In this blog, we will study urban livelihoods. A much larger number of people inhabit the cities and in metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, this number often crosses more than a million. This vast population consists of different people who earn their livelihoods in a variety of ways. Some of them are self-employed and some are employed by others, at times they also organize themselves to carry on their jobs on a regular basis or to protest if the need be. In the cities, however, we find most of the people pursuing secondary or tertiary occupations.

 

Three different categories of occupations in urban livelihoods are.

 

1. Primary occupation
2. Secondary occupation
3. Tertiary occupation

 

Primary Occupations

 

The occupations which are based on deriving useful goods from natural resources are called primary occupations. Agriculture, mining, forestry, cattle raising, fishing, etc, are a few examples of primary occupations.

 

Secondary Occupations

 

Those occupations which require the processing of the raw material produced by primary occupations and their conversion into utility products are termed as secondary occupations. For example, agricultural produce of cotton is used by the textile manufacturing industries to produce clothes, or the minerals taken out of the mining process are used in various industries like iron and steel.

 

Tertiary Occupations

 

The occupations which provide various services to the people are termed as tertiary occupations. For example banking, railways, post offices, teaching etc.

 

Regular employment in urban livelihoods

 

Most of the offices, factories, industries, government departments, banks, etc, employ people on a regular basis. By, this we mean, they are permanent workers who are given a regular salary at the end of the month. They go to the same office every day and their work is clearly known to them. They can expect their jobs to continue for a long time. To such workers, the company also provides certain benefits like pension (a part of the salary kept aside as savings to be given with interest when the employee retires, as monthly pay), medical facilities, and holidays. Therefore, most of the office goers that you will see around you are regular employees.

 

Wage-earners

 

Unlike the people who regularly go to the office, there are also people who get work on a day-to-day basis. These include daily laborers who work as helpers to masons, the factory workers like those who stitch garments or process mineral water bottles, construction workers, painters, carpenters, stone cutters, sanitary-workers, etc. these people do not get a salary at the end of the month but get a daily wage. Employment for them is not a permanent nature. When a particular employer requires them, they are called upon otherwise they remain jobless. There is no job security for them and they cannot ask for the benefits that a permanent employee enjoys. Moreover, their working hours are very long and the payment is less. Because of the nature of their job, they are known as casual workers.

 

Urban Livelihoods: Movement of people from villages to towns

 

The story of Ram and Suresh is a very common one. In all the big cities we find several people like them who leave their hometowns or villages to find better opportunities in the big cities. But most of them end up working as street vendors- vegetable sellers, chaiwallahs, or as lowly paid factory workers or domestic help. This influx of people from outside into the city is termed migration. However, this movement of people from the villages to towns also places a burden on the cities as they have to cater to the basic demands of this increasing population.

 

The migrant population lives in slums. On the positive side, migration opens a link between the rural and urban areas. It leads to the prosperity of the urban and rural areas. Rural people are able to save and spend some money to their dependents in the villages to save them from starvation and urban people benefit by employing their services.

 

Working on the streets in urban livelihoods

 

In the description of a city like Delhi, we frequently find the mention of people who work and probably live on the streets. Among such people, we find rickshaw pullers, auto-rickshaw drivers, and street vendors in particular. These people work on their own and organize themselves to be able to procure for themselves the materials they require for their occupations.

 

For example, the street vendors selling food usually prepare it with the help of their family members, while other vendors selling goods have to plan how much to purchase, as well as where to set up their shops,

 

Shops of such vendors are generally makeshift structures or arrangements which can be dismantled any time. A roadside chatwala for example would only be having a cart as his shop on which he places a small cylindrical and utensils to make chat. He sleeps at night on the same cart. These vendors have no security and their movement is restricted to some areas. However, they form a bulk of the population working on the streets.

 

According to a survey in Ahmedabad, it was found that 12% of the city workers were people working on the street.

 

Street vendors or hawkers are an important part of the urban economy as they have been providing different services and goods to the middle and lower-middle-class urban population for decades.

 

Tea hawkers on small crossings and intersections offer a social gathering place where poor and middle-class populations after a tiring day at work, assemble and share their thoughts and experiences over a cup of tea. Therefore, efforts are being made to recognize street vendors as a job to earn a livelihood.

 

The government is thinking of modifying the law that banned street vendors, and instead, is thinking of making hawking zones where the vendors can freely sell their goods. Hawkers are nowadays organizing themselves into committees that make decisions regarding them.

 

Businessmen

 

A major occupation in the cities is that of business, several people in the city are businessmen. These people either own or rent a shop for business purposes. For example, a businessman dealing in readymade garments may set up a big showroom if he has lots of money or he may set up a small shop for his business.

 

In both cases, he either invests the money all by himself is known as self-employed people because they work for themselves and on their work as supervisors and helpers. Such business registers themselves with the municipal corporation and receive a license to do business. The municipal corporation also decides the day on which the markets are supposed to remain close.

 

Read More: Rural Livelihood: 3 Kinds of Farmers � Landless Labourers � Class 6