Street Vendors: Traffic Hazard Or Service Providers?
Street vendors form an integral part of India’s culture. However, the ubiquitous services provided by them and the current conditions in which they are forced to live are superseded by our tendency to deem vendors as ignorant of traffic rules and regulations.
These vendors or ‘hawkers’ have been present in India ever since the barter system was developed. They have grown in numbers over time and today there are over 12 million of them. Street vendors sell virtually everything, which is required for daily survival at affordable prices like clothes, food, toys etc. They earn hardly more than 200 to 400 rupees a day and some even less. Street vendors are poor and sell to the poor, forming the backbone of...[Continue Reading]
The GNH Path Towards Salvation
Sustainable development is not a choice but a necessity for survival. We have over these last few decades debilitated mother earth’s capacity to support life. Stormed by technology and economic greed, driven by gross domestic product, we are now at a crossroad where sustainable development is the need of the hour. Unless we unanimously agree on the same vision to guide us, our society is doomed to fail.
During my summer internship at the GNH commission in Thimphu, Bhutan I discovered that the kingdom of Bhutan was one of the first countries to voice their views on Gross National Happiness as opposed to...[Continue Reading]
Street vendors form an integral part of India’s culture. However, the ubiquitous services provided by them and the current conditions in which they are forced to live are superseded by our tendency to deem vendors as ignorant of traffic rules and regulations.
These vendors or ‘hawkers’ have been present in India ever since the barter system was developed. They have grown in numbers over time and today there are over 12 million of them. Street vendors sell virtually everything, which is required for daily survival at affordable prices like clothes, food, toys etc. They earn hardly more than 200 to 400 rupees a day and some even less. Street vendors are poor and sell to the poor, forming the backbone of...[Continue Reading]
The GNH Path Towards Salvation
Sustainable development is not a choice but a necessity for survival. We have over these last few decades debilitated mother earth’s capacity to support life. Stormed by technology and economic greed, driven by gross domestic product, we are now at a crossroad where sustainable development is the need of the hour. Unless we unanimously agree on the same vision to guide us, our society is doomed to fail.
During my summer internship at the GNH commission in Thimphu, Bhutan I discovered that the kingdom of Bhutan was one of the first countries to voice their views on Gross National Happiness as opposed to...[Continue Reading]