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Exercise your right to information, says Pushpa Girimaji WHEN you buy a ticket to watch a movie, do you ever ask the man at the counter whether the cinema hall is equipped to deal with emergencies such as a fire? Or for that matter, when you buy goods from your neighbourhood provision store, do you seek information on whether the retailer regularly gets the weights checked and stamped by the Department of Weights and Measures? Or when you pay your water bill, do you ever bother to ask the service provider about the quality of water supplied and the measures used to ensure potable water? If today, consumers are being taken for granted, it is because they do not exercise their right to information, ask questions and demand answers. Indians, for example, are the largest consumers of gold jewellery. Yet, if you visit a jeweller’s shop, you do not see any consumer asking the jeweller about the accuracy of the weighing machine that he uses — this is despite the fact that the loss to the consumer as a result of any inaccuracy in the weighing machine would be quite considerable. The government has introduced hallmarking of gold jewellery to protect the interests of consumers, but consumers do not even ask the jeweller for hallmarked jewellery. If only consumers begin to ask questions, they will not only be better informed, but will also force better compliance of laws and regulations by service providers, traders and manufacturers. Suppose at the time of buying your air ticket or even while collecting your boarding pass, if you ask the airline about its punctuality, initially the person at the counter may say that the information is not available. But when more passengers ask for such information, the airline will not only be forced to provide it, but also improve its record on that score. Whether it is the school that you send your child to or the neighbourhood swimming pool, if you want them to take the issue of safety seriously, then you must ask questions about it. This applies to amusement parks providing joy rides and boating facilities at tourist spots also. Let’s face it — whether it is safety, quality or quantity, it is only when consumers begin to question, that those providing goods and services will sit up and take notice. When a dentist takes out his instruments, a patient will probably wonder whether they are properly sterilised, but will hesitate to ask the doctor the question. Now why should you hesitate? After all, you are the one at risk in case the instruments are contaminated. Besides, such questioning will also force the medical practitioner or the hospital to pay more attention to safety. In the case of Harjot Ahluwalia vs Spring Meadows Hospital, two-year-old child was given an intravenous injection of chloroquine instead of chloramphenicol by an unqualified nurse resulting in irreparable damage to his brain cells. The quality of service provided by a hospital depends not only on the doctors, but also on the nurses. So when you go to a private hospital, ask them not only about the qualifications of the doctors there, but also about the nurses. If a dozen consumers pose such queries, hospitals will think twice before employing unqualified nurses. Similarly, most ready-to-wear clothes do not give adequate label information on the composition of the fabric used. Ask the retailer who is selling it about the fabric used. There is another issue here. Consumers have a right to information but not every manufacturer or service provider recognises this right. So when a consumer starts asking questions, he or she is not just seeking accountability, but also exercising the right to information and forcing those from whom he is seeking answers, to respect that right. Such questioning also sends a signal that the consumer has begun to assert herself. So go ahead, ask questions and demand answers. |
