Liberty Discussion is a program designed to engage and inform the core members on the ideas of market economy and classical liberal ideas. Discussions are made on the contemporary issues (local or national) through open market perspective. Article is selected and shared within the members to prepare oneself for the program. The program is organized at the venue of Bikalpa – an Alternative on every alternative Saturday (twice a month).
On 30 June 2018, the members of Liberty Discussion Group sat down at Bikalpa Office to discuss the article, Street Vendors – The Way Forward.
In this series of Liberty Discussion. We discussed about the easing Space for the Street vendors. It was not the rational discussion of the government to abandon the Street vendor from the market place. Street vendors which operates informally in the market “Informal economy—generally defined as the economic activities that are not recognized and recorded by public authorities, and thus unregulated and unprotected “accounts for a large portion of the national economy in developing countries. They has a major role in income generation and poverty reduction. A large number of poor people have been working informally in this sector setting up the micro enterprises (Street traders) with little capital and thus contributing to the actual National Income—the part not covered by government’s national income accounting in Nepal as well.
Government policy must be market-friendly and transparent for them. One of the participant quoted the policy of Government should be to cure the poverty from society not poor people from society. The street vendor is from the marginalized group of the society. Instead of disbanding then from market. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the private sphere of these people so they can pursue their self-interest while respecting the equal rights of others. When private property rights are protected by law, individuals will be free to trade for mutual gain and be held responsible for their behavior. Further participant also discussed on when politics trumps markets, coercion and corruption follow. So, the self – interest group (big corporation houses) can manipulate the government for favoring their policy.
