On World Consumer Rights Day..

Today, being World Consumer Rights Day, and I having worked on the beat of Consumer Forum, during my stint as a Reporter, I wish to highlight a few observations regarding Consumer-rights..

1. Caveat Emptor (Let The Buyer Beware) always applies, no matter what the product or service..

2. In countries where Consumer is (treated like the) King, for example, in the U.S.A., the customer is rightly empowered and given his/her due.. Even in case of a service-deficiency or a bad/damaging product, people have sued the said company, and got compensations ranging from few thousand bucks to lakhs of them.. No organization gets away with malpractices W.R.T. utility, pricing or after-effects of stuff that it sells..

3. Capitalism, Consumerism, or Material-wealth, they have been adopted to serve a specific purpose by developed nations, and that is, to raise the standard of living of its people, and to allow optimum utilization of its populace's faculties.. While socialist/welfare-state kind of policies have worked for some of the countries, they have failed, more often than not.. We must take cues from the first-world countries, when it comes to reaching out to the people on the lowest rung of the ladder..

4. Books such as C. K. Prahlad's 'Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid', 'It Happened In India' by Kishor Biyani, have valuable insights to offer on Consumer-behaviour and about the ways to thrive by keeping the Consumers at the heart of the business..