Socio - Economic Status of the Street Vendors: A Study with Reference to Bodh Gaya (Gaya District)

Street vending is an integral part of commercial activity of Bodh Gaya. Like other informal sector, street vending is also characterized by low level of income, easy of entry, self - employment, and constitute poor, uneducated or poorly educated, unskilled people, especially form the adjoining rural area, except some local people too. These street vendors sell variety of product of daily consumption like fruits, vegetables, readymade garments, household items and artifacts. They earn the livelihood from vending these products around the main Buddhist temple of Bodh Gaya. This study investigates the problem and prospects of the street vendors of Bodh Gaya in terms of their socio - economic conditions. This study also evaluated the problem faced by street vendors in their work place and the suggestions have been made to eradicate this problem and make better conditions for them. The present study cover in - depth study of the socio - economic conditions of the street vendors in Bodh Gaya and for this purpose researcher selected 110 respondents by adopting convenient samples and the nature of the study has been descriptive. Street vendors were interviewed to collect the socio - economic data. The collected data were tabulated and were converted into percentage for convenience. By means of collected data researcher tried to analyse the socio - economic conditions of the street vendors and their problem and prospects as well as provided solution to eradicate their plight.