ISSUES : HOW PLANNING AS A PROCESS DEALS WITH INFORMAL ECONOMY IN A CITY?Ankita B ToroDate:31-Jan-2018 Abstract: Thisresearch paper is oriented towards how informal economy can be implemented inplanning process, and what all consideration policies, regulations have to be taken for theimplementation. Problems facing by informal economy, though in Indian informal economy plays veryimportant role for day to day activities. And most of the people are dependenton the informal venders, Hawkers for the products, and on another side which isa loose for collecting the revenue for the country.
Which it will affect the growthof the city. So how best we can implement informal economy can be formalized inour planning principle so that a platform can be given to informal economy tomake it formal.Keywords: Economy, Formaleconomy, Informal economy, master plans, polices, acts, rules and regulations,town planning, vendors, hawkers, tax,Introduction:Economy means acountry or a state which produces the things or materials and from which thatcountry get benefited, in terms of the goods, services or in any kinds ofmaterials.
Economy can be divided into formal and informal economy. In formaleconomy all the works will be done under rules, regulations, polices and aproper organized systems, where all the works are properly recorded or maintainedand taxes will be paid to the govt. But in informal economy which is neithertaxed nor systematically organized and which is not even under consideration ofany government documents, laws and rules. Informal economy does not includegross national product and gross domestic product of a country.
In “formal economy” has been introduced in1972 by the international Labor Organization (ILO) When we take consideration of urban poor Informal economy acts asa source for them to live their life, where there is no need of educationqualification, standards maintenance. It only needs skills of the person.Informal economy takes place when there is a informal urban developmenthappens, because of that increase in the population which leads to rapid growthof the city, where it will be difficult for the urban poor to survive in theirlife.
Hence to survive their life informal economy kind of occupation will getgenerates. Main features of informal economy are:· Easy availability of the job· Self –employment, · Own skills applications· Small to large scaleof activity.· Multifunctional capacityZones of the informal economy1) Restricted free vending zone2) Restricted vending zone3) No – vending zones.Objectives: · Legal status· Civic facilities· Transparent regulations· Organization of vendors· Participative processes· Self regulations· Promotional MeasuresOther facilities given by the policy includes:· Providing the access to credit· Improvement of the skill development · Housing · Health care benefits· Pension provision Street Vendors acts : 2014To protect the peoplelike vendors and Hawkers livelihood, regulationfor the street vending was carried out in 2014 in an Indian legislation.
Aim: To regulate the spaces in public areas for street vendors and howkers.Rules: The number ofstreet vendor is limited to a particular zone. And should be 2.5 percentage ofthe population of the ward. If in case of exceed in the capacity of vendingzone then Tvc will call them and gives warning with lots of issues ofcertificates can be faced by the vendors. Examples: Chandigarh:Chandigarh is thefirst Indian post modern planned city which is the capital of Punjab. Thoughthe city is planned in grid pattern it doesn’t have a open platform for theinformal vendors. Thought the planning was did after the independence informaleconomy(vendors, hawkers) were not considered in the planning.
Ahmedabad:There is a one partnership in Ahmedabad city, The Municipalcorporation partnered with SEWA and community Organizations in managing solidwaste collection and in maintaining and replacing infrastructure. As a part ofthis Ahmedabad Municipal corporationpromised not to evict residents of the participating slums for ten years. Hencethey tried to change the informal economy to formalized economy.
Dharavi, Mumbai:When we take Dharavifrom Mumbai as an example which is known for the largest informal economygenerator place Dharavi is located in the core part of Mumbai. This has allkind of informal economy sources. Though this is a slum but it is the one ofthe biggest economy generator place of the Mumbai. People who are staying inthis place they do not want to replace this slum any kind of urban development.When we look in to the planning aspects of the place it doesn’t fallow any kindof land use rules. Though the place issitting in the heart part of Mumbai it is not growing in terms ofinfrastructural aspects and place is consuming the most core part of the city.Land value of the place is going so high still slum up gradation is nothapping.
Here planning people are trying to convert informal economy to formaleconomy so that the place is not responding properly for the change to takeplace. Delhi: In Delhi during 2021planning process they have looked toward the huge informal economy aspect wherethey have given platform for the multitude of small enterprises and pettytrading activities, in the informal sector. Hence city managed it self fororganized wage paid sector and an equally large informal sector. Where this sectorwith highly reduced needsof floor space and investment is important as a source of employment andservices in the economic fabric of the city.As the city Delhi is the capital ofthe state which has large number of population, and it is growing rapidly therewe can find a large circuit of informal economy development. Informal economydevelopment can mainly found in main commercial area, outside the boundaries ofschools colleges, hospitals and transport nodes and near large housingclusters.
So hence Delhi Development authoritybrought some policy for existing informal economy areas i) The location /concentration of present stationary units shall be considered on case by casebasis and steps for relocation / improvement shall be taken. It should beensured that such activities shall not spill over on the right of way. TheGovernment /concerned local agencies should coordinate the policy.
ii) The areas of informal sector shall havesuitable public conveniences and solid waste disposal arrangements. iii) Formulation of guidelines forschemes, which would include ‘Hawking’ and ‘No Hawking’ Zone. Specific areas tobe earmarked for stationary and mobile street vendors by the concerned localauthority / RWA at neighborhood / cluster level. iv) The local authorities to take up newdesigns of stalls, push-carts and mobile van of various sizes and with cleaningfacilities. This should be done giving due consideration of urban designrequirement of specific area where informal shopping is being permitted. v) Defining the role andresponsibility of NGO’s along with the specific obligations on part of hawkerstowards the society for maintenance of law and order within the hawking zonesand weekly markets.
vi) An informal unit shall not be permittedwithin a distance half of the width of the road, from an intersection.Organisedinformal sector places (haat) :Delhi haat is a place where a largenumber of informal economy takes place. Where we can see no organizes cluster. Thereare informal eating, causal shopping,can be seen. And the kind of informal sector can be seen near i) NearTV Tower Pitampura. ii) Nearsub C.B.
D. Trans Yamuna Area.iii) Rohiniiv) Geetacolonyv) Adjoiningtransport nodes including ISBT. In addition implementing agency may add locationsas per requirement.Informalbazaar : In new urban areas, informal bazaars could bepart of the planned commercial areas at two levels. These could be implementedin the initial planning stages along with development of residential areas. Weeklymarkets: Weekly markets, the traditional style ofretail shopping is quite popular in Delhi, especially among the lower andmiddle income groups. These markets are operating in a systematic mannerchoosing locations central to a large population centres either on vacant landor on the roadsides.
Parking and other open spaces within the service markets,commercial centres could be so designed that weekly markets can operate inthese areas during non-working hours.Planningnorms for informal trade: The informal sector is to be incorporated intrade in the planned development in various trade units should be ensured atthe time of sanction of the building plans / layout plans as per the norms. usezones. The provision of informal sector trade units should be ensured at thetime of sanction of the building plans / layout plans.InformalMarkets: Street Vendors in Mexico City :Nearly 60% of Mexican workers haveinformal jobs. Some states have implemented practices that have reduced informality.A national employment formalization program also has been launched.
In theframework of stable, robust economic growth, these initiatives, together withthe development of unemployment insurance and a universal pension plan, candrive the creation of formal, productive jobs and discourage continuedinformality.Informal employment is a persistentproblem in Latin America and the Caribbean. Following a decade of economicgrowth and decline in unemployment rates, there are still many working people holding informal jobs, deprived of socialprotection and labour rights.From the last few years of experience itconfirms that the ecomonic growth is very essential for the generation of themore better jobs not enough to reduce the informal sector, It also necessary toimplement deliberate and integrate economic, and applications of the social and labour policies and actions which are theeconomic growth of the city.In 2013, the ILO Regional Office forLatin America and the Caribbean launched the Programme for the Promotion ofFormalization in Latin America and the Caribbean, FORLAC. The programme hasthree components: a) generation and dissemination of knowledge on formalizationpolicies, b) technical assistance to specific countries, and c)capacity-building of workers’ and employers’ organizations in formalizationissues.
To analyze public policy experiences theytried to identify the most remarkable ones according to the academic orpolitical discussion. Formalization strategies require a favorable economiccontext, as well as articulated policies that allow us to address a multidimensionaland highly heterogeneous phenomenon. The persistence of high levels ofinformality is a major challenge requiring the implementation of measures thatproduce sustainable results. The ILO expects that the dissemination of theseexperiences will help promote broader discussion on the strategies thatcountries may use to facilitate the transition to formality in the region.One article is written on the streetvendors where In recent years, city governments throughout the developingworld, such as those in Mexico City and Lima, have begun to implement plans tocontrol the problem of street vending.
However, the outcomes are mixed and havegenerated a great deal of tension between the government and street vendors. Andthat article focuses on street vendororganizations and their importance in the policy-making process. By having aclear understanding of the role and function of street vendor organizations,local governments could design plans that are more in accordance with thecurrent situation and they would then have a higher probability for success.The key question of that article addresses is what are the functions of streetvendor organizations? As the city Mexico has a large connectivityof street vendors city have a need forthe agent or a organized systems who can manage and regulate them. So to help the informal economy sector in Mexico citythey had developed 5 centers for theinformal economy sector to work. But where the sectors were setup they werevery far from the few of the informal economy sector people. So that the peopledidn’t gave a proper response to the planning concept. But in present daystreet vending has grown very high due to implementation of structuraladjustments in Mexico people.
Street vending became one of the major activityin the urban area for to survive the people for economically.Mobile markets alsomain characteristics of the street where different timing were allotted for thevendors for a day time in different areasso that all the people can get a place for their work. And this process willkept under supervised by a city inspector for compliance with weights andmeasurements. Anotherimportant characteristic of this type of informal market is that it is part ofa strategy for the supply and distribution of food staples to the city. Thisstrategy was originally created by city government with the idea of eliminatingintermediaries and to bring food to working class areas at reasonable prices(Martinez, 1996). These markets also offer complementary or secondary articlessuch as shoes, clothing, and costume jewelry.BazaarsThe creation of bazaars by streetvendors has been a response by vendors to the uncertainty with respect to thelocation where they operate; vendors have usufructuary rather than de jurerights (Jagannathan, 1987) to their locations. In recent years, theconstruction of bazaars has been booming in Mexico City as a response to theuncertainty merchants feel when they have to move and start building thebusiness and getting new customers all over again.
Bazaars are an intermediatestatus of ownership, or usus right (Jagannathan, 1987) where vendors can useand work the location but somebody else is the de jure owner of the piece ofproperty who charges vendors a start-up fee as well as weekly or monthly rent.Bazaars normally operate during weekends and open daily during certain seasonssuch as Christmas. Bazaars are also characterized by product specialization;the main product sold at the weekend bazaars is clothing. While some goods areimported, a considerable quantity is domestic.The majority of the vendors (51%)believe they benefit from being members because the organization negotiates ontheir behalf with the local government authorities regarding issues thatdirectly abet their work. Almost a third (29%) of the vendors also believe thatthey benefit from the organization because it is a mechanism to address theproblems of distribution of work spaces in the market. In short, Table 2 identitiestwo important functions that organizations perform: (1) Organizations asnegotiators or deal-makers and (2) Organizations as managers of whatJagganathan (1987) calls social assets. Initiatives to formalize the informal employment:An effective strategy for addressinginformal employment requires taking at least two complementary interventionareas into account.
Their they have to alignthe informal sector to formal sector hence the creation of the growth of the job was a very necessaryrequirement. Where more of the then are into tertiary informal activities. Themain aim is to address the increase the productivity of the economy-especiallyof small and medium size enterprises. And also to promote the growth of formaland productive jobs.programsfor the formalization of employment :This programs was signed by the stategovernments and the Federal District with the national government on 22 July2013.
The programs seeks to facilitate the transition of informal jobs toformal ones. The proposed target is to formalize 200,000 informal workers bythe second half of 2014. The programs operates through agreements whoseobjective is to ensure that all workplaces comply with the provisions of theFederal Law on Employment and the social security law in an effort to upholdworkers’ right to receive all social security benefits. The programs also seeksto affiliate workers to the mandatory social security system managed by theMexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), and to promote the voluntaryaffiliation of other workers to the mandatory IMSS system, including domesticworkers, non-wage workers, cooperative members, communal landowners andsmall-scale landowners. Likewise, it promotes and supports the affiliation ofstate and municipal government workers to the respective social securityinstitutions, or, as pertinent, their voluntary affiliation to the respectivesocial security systems.
To this end, the Labour and SocialProtection Secretariat has committed to disseminating these activities amongemployers and workers, as well as to supporting state governments in meetingtargets through linkage activities developed by the National EmploymentService. Agreements were also made to adopt the measures necessary to affiliateall suppliers and contractors of the Federal Public Administration. Activitieswill also be implemented to advance in the simplification and deregulation ofIMSS services in an effort to make them more accessible, flexible andtransparent. Programs results can help continue and improve these activities inthe future. Conclusion: When we look backto the cities most of the cities have informal economy as a main source as a economy generator.
But due to which lts ofpeople who are in formal sector becoming the jobless which is leading into loseto the income for the country. This affects the city growth. But because ofthis we can’t ignore the informal economy.Because in India we have 81% of informal economy sector which itself is a bigchallenge to convert them into formal economy.
As the other cities like Mexico are implementingproviding a place for informal economy by Bazaars and a common gathering place which will be at a comfortabledistance for the vendors and giving them a Identity card will be a better idea.So that total number of informal economy sector people account can be recorded. References:· http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/IEMS-Ahmedabad-Street-Vendors-City-Report.pdf· https://dda.org.in/planning/docs/05_TRADE___COMMERCE.pdf· http://utminers.utep.edu/spena2/HABITAT%20V23(3)%20INFORMAL%20MARKETS.pdf· http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—americas/—rolima/documents/publication/wcms_245889.pdfArticles:· Author – Chandrasekhar- India’sinformal economyhttp://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Chandrasekhar/indias-informal- economy/article11119085.ece