More youngsters turning to street vending

20-25% of applications received by Corporation following the pandemic outbreak are from youngsters

Relatively young people are submitting applications in large numbers for starting street vending ventures in the period following the outbreak of COVID-19, according to data from the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation. Officials of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), which handle applications for new street vendors, have been noticing a larger number of applicants in the 25-45 age group, compared to the years before the pandemic. “After the pandemic hit, we have received around 600 new applications for street vending. Some of these are old vendors who do not have a licence, and are applying because it is mandatory now. But, about 20-25% of the new applications are from youngsters. Till a couple of years back, a majority of the street vending applications used to be from people above the age of 50,” an NULM official said.