A report carried in the FE on Wednesday last maintains that actually likeminded consumers built up their camaraderie on line to counteract to unilateral price rise by traders to astronomical height. Although a few items including eggs and beef have been mentioned, which those consumers reportedly boycotted, the move appears to have been limited to a small fraction of the total population. No wonder, it did not have a discernible impact on prices of those items. One case involving green coconut, the price of which shot up to Tk 150-220 apiece, though looks quite convincing. Traders of green coconut started taking advantage of the higher demand at a time of peak dengue outbreak. But once doctors asserted that the coconut water was not essential for treatment of the disease, consumers found the option of avoiding the drink that enjoyed high demand earlier.
However, green coconut is not a daily essential. Not even the red meat is. Health conscious people and even middle-income consumers have long become used to such dishes sparingly---once or twice a week. With the price going up, many families were forced to curtail consumption of beef and mutton further. If other sources of protein are cheaper, many are ready to sacrifice red meat. Unfortunately, the alternative to this meat such as fish and broiler chicken and most importantly egg --- most popular and convenient for daily consumption---were not at all cheap. These items too were targeted for fleecing consumers and the machination resorted to by companies monopolising the egg business was proved. The accused companies were fined for their intrigues and business malpractice by the Directorate of National Consumers' Rights Protection (DNCRP). But the fines levied on them and others found involved in various business malpractices by mobile courts are too paltry to have any deterrent effect on price indices.
Sure enough, there is unlikely to be any letup in intrigues and manipulation in the New Year, particularly when the Ramadan is about to knock at the door. The spice market has already got jittery and the staples along with other essentials' prices have so far remained stable at a higher level pushed up earlier. Now, against such a background, can consumers form public opinions, courtesy of social sites, in favour of a targeted boycott of essentials business syndicates target for outrageously hiking prices? Or, alternatively, can they wage a consumer movement, again by virtue of informed knowledge and data, to force the authorities like the DNCRP to exercise their legal power in order to fix a price with a reasonable profit margin for traders?
A voluntary organisation based in one of the districts in the country's western region called for a public boycott of onion when its price shot up by Tk 80-100 overnight following India's announcement of restriction of export of the item until March 24. How the public reacted to the call is not known nor is the kind of impact it made as a counteraction. Experts in the subject, however, observe that boycotting a non-essential good may produce positive results but not so in case of the most essential commodities.
Well, this depends on how essential a commodity is and the kind of consumers involved. Rice and potato are indispensable but egg and milk are not equally so for a large number of people in this country particularly following the pandemic which left many people unemployed and with little or no income from alternative employment. The Ukraine war coming on the heel of the pandemic exacerbated the income erosion and shattered the hopes of many to rebuild their livelihoods and fortunes. These people have reportedly been cutting on their food items, particularly the costlier and the more nutritious, or even skipping meals simply because they cannot afford those.
People so struggling are forced to make do without foods they were used to consuming before the Covid-19 outbreak. It is not at all challenging for them to skip onion for a period, say a month. If others---suppose 80 per cent households---express solidarity with the poor and low-income people and start boycotting this essential kitchen item, the impact is likely to be devastating for intriguing traders.
The bottom line is to establish the rights of the consumers now finding themselves at the receiving end. Disparities caused by pauperisation of social segments by exploitative privileged classes must come to an end. At a time of global economic crunch, stoking unbridled profit mentality and avarice at the cost of the struggling compatriots is not only immoral but also a punishable offence.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com