Promoting consumer rights

Monday was the World Consumer Rights Day; its theme for this year, "Our Money, Our Rights". Except for some small NGO generated activity the day passed quietly. The newspapers did not carry special supplements nor did the government ministers address special meetings to mark the day, as is customary on so many other occasions.
The disinterest is reflective of the fact that consumer rights hardly get any importance in this country. Although provincial governments have enacted consumer protection laws (NWFP in 1997, Balochistan in 2003, Sindh in 2003 and Punjab in 2005), but these have remained largely ineffective, except in Punjab, because they were not backed by proper rules and implementation bodies.
The Punjab Consumer Protection Act, 2005, is a comprehensive law, which seeks to address various liabilities arising from defective products and services through a Consumer Protection Council and consumer courts. Yet the law is rarely used because of two reasons.
One is a general lack of awareness about its existence. And the other is that, given our high illiteracy rate, most people do not know they are consuming products and services that hold all sorts of harmful effects. Spurious drugs, aerated drinks, shampoos and soaps and all sorts of other products abound all over the country.
People are continually hoodwinked by fraudulent promises of quality education, claims by quacks to cure incurable diseases, and bait advertisements, etc, learning the truth the hard way.
The list of cognizable offences under the Punjab Consumer Protection Act includes the sale of products that an ordinary user or handler of the product could know, with ordinary knowledge common to the community, that the product has dangerous characteristics which could cause damage.
Yet even though it is common knowledge that the use of textile colours in food products is a serious health hazard, the practice goes on unabated. This shows that the Consumer Protection Council is not playing its role effectively even in Punjab. There is an obvious need for the government as well as the media to inform the public about consumer rights and how the violators can be held to account.
Regular awareness campaigns are necessary. That would not only encourage individuals to seek redressal from consumer courts, it would motivate private groups to organise an effective consumer rights movement, which can also stir the Council into action. Public awareness campaigns hold special significance in this society considering that a vast majority of the population is illiterate and poor, and hence unable to protect its rights.