The Silent Consumer

The silent consumer is an irony but nonetheless very much true. This is advocated by the fact that the consumers are silent. Practically, something that is impossible has found its way into the lives of the people. The rates of daily groceries and basic amenities have doubled up in the past 4-5 years. Is this not a cause for concern? The rates of inflation are going up and not one of the fancy ‘Netas’ seems to be putting in any effort towards sorting this mess.This is a country, where in the past the average consumer would have hit the streets in order to protest the rising prices. There have been a number of successful movements in the past which helped fight the price rises and these movements were not choreographed by some political party or a religious group but by the people who consume these goods. The customers of the various products were the people who fought against and spearheaded these movements against price hikes and galloping inflation rates.In the country’s history there was one instance in which a one paisa hike in tram fares was protested by the people. That was an age when there were more farmer strikes and lesser farmer suicides, and better consumer protection. The difference in these facts is evident. The consumers have gone silent. Too chicken hearted to fight for their rights, and this attitude is in no way helpful.The middle class who used to lead these protests now does not care much about spending time and energy into orchestrating strikes and movements; rather they have found another means of taking care of the so called price hikes. The usage of credit cards has gone up considerably; there is only one answer to this. The consumers are resorting to purchasing with credit cards. There is no dearth of money as the credit cards are being used to take care of the situation “for the moment”.Drivers, small time truck owners are the most affected due to the hike in fuel prices. A number of people in the lower strata are bearing the brunt of the rising prices. The so called political leaders seem to be scheming to look for the perfect time to raise the prices so that by providing some kind of reassurance to the people they can gain political mileage. The consumers do not stand a chance in this situation. Fighting with silence is not fighting but asad reminder that the people cannot stand up for their own consumer rights.. The usage of credit cards will eventually catch up with the people and will end up strangling them harder than ever as the interest rates will rise too.Houses, school education, LPG, rice and pulses are among the other commodities whose prices have gone up. The average school fees has also doubled in the past five years. With the salaries of the people remaining standard and the rising prices, there is only one thing left to do before the consumers are fully pushed over the edge, and that is to fight back.