Naresh Upadhyay, a street vendor from Anand Vihar in east Delhi, had applied for a Letter of Recommendation (LOR) from the East Delhi municipal corporation in Dec 2020.
This letter would have helped him avail of a loan of ₹10,000 under the PM SVANidhi scheme, a government micro-credit programme to help street vendors formalise their businesses
Upadhyay is among the millions of street vendors in India whose businesses have been hit by the pandemic.
When the LOR arrived, Upadhyay found it riddled with errors.
He had specified that he was a 'fixed' (permanent) vendor and had given the address of his stall, which has been running for nearly 20 years.
But the LOR put him down as a 'mobile' vendor who ran his business from the 'New Delhi Municipal Corporation area'.
As Upadhyay's experience illustrates, the 1st phase of the 2-year PM SVANidhi scheme has been poorly implemented & has had limited impact on the most vulnerable section of street vendors it was meant to empower