Getting Deeper Into Consumer Affairs

The Indian Ministry of Consumers Affairs includes a department taking care of consumer affairs and their welfare in India. Under its aegis, a set of rules has been listed to regulate consumer information, safety and comfort. Among these rules is this peculiar one that particularly addresses the importance of good packaging of consumer goods.

Under Chapter II, Section 9 (4) refers to a particular way in which Declarations on packaged consumer goods must be made. What this says is that the declaration must be either in Hindi (Devnagri script) or in English, but of course, the central government through this rule doesn't preclude usage of any other regional language on the package, as long as Hindi is not missed out. What's so official about language used on consumer goods?

While this presents a clear case of myopic thinking on the part of policy makers, to every individual consumer, this translates to an additional indirect expenditure of no avail, especially in non-Hindi speaking states. So going by number of people living in these states, nearly most of India (around 60+%) is bearing the additional burden of expenses on packaged goods which come with the mandatory Hindi Declarations as well.

All this doesn't mean the Indian government is sitting quiet observing all these wasteful expenditure incurred by its subjects & corporates alike. It is also, in turn, spending money to educate people and make them Hindi Literate - thereby creating a virtual less-lossy environment for corporates. As a by-product, of course, all other languages (and cultures associated with them) are rapidly going down the drain, thereby shaking the very pillar of our unity - cultural diversity.

So what're all these costing the common non-Hindi speaking consumers? Much. One - for a consumer to learn a new language only to be a consumer. Two - always bear the extra costs of packets with multiple languages, because, come what may, Hindi would never fully be absorbed by tens of Crores of non-hindi speakers in India (stats for this are available everywhere). Three - the true consumer's interests are being compromised with, businesses cornered-in with misplaced polity intervention. At the end these are only driving consumers into a pit of confusion amidst multiple languages - something that will invariably follow when policy makers get so deep into consumer affairs.