem to have gained as much as the rich. The truth is there has been hardly any liberalisation for the working poor. For them it has been all LPQ (Licences, Permits and Quotas) and little LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation). Street entrepreneurs (hawkers, cycle rickshaw pullers, small shop owners and many others) still suffer under the weight of regulations, restrictions and harassment by government and lack basic economic freedom in the areas of their livelihood.
The Centre has been working in this area for the last few years and I’m happy to see them moving out of the “research-seminar” ivory tower and into the realities of liberlisation on the streets. For starters, they’ve called the campaign “Jeevika Aazaadi Abhiyan” with the tag line:Garibo ki chahat, licence raj se rahat! Their seminal work in this area, Law, Liberty and Livelihood has been translated in Hindi as “Aarthik Swatantrata Ka Sangarsh”.
Charu’s observation of the harassment faced by a poor lady selling corn-on-the-cob tells me that there’s a long way to go till we see real liberalisation for the poor. But, we can all do our little bit. Maybe start with signing a petition? The Livelihood Freedom Campaign Petition makes three simple demands:
- Remove all licenses and restrictions on entry-level professions.
- Respect the property rights of street entrepreneurs to their means of livelihood and merchandise.
- Decentralize the management of public space by creating ward-level governing committees.
Sign it!
Amit Varma has a post on the issue as well.
I am working with an NGO called COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE FORUM INTERNATIONAL (CEFI)at New Delhi.We also work in the field of livelihood. I feel strongly that everybody should have a right to earn a respectful livelihood. Specially for the poor.