ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the weekly informal urban street markets in Delhi, which have, along with travelling salesmen, kept the common people's homes supplied. It shows that the informal urban street markets are imperative for the social well-being of Delhi city. The chapter discussed the typical markets of Delhi in terms of their merchandise, clientele, organization, vendor profiles, and problems, and acknowledging the potential of the National Policy for Street Vendors in directing city and street market development. While the National Policy on Street Vendors hails street vending and informal markets as providing an essential service to the city, it fails to acknowledge that this service is much more than selling consumer goods at extremely reasonable rates. The chapter addresses the issues considered by the earlier National Policy that provides visibility and a voice for the vendors. It argues that by providing markets with so much as a low, open-to-sky platform, the informality and impermanence is lost.
