Simple Life - best way to beat cost of living

by Sarath Wijesinghe

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e-Bay, one of the largest consumer supermarkets in the world earning £ 650 million a year, was fined £ 30 million recently failing to stop counterfeit luxury goods being sold on its site.

London Metro dated 1/7/2008 further reported that e-Bay was further hit with £ b30,000 for selling fake hermes bags with the comment” that it was done to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law abiding sellers”.

These are real happenings in the capitalist and commercialised parts and never heard in our Socialist Democratic Republic where multinational “Giants” are respected, venerated and given disproportional facilities by the then government.

Chandrika’s regime privatised the Gas Company with the gas network right round the capital and the in-built “Gas Terminals” which are necessary for gas storage and distribution, without which no new players could enter the trade.

Today Gas is monopolized by two companies and new players failed to continue in business mainly due to lack of terminal facilities monopoly and other facilities extended by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

Gas privatisation is one of the worst decisions made by any government in power ever, which is now causing grave hardships to poor consumers every second. Despite scrutiny by the CAA gas companies were in hiding under hidden profits such as changing and transferring to separate companies.

We have a mighty powerful CAA still unable to tame errant multinationals squeezing innocent consumers in broad daylight using various tactics. It is time for the consumers also to organise themselves and rally round the CAA and the

Consumer Organisation Federation set up under the patronage of the Authority and the islandwide network of the consumer organisation. It is a requirement of the Authority to promote and activate consumer organisations. CAA should reactivate the consumer organisations and the main federation forthwith and forcefully.

Gas prices

Report by the Trade Minister, Bandula Gunawardane on Gas Prices and formula states” says that he is ready to take any challenge posed by Gas Companies” “Existing system of price revision which only confined to the increasing of gas prices will be amended to ensure a price reduction in future”. (Official Government news portal) Cabinet and the Trade Minister have proposed the “Gas Formula” to be implemented by the CAA, which is an independent regulator to regulate trade.

I think the Minister is quite correct. CAA has no hold or power in the amendment or formation of any formula. It has only power to implement through Section 18 of the Act which authorises the authority to adjust prices of consumer items which aredeclared essential.

The Authority set up under S/3 is empowered to take decisions and the Chairman who is only a member should carry out the decisions of the Authority. The formula needs immediate changes or complete revocation and reverting back to the previous procedure in the interest of the consumer at large as the process under the formula has not been found to be consumer friendly.

According to the Minister the prices have taken an upward trend throughout and the increases were very frequent within this short period. It is now time for the Minister to re-negotiate the formula with Gas monopolies, and prepare a Cabinet paper in order to urge the Cabinet either to re - formulate or abolish the existing formula.

It is detrimental to the consumer and helps the monopolized companies to increase prices. Under the procedure without the formula the prices were adjusted only when applications were made by companies. This needs urgent attention as the prices of all consumer items are on the rise due to Gas price hikes.

Prima deal

The United National Party government made the biggest blunder by giving facilities to Prima to form BOT Company with the powers to export the best part of the grain for 20 years. Prima enjoyed all the benefits at the cost of the health of the nation by selling the remains of the grains and popularising wheat bread disturbing our stable rice eating pattern.

For two years the CAA with the help of Lake House papers campaigned to popularise rice based products in the country as against wheat bread which is medically and economically unfit and unsuitable to the citizens.

I thank all the media, organisations and government institutions helped us in the campaign during my tenure of office. At the end of the contract, instead of taking back the Prima factory for the benefit of the Nation as agreed in the agreement the Chandrika Government sold it to Prima again for a small consideration for reasons nobody knows.

We could have taken back the company, factory and the business for nothing in terms of the agreement. The company reaped the harvest enjoying all the benefits over two decades.

Today the consumer (Nation) is paying the highest price for the blunders of politicians. Prima, though bread was an item declared as essential under S18 of the Act, increased prices freely exploiting the consumers and the industries contributing as a major partner of the increase of cost of living and being the main cause of price hike of food and bakery items.

Consumerism

Consumerism is developed in the west as needs are more and consumer items are in hundreds of thousands, to be consumed by a few individuals. E-bay, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda or Wall mart, are champions in trade offering millions of consumer items and services for sale, lease, or given to consumers in some capacity.

Life is so competitive and complex in that part of the world. In 1977 with the liberalisation of the economy Sri Lankans too entered the rat race of world consumerism, with unlimited needs and aspirations to the consumer drifting away from the simple life and simplicity.

Simple Life

When the needs are less and the life is simple, need of the consumer items is also less. Simple life is healthy, and less stressful. Simple does not mean being stingy. Greed for excess money and wealth breeds contempt and sorrow.

The happiest people on the planet are Bhutanese, who are used to a simple life with a few needs, yet happy and leading a full life without modern and sophisticated lifestyle which is harmful to the body.

Sri Lankan village and villagers too have been self sufficient, simple and happy. Sadly things have changed due to modern developments.

Sadly this has changed today. All the villagers were expected to assist in cultivation of paddy fields and public affairs supervised by Gam Saba and elders who adjudged disputes based on principles of “religious guidelines” black smith, Jeweller, and all tradesmen were available in the village,the temple being the centre of the culture.

I am fortunate to be a villager, who learnt and was trained to lead a simple life with minimum needs for life I own only one pair of shoes. The next pair will be purchased only when it is worn out and I do not posses any valuables or properties and feel free and enjoy simple life.

In my declaration of assets at CAA I stated that I had nothing to declare and I feel the freedom for the next few hundred days of my life. Based on the above computation unless I do not die as a result of an accident, the remaining lifespan left for me would be only a few hundred days. If one is conscious of these realities, there will not be greed and excessive needs.

To beat the cost of living the best way is to be simple and go simple. The consumer should know when to buy, where to buy and how to buy and what to buy. If you shop round, things could be purchased cheap wherever you are. 25 per cent of the supermarket purchases of Londoners are thrown away -unused consumer items amount to billions of pounds. Things are purchased and forgotten to be consumed. The waste amounts to billions.

In Sri Lanka the cooperative movement is improving fast and items are cheap at budget shops and cooperatives. There are outlets of various departments selling consumer items at competitive prices. The rising cost of living is pricking all over the world. There is plenty of land available for cultivation.

The Grow More Food campaign initiated by the government needs mass support and cooperation. Be careful when you buy from anywhere. Do not hesitate to complain to the Consumer Affairs Authority if there is a complaint and organise yourself in consumer organisations affiliated to the Authority.

Consumer Affairs Authority

Consumers Authority is the guardian and protector of the consumer and development on consumerism, which is the need of the hour.

In the United Kingdom a good loaf of bread would cost 110 pence (around 250 rupees) and a litre of diesel is around 120 pence). Prices of items have risen by 26 per cent and are still rising.

A plea to the Middle East by Brown to release more fuel to the world has not been considered by the OPEC and the political leaders. World harvest is diminishing. Huge consumption by Tiger economies and India and China too contributed to the unusual and unprecedented soaring of prices of consumer articles. The only way out for us is to win the war on cost of living by growing more and producing more consumer items locally.

While growing and producing more, we must economise the available resources and try to lead a simple life. CAA has provided for the process of regularization of trade and other direct and indirect ways and means.

It is the duty of the CAA to pave the way for the consumer to purchase quality items at a reasonable price. The Authority is empowered with enormous powers to meet these obligations to serve the consumer.

It is the duty of the CAA to protect consumers against marketing of goods or the provision of services which are hazardous to the life and property of consumers, by protecting consumers against unfair trade practices, and ensure that consumers have adequate access to goods and services at competitive prices and seek redress against unfair trade practices restrictive trade practices or any other form of exploitation of consumers by traders through direct and direct means.

Mahinda Chintana and simple life

One of the main themes of Mahinda Chintana is the promotion of locally manufactured consumer items and food, living with Nature and being simple in all the dealings and lifestyle, which the President and his father Hon D.A.Rajapaksa practised. The only way to come out of this world crisis is to grow more food, save, be simple and plan out for the future.

In the United Kingdom the house prices are falling fast and even the business giant, Marks and Spencer is in serious trouble.

Crisis is yet to come and the next few months are going to be still difficult to us as a Nation.

We must be united and act as a nation in order to come out victorious in this world crisis.