Hi traders, beware of corporate hawkers

Not just hawkers, retailers and wholesalers are equally under threat

- Salil Gewali, Shillong

We have gone through a several opinions and suggestions on hawkers’ issues lately. While some consider them as a burden, some others generously pour out their sympathies. The articles by Rev N. B. Diengdoh and Fabian Lyngdoh are very thought-provoking.  

                 Well, the hawkers doubtlessly deserve our compassion because they are poor. But at any rate, they do not reserve the right to encroach upon the public places and thereby cause inconvenience to the pedestrians. Ms. Patricia Mukhim, in her beautiful article, has correctly pointed out how hawkers pose as a huge stumbling block for the public and also in the free movement of the bazaar vehicles and so on.    

           All opinions are truly helpful to arrive at the logical conclusion. Indeed, compassion, morality, rationality and legality are fundamental ingredients to deal with any kind of thorny issues.  

 Incidentally, of late, my attention has been drawn to what has been less discussed but it is going to make a dent in the whole sphere of trading system and the market economy. In the process our beloved hawkers, who struggle to make ends meet, will be pounded to dust.

             For past some years, not just our outside roads and footpaths but the very threshold of our mind and inner emotions have been invaded by a swarm of national and international companies that sell a whole lot of items --- ranging from a petty handkerchief, shocks, pan masala to latest mobile phones, high-end computers, washing machine, micro-ovens, or anything under the sky. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Infibeam, India Mart, Ebay, HomeShop18 are few that have already become the household names. They parade their merchandise which unmistakably greet us with every single page we open on the net.

With a sufficient dose of glamour, they have already encroached upon the inner space of our mentality which the poor hawkers can’t ever dream of. These companies employ every possible crafty scheme to increase our temptation to buy more and more.

Here even a lazy boy often goes crazy to quickly click the mouse to order for an item that just caught his fascination the other day. A lot many have already become shopaholic due to marketing strategies of these giant online companies. Their offers are endless and so are their alluring coupons which hardly fail to entice simple-hearted people into their traps. No wonder that shopping online is too easy where the items are offered at fairly lesser prices too.  

           But how these online companies have been impacting the socio-economic status of each regular retail trader, petty hawkers and the society at large is matter of a serious concern. All should agree that they will not only eat into the business opportunities of the poor hawkers but they have already sent shock waves into the normal retail trading system and also the wholesale bazaar. Systematic surveys might throw up a lot of information that might push the regular market businessmen into the depth of depression.  

              Again, a chain of retail shopping malls is another roaring phenomenon of metro cities which is slowly making inroad into small towns like ours.  Reliance, Big Bazaar, Bharti Retail, Hypercity Future Group are some fun-filled shopping stops that will not let you to pay even a glance at the normal shops in the market, not to speak of sweaty vendors on the street. Exotic baby candies to a variety of trendy dress materials, and an array of vacuum cleaners to heart-throbbing music systems, TVs and so on and so forth are attractively on display in these fully computerized AC shopping palaces. Our impoverished hawkers or normal market traders cannot at all match up to these big companies.

  

Be frank and check up your own personal purchasing behaviors over three to four years. How many times have you visited Big Bazaars and how many deliveries have you received from, Flipkart, Snapdeal, HomeShop et al? On occasions you have also impulsively purchased even those articles which you never need from these big malls or through online shopping. Our mass purchasing from these big companies will adversely hit the small traders, market wholesalers and hawkers.  

Now let’s assume that 60% of public start doing their complete shopping through online or by visiting Big Bazaars only, which is very likely within a few years from now. What will be the consequence then? Will it not force the many of the normal traders to shut down their business and setup archery counters, lol? Then, what will be the fate of the illiterate hawkers who have taken this profession not out of choice but out of compulsion to fill their stomachs?    

It is a very a dangerous trend that the rich are getting richer and richer while the poor are getting still poorer and deprived in every respect? Will this sad tale of growing disparity melt the heart of the government?