User:Bhagwatiprasad

Consumer Education 

In 1987, more than 1600 people fell ill seriously and 18 died after eating food cooked in rapeseed oil sold by a ration shop in Kolkata. Out of these sick people, 592 were ultimately registered by the state Government as oil adulteration victims. The poison responsible for this tragedy was TCP which is used as a plasticizer in the plastic industry. The above-mentioned example explains the scenario of consumer exploitation in the context of goods and services in independent India.

Consumer is the sovereign in the marketing efforts. He is the pivot around whom marketing activities rotate. The consumer determines the type of product, its quantity, price and availability. In a nutshell, an individual can be a consumer of goods, an eatable or a service.

As a consumer is a pivotal element in our market, he needs to be protected from the various unfair trade practices and other malpractices. In order to protect the consumer from various trade malpractices, a Consumer protection Act was framed in the year 1986. This Act defines the terms ‘complaint’, the procedure of the complaint and the powers of the District Forum. According to the provisions of the Act, special consumer courts have been formed at various levels for hearing and disposing of consumer complaints. Under the Act, an aggrieved and dissatisfied consumer can file a complaint against the manufacturer. Consumer disputes redressal agencies have been established under the Act. These Agencies have been established at the district, state and national level. According to the provisions of the Act, the consumer have been granted six rights. The first and foremost right is the ‘ right to safety’ that ensures that consumers would be provided with proper compensation in case any damage occurs, for both the physical and material loss suffered by the consumer. The second right constitutes the right to be informed about the quality, quantity and price of the product. The third right states the right states the right the right of a consumer to choose the product of his own choice out of the other alternatives available and that a consumer must not be compelled to do so. The fourth right is the right to be heard. The grievances of consumers (aggrieved parties) are assured to be heard. The fifth right frames the right to seek redressal. The consumers have the right to get their settled in their favor in case they feel being cheated either by the manufacturing firm or by the shopkeeper. The right to consumer education is the last and the most important right enjoyed by a consumer. He must be educated, about the rights he has been granted by the law in order to protect himself from any kind of cheating or trading malpractices.

The consumer also has to perform some duties. He needs to be alert and questioning about the price and quality of goods and services, he uses. As consumers, it is our responsibility to assert ourselves and to act to ensure that we get a fair deal. As long as we remain passive we will continue to be exploited. We also have a responsibility to citizens, especially disadvantaged or powerless groups whether in the local, national or international community. And last but not the least is environmental awareness the responsibility to understand the environmental consequence of our consumption. We must recognize our individual and social responsibility to conserve natural resources and protect the earth for future generations.

Bhagwati prasad M.J.M.C Part-II Roll No. 37246

Our national language-Hindi

I wonder, how a person would react to a question of a girl studying in kindergarten, “What is the meaning of “Vande Mataram?” The only answer that would probably come t6o his mind is, “dear, you are not old enough to understand that. I’ll surely explain it to you, when you grow up”. But if we put the records straight, l the words Vande Matram of Jana Gana Mana do not make sense to a majority of Indians. Moreever, our national anthem is a cryptogram, which only a few can decipher. What’s the reason behind this disrespect?

Americans, French, British, Dutch and Australians,-all of them have a degree of respect for their national language. Then how come we are so disrespectful towards it. When Israelites decided to rise from phoenix, there were only seven people who knew Hebrew. But they were on their mettle and Hebrew wad decalared to be their national language from that moment onwards. Sweden, very recently changed her national anthem and replaced it with a medieval rendition for one which is in popular Swedish.

After Independence, our govt. decided to carry on English as our official language for first fifteen years. It rubs me up the wrong way as those fifteen years haven’t ended up till today. We cannot blame westernization for it, as weseternization implies the establishment of universalistic norms and tha privilegisation of achievement over birth. It means the progress in real sense. Actually, it’s westoxication, which makes my fellow friends believe that progress is not understanding the meaning of ‘suphalam’, ‘sujalam’ but jumping from national anthem to cricket or to the display of commodities and fads produced in the west.

George Bernard Sham once said, “all reasonable men adapt themselves to the works, only a few unreasonable ones persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves. All progress in the workd depends on these unreasonable men and their innovative and often non-conformist actions, “I guess, we are among the reasonable men who have adapted themselves to something that’s false, untrue and illusionary. We are ashamed of our own nationality and language and fond of something that was offered to us in a platter after the slavery of centuries.

It’s said that a man must have certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere. Our ignorance is not intelligent in any way. According to the Chinese, Hindi is the most scientific language. I never wanted this to be a tirade but it’s true that we are running after faceless identity. We have come a long way and that’s a good sign for our nation but an attempt to escape our own roots is a very unhealthy sign.

Bhagwati Parsad M.J.M.C. Part-ii Roll No. 37246