Short answers, pulled from the story.
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported, moving from place to place to sell goods. This mobile nature distinguishes them from stationary vendors who occupy fixed locations like market stalls or shops.
Henry Mayhew documented this era extensively in his work London Labour and the London Poor between 1851 and 1861 with collaborators J. Binny, B. Hemyng, and A. Halliday. His 1861 estimates placed licensed pedlars at 14,038 in England, 2,561 in Scotland, and 624 in Wales.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, there are 10 million street vendors in India with Mumbai accounting for 250,000 and Delhi having 200,000. Kolkata hosts more than 150,000 vendors while Ahmedabad has 100,000.
The Romans had no specific term for hawkers; rather they went by labels including ambulator, circitor, circulator, and institor. These vendors were an important part of the distribution system in Roman cities.
The bill passed the upper house on the 19th of February 2014 receiving presidential assent on the 4th of March 2014. Only three states implemented the bill as of April 2017 handing governance over public space to municipalities.