Poverty ID card holders to get essential goods at cheaper rate

KATHMANDU, MAR 09 - The government plans on making available the daily essential goods at a cheaper rate to the poor by establishing fair price shops. The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has included this plan in the Consumer Protection Policy which is in the pipeline.


As per the draft of the policy, poor families holding the poverty identity card will get daily commodities at a subsidised rate. The plan is included in the policy at a time when the government is already working over a programme to issue poverty cards to 7 million people. The issuance of the card is also targeted to provide subsidies in education, health facilities and transport services.

According to ministry officials, they were collecting input from stakeholders to finalise the draft and get it approved by the cabinet. “We are planning to finalise the policy within the next three weeks,” said Deepak Subedi, spokesperson of the ministry, adding that the policy would also make it easy for the government to take prompt action against the foul traders in the market.

The policy has been taken as the need of an hour with the government failing to act effectively to control ill practises and ensure the rights of the consumers. Sales of substandard goods, food adulteration, no proper labelling of products, arbitrary pricing, irregularity in weighing tools, syndicate and delay in giving verdict to consumer related cases are some of the problems currently being faced.

Establishment of consumer courts in district level, fixing maximum retail price (MRP) and setting up of the Consumer Protection Fund (CPF) are some of the major plans envisioned in the policy. The MRP will be based on the investment, transport cost, taxes paid to the government and the profit margin of  the traders. The CPF will get its resources from the government , revenue collected from imported goods and penalty imposed to traders or manufacturers selling or producing goods that affect consumer health.

The policy has also envisaged of intervening the market utilising public enterprises when required to discourage black marketing, curtailing and artificial price hike. The department of commerce and supply management officials claimed that fixing of MRP would help discourage price hike, while the resources of the CPF will be used to compensate consumers and carry out activities on consumer rights promotion and protection.

Similarly, the district level courts are set up to provide speedy decisions to consumer rights violation related cases. The policy is also adopting two additional rights- right to access of essential goods and right to a healthy environment. The act has guaranteed six of the eight consumer rights recognised globally so far - right to be informed, right to be protected, right to be assured, right to be heard, right to seek redress and right to consumer education.

The department added that the two new rights would first be adopted in the policy and later in the Consumer Protection Act through an amendment. The department officials said the government would also require to make an amendment to the act to achieve the other targets in the proposed policy.