Is MGP for the development of Mysore or is it anti-development?
Is MGP merely obstructionist or is it constructive also?
What is MGP's philosophy?
Maj.Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere and Prof. S.K.Ananda Thirtha answer these questions in this article.
Mysore Grahakara Parishat started as an organisation dedicated to the protection of the interests of the consumers of Mysore city and its surroundings. Even though its original constitution did not explicitly include solving civic and environmental problems as part of its objectives, many of MGP's early efforts were in these fields.
People objected to MGP's foray into these fields, saying that civic and environmental problems were not "consumer" problems, but the organisation always felt that it was not bound by an unduly constricting interpretation of the word "consumer" Civic and environmental problems arise when government officials who are paid from the taxes paid by the public are derelict in the performance of their duties and as a result the public suffer. So in a larger sense, they are certainly consumer problems.
It is also heartening to see that the courts are also veering towards this wider interpretation. In earlier days, they were of the opinion that one can complain against deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act only when there is direct payment for the service, but now the Supreme Court has gradually relaxed this condition and expanded the scope of the Act to include statutory services provided by the government departments and agencies.
Over the last decade or so, the markets have opened up, there is more competition, merchants have become more consumer-friendly and the problems consumers faced with private providers of goods and services have become less acute. Further, with the advent of consumer courts, they can get their grievances redressed much more easily. While private businesses were becoming more people friendly, the opposite was happening with the government departments; they were getting progressively less responsive to the public and more oppressive. If one has problems with government departments, letters and appeals are not of much effect and the only way out is to approach the courts. But this solution is time consuming and expensive. Civic and environmental problems (which are mainly caused by dereliction of duty by government agencies) were and still are very difficult to tackle individually and need the efforts and resources of an organisation. Over a period, these problems overtook the traditional "consumer problems" as the major area of work for MGP. This change of focus was formalized by the General Body of MGP which duly modified the objectives of MGP to explicitly include these areas.
While there are no doubts about the objectives of MGP, questions are being raised every now and then about the policy it is adopting to achieve these objectives. Specific question that has been raised is whether MGP is for the development of Mysore or whether it is anti-development. Another specific objection is that MGP is merely obstructionist and that it is not constructive. The purpose of this note does not change in philosophy of MGP but is merely a formal explication of the philosophy of previous executive committees which is being continued now.
(This article originally appeared in the Grahaka Patrike of MGP in the Consumer day supplement of year 2005. The article will be published in this blog in three parts starting this week)