Among the many things that came to a standstill when on August 5, the Centre announced its decision to read down Article 370 that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir were businesses, especially small ones.
Along with schools, hospitals and public transport, one of the sections of Kashmir that has been hit badly is the business of street-side vendors. Each time Kashmir has gone through a difficult phase since 2008, small vendors have suffered. And this time, they are not ready to give up easily.
Not only is their work a daylong affair, in addition to the trials of their profession, the freeze in daily commerce has affected their children’s lives too. Many of them have dropped out of schools and colleges to help parents run their house and businesses.
A case in point is Aamir Yousuf who lives in the outskirts of Srinagar city and runs a small street shop. Aamir is the sole bread winner of a six-member family who dropped out of his MA English course after completing the first two semesters. The financial condition of his family has only worsened since the continuous strikes and curfews that became the mainstay of the Valley since 2008.
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Aamir thus had no option but to choose between work and studies. “If I don’t work, we will starve. What is the use of such an education that will leave me and my family hungry?” he asked.
Every day, Aamir sets up shop near Astan Chowk in the Pampore area of Pulwama district. He sells clothes.
Business is usually not bad. He would earn between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 a day. Now, it has drastically come down to Rs 200 to Rs 300. The reason is that he only opens his shop for an hour every day.
But Aamir is resolute that he will not open his shop for longer hours. “We will manage with this meagre income but will not open our shop for longer hours. India has ditched us. We will not keep our shop open and give out this message that all is normal,” he said.
“Kashmir was not the only state with a special status; there are 12 other states with such a status so why did they remove our special status alone?” Aamir further added.
Abdul Gani. Photo: Author provided
Street vendors who put up their stalls in the outskirts of city are as it is hard pressed to find a business idea unique enough to bear dividends. Selling fruits or vegetables will not fetch them much because almost all the households have their own kitchen gardens.
Abdul Gani who hails from the Drangbal area of Pampore too runs a street shop in a nearby market. Gani is in the business for the past 20 years and is the only earner of his family of five members. “Earlier business was running fine but everything started to collapse slowly. Now the condition has become worse. When we were put behind the four walls it was summer and now winter has arrived. I stay home the whole day and can barely manage to earn for my family,” he said.
In Kashmir the weather changes quickly within two or three months and every seasons needs its own preparation.
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Summer generally lasts three or four months and the entire season, Kashmir was and still is under lockdown. “I was not able to sell the summer products I have bought and that resulted in a huge loss. I have no money to buy winter products. If I want to buy winter stuff I have to take credit but it’s risky as I am not sure at all if the condition will improve and I will be able to sell the stock,” he said.
Crackers are burst after the hour of sales is up. Shops usually close after that.
There are three shots of fire crackers – the first and the second send a signals that time is up and the third is to finally close shops. “If we will not close the shops the young boys start to throw stones but we do not blame our children. They are dejected, as they have been alienated and cheated upon by Delhi. We understand them completely and close our shops within the given time only. Until now they used to blame Hurriyat, but who is responsible for this mess now, will they say?” Gani added.
Safina Nabi is an independent journalist.