Consumer movement got some momentum after the passage of 1986 Consumer Protection Act (CPA) both in India and Mysore. But consumer movement is not just promoting the use of that act though many NGOs have predominantly taken up that as the main objective. A true and vibrant consumer movement should go much beyond the promotion of Consumer Protection Act.
The definition of consumer under the CPA is very restricted. Most of the services we get from the government, quasi government bodies and various government supported institutions like universities, hospitals, etc are not covered by CPA. In a country where the government has significant control on the economic activities and where common citizens is made to suffer, excluding those services from the ambit of CPA has made it not as useful as it should have been. However there have been instances though rare where some progressive consumer courts have come to the rescue of the hapless consumers of government services through imaginative interpretation. Finally, the real goal of an outstanding and successful consumer movement should be to avoid the need to use CPA by bringing about structural reforms. Soon after the passage of CPA, consumer NGOs mushroomed all over India. For some time it looked as though consumer movement will be successful in making Indian consumer as Kings as is often mentioned. Unfortunately it was not the case. There were many nationally well known consumer organizations who have been able to grow from strength to strength with annual budget of more than Rs. five to six crores for some of them. But these can be counted on finger tips. But 95% of them have less than Rs. one lakh. And in the case of some, they exist only on papers. One of the strategic reasons for the failure of consumer movement is because all of them were trying to assist the consumers with CPA. They did not attempt to find out where consumers are taken for a ride or where they suffer the most or what a real consumer movement should be. This was also partly the result of central government’s Central Protection Council consisting of leading consumer activists and top bureaucrats from Consumer Affairs Department. That council also placed more emphasis on CPA and its implementation. In a truly functioning democracy, citizens should be considered as masters and bureaucrats and government employees as servants. Unfortunately, the position has been totally different and we are treated as servants in all the government offices. They never think that they are there because of us and we are their paymasters. It is here the consumer movement should have placed greater emphasis. The approach that one should take to improve consumer friendly services in a government office is entirely different than the one in a private sector. Even in the case of government institutions approach one should take to assist the consumers depends upon the kind of services offered. Giving licenses, permits, birth and death certificate etc is very different from supplying electricity, water, and telecommunication, collecting garbage, providing health services, transportation etc.
We are also consumers while we try to get justice by filing our cases on courts of law. We repeat all the time justice delayed is justice denied. Has consumer movement attempted to find out the reasons for such delays? Even more important has it attempted to improve the situation there? A true consumer movement should deal with the problems faced by citizens attempting to get services from these courts of law. On the other hand, the very consumer courts which came into existence because of such delays have now become another set of civil courts with books written analyzing consumer cases. Though cases in consumer courts are expected to be heard with minimal number of adjournments and in three months, it is seldom the case. Universities have even found it necessary to introduce consumer movement as a subject where mostly CPA is discussed exclusively. Those who attend schools and universities, and their parents are also consumers at these institutions. Consumer movement should involve themselves to improve the kind of education students get. Unfortunately, consumer movement has taken interests in only such limited situation of getting refunds of donation, or securing graduation certificates and marks on a timely basis, or getting declaration of results etc. Consumer movement should take up more
fundamental issues like quality of education in private and government schools, menace of donation in private schools, getting rid of examination dreadful examination system inherited from Macaulay’s time etc. It is not enough if a consumer movement just assist consumers who are wronged either through CPA or any other means. It should also undertake a strong active role in making consumers aware of their rights so that they themselves can fight when they are wronged. A well informed consumer about his rights will become one man army to take up the cause of consumer movement. It should give equal emphasis to inform consumers about their responsibilities like getting a proper receipt, not giving bribes, exposing wrong doings on the part of government bureaucracy, fighting for principles, supporting upright NGOs etc. The above brief analysis should convince any one that a true consumer movement has very wide scope and not just limited to the use of CPA to get help for those who have been cheated by the sellers of goods and services by private and government bodies.