By what stretch of imagination can cycle rickshaws and vending carts be accused of causing air pollution? Cycle rickshaws are, in fact, the most eco-friendly mode of short-distance transport. They don’t consume petrol or diesel, nor do they cause sound pollution. A rickshaw charges a fraction of what a taxi would charge for the same commute. Similarly, mobile street vendors use non-motorised carts to carry items of daily necessity, such as fruits and vegetables, to the doorstep of the consumer. They save us the time, money and bother of having to go in motor vehicles to buy dailyrequirements from crowded markets where parking is a nightmare. Since their overhead costs are low, hawkers sell goods at lower prices than charged in established shops. They use mainly natural light and hence save on power. By contrast, regularstores use fans, coolers and ACs, in addition to numerous lights to ensure better display of goods.

Manushi has battled for nearly two decades to convince authorities that cyclerickshaws and street vendors deserve to be encouraged if we want to control carbon emissions. Unfortunately, municipal policies in all cities and towns have kept street vendors and cycle rickshaws trapped in a web of illegality through restrictive licensing policies. This makes them easy targets for clearance operations and confiscation drives, which are used by the police, municipal authorities and politicians to extort hundreds of crores by way of bribes.

In response to public hearings organised by Manushi, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced a new, rational, market-friendly policy for street vendors andcycle rickshaws in August 2001. Vajpayee’s colleagues in the BJP worked to sabotage the implementation of that policy. However, Manushi persisted and managed to wrest from the NDA government a National Policy for Urban Street Vendors in 2004, even though the government made no attempt to actually implement it. It took another 10 years