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and Responsibilities
Consumer Awareness is an act of making sure the buyer or
consumer is aware of the information about products, goods,
services, and consumers rights. Consumer awareness is
important so that buyer can take the right decision and make the
right choice. Consumers have the right to information, right to
choose, right to safety. Let us learn more about Consumer
rights, responsibilities and consumer awareness in detail.
Consumer Rights
Right to Safety: This is the first and the most important of the
Consumer Rights. They should be protected against the
product that hampers their safety. The protection must be
against any product which could be hazardous to their health
– Mental, Physical or many of the other factors.
Right to Information: They should be informed about the
product. Theproduct packaging should list the details which
should be informed to the consumer and they should not hide
the same or provide false information.
Right to Choose: They should not be forced to select the
product. A consumer should be convinced of the product he is
about to choose and should make a decision by himself. This
also means consumer should have a variety of articles to
choose from. Monopolistic practices are not legal.
Right to Heard: If a consumer is dissatisfied with the product
purchased then they have all the right to file a complaint
against it. And the said complaint cannot go unheard, it must
be addressed in an appropriate time frame.
Right to Seek Redressal: In case a product is unable to satisfy
the consumer then they have the right to get the product
replaced, compensate, return the amount invested in the
product. We have a three-tier system of redressal according to
the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
Right to Consumer Education: Consumer has the right to
know all the information and should be made well aware of
the rights and responsibilities of the government. Lack of
Consumer awareness is the most important problem our
government must solve.
Learn more about Intro and Importance of Consumer
Protection here in detail.
Responsibilities of a Consumer
The consumer has a certain responsibility to carry as an aware
consumer can bring changes in the society and would help other
consumers to fight the unfair practice or be aware of it.
Introduction
1.1 Rise Of Consumer Awareness
1. To study the level of consumer awareness of the consumers in the study area
2. To make the students habituated about the survey work.
3. To make the students acquainted how different statistical tools can be applied
in different socio-economic problems.
c) Consumer awareness about price, quality and expiry date of the product.
d) Consumer awareness about their rights and duties.
Some of the common ways by which the consumers are exploited by the business
community are as follows:
The following are the factors that cause the exploitation of consumers:
1. Limited information
2. Limited supply
3. Limited competition
4. Low literacy
Rights and Duties of The Consumers
2.1 Rights of the Consumers
The following are the rights of the consumers as coded in the Indian laws, which the
business community has to keep in mind:
1. Right to safety
2. Right to choose
3. Right to seek redressal
4. Right to consumer education
5. Right to be heard
6. Right to be informed.
1. While purchasing goods, consumers should look at the quality of the products
as well as on the warranty of the product.
2. They should ask for Cash Memo for the item purchased.
3. They should form consumer awareness organizations.
4. They must complain for their genuine grievances.
5. The must know their rights and duties.
In order to protect the interest of the consumers, the government has adopted three
strategies:
1. Administrative measures
1. Technical measures
1. Legislative measures
The Bureau of Indian Standards, earlier known as the Indian Standards Institution
(ISI), whose headquarter is located at Delhi, has the responsibility of lying down the
standards for industrial and consumer goods on a scientific basis and certifying the
goods that meet the standards and the prescribed quality.
For setting international food standards, there is a similar body called Codex
Alimentaries Commission (CAC). This was formed in 1963 by the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health
Organization(WHO), located at Rome, Italy. It develops food standards, guidelines
and codes for production and international trade in food products like milk, fish etc.
The industrial revolution and the development in the international trade and
commerce has led to the vast expansion of business and trade, as a result of which
variety of consumer goods have appeared in the market to cater the needs of the
consumers and a host of services have been made available to the consumers like
insurance, transport etc. The advertisement of goods and services in T.V and other
media influence the demand of same by the consumers, though there may be
manufacturing defects or shortcomings in quality and purity of products or deficiency
in services rendered. In spite of various provisions made providing protection to the
consumers against adulterated and sub-standard articles in different enactments
like Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, MRTP ACT, 1969, IPC, 1960 etc., very little
could be achieved in the field of consumer protection.
In order to provide for the better protection of the interest of the consumers,
Consumer Protection Bill 1986 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 5th December 1986.
The Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament and got the assent of the President
on 24 December 1986, popularly known as the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
The Act of 1986, seeks to provide better protection to the interests of the consumers
and for the purpose that there is Consumer Councils and other authorities for the
settlement of consumer disputes and for matter connected therewith. To provide quick
redressal of consumer disputes, a quasi-judicial institution is set up at all the three
levels. These bodies have been empowered to give relief of a specific nature and to
award, wherever appropriate, compensation to the consumers. Penalties of non-
compliance of the orders given by the quasi-judicial bodies have also been provided.
Money order not delivered in time to the concerned person is a case f deficiency in
service of worst category. If this would be the normal act of the Post Office and the
office, which belong to the Union Government, no one would have faith in services
rendered by them. As a result, an amount of Rs250/- plus the money order amount of
Rs.1000/- along with interest @ 18% was the compensation awarded to the deprived
person.
The telephone line was disconnected even if the bill was paid. Proceeding before
District Forum, Telecom Department made an apology for the mistake occurred
inadvertently. But, in spite of apology, an amount of Rs. 2000/- was the compensation
awarded to the person concerned by the Telecom Department.
The project report is based on primary data collected by the students of Class 11th
Commerce, KV No. 2, CRPF, BBSR. Data collected by the investigator for his own
purpose, for the first time, from beginning to end is called primary data. According
to Wessel, “Data originally collected for the purpose of the investigator are known as
primary data”. When data collected by the others are used by others for their use or
investigation then it is known as secondary data.
The total number of households selected for the project is 80. These household has
been selected by the sampling method. There are two statistical inquiry methods:
1. Census Method
2. Sampling Method
Census method is that method in which data are collected covering every item of the
universe or population relating to the problem under investigation. The sampling
method is that method in which data are collected about samples or a group of items
taken from the population. There are different types of sampling techniques such as
random sampling, quota sampling, stratified sampling, deliberate sampling etc. But
for the project concerned deliberate sampling method is used. This is also called
judgment sampling. According to this method, for selecting a sample no specific
procedure is used, rather the investigator, according to his own desire selects those
households which represent the universe fully.
CONSUMER RIGHTS IN INDIA
The definition of Consumer right is ‘the right to have information
about the quality, potency, quantity, purity, price and standard of
goods or services’, as it may be the case, but the consumer is to
be protected against any unfair practices of trade. It is very
essential for the consumers to know these rights.
However there are strong and clear laws in India to defend
consumer rights, the actual plight of consumers of India can be
declared as completely dismal. Out of the various laws that have
been enforced to protect the consumer rights in India, the most
important is the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. According to this
law, everybody, includin g individuals, a firm, a Hindu undivided
family and a company, have the right to exercise their consumer
rights for the purchase of goods and services made by them. It is
significant that, as consumer, one knows the basic rights as well
as about the courts and procedures that follow with the
infringement of one’s rights.
In general, the consumer rights in India are listed below:
T he ri gh t t o be p rot ec te d fro m all k in d o f h az ar do u s go od s a nd
s erv ic e s
T he ri gh t t o be full y i n fo r med a bo ut th e per for ma nc e a nd q u ali t y o f
all g oo d s an d ser vi ce s
T he ri gh t t o fre e ch oi ce o f g oo d s an d serv ic e s
T he ri gh t t o be h e a rd i n al l de ci sio n - mak in g p ro ce sse s re l at ed t o
co n su mer i nt ere st s
T he ri gh t t o se ek re dre ssal , wh en e ver c on su me r r ig ht s h av e be en
in fri ng e d
T he ri gh t t o co mp le te c on su mer ed u ca t ion
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and several other laws like
the Weights, Standards & Measures Act can be formulated to
make sure that there is fair competition in the market and free
flow of correct information from goods and serv ices providers to
the ones who consume them. In fact, the degree of consumer
protection in any country is regarded as the right indicator of the
progress of the country.There is high level of phistication gained
by the goods and services providers in their marketing and selling
practices and different types of promotional tasks viz. advertising
resulted in an increasing requirement for more consumer areness
and protection. The government of India has realized the
condition of Indian consumers therefore the Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has incorporated the
Department of Consumer Affairs as the nodal organization to
protect the consumer rights, redress the consumer grievances and
promote the standards governing goods and services provided in
India. If there is infringement of rights of consumer then a
complaint can be made under the following circumstances and
reported to the close by designated
consumer court:
T he g oo d s or serv ic e s pur ch a sed b y a p er so n or ag re ed t o be
pur ch a sed b y a per son h a s on e or mor e de fe ct s or d e fi ci en ci e s i n a n y
re sp e ct
A t ra de r o r a serv ic e pro vi der r e sor t t o un fa ir or r e str ic ti v e pra ct ic e s
o f t ra de
A t ra de r o r a serv ic e pro vi der i f c h arg e s a pri ce mor e t h a n t he p ri ce
di sp la ye d on t he g o od s or th e pri c e t h a t w a s a gre e d up on be tw ee n
th e p ar ti e s or t h e p ric e th at w a s stip ul at ed u nd er a n y l aw th at e xi st
Go od s or ser vi c e s t ha t b rin g a h az ar d t o t he sa fe t y or li fe o f a per s on
o ffer e d for sal e, u n kn ow in gl y or k no w ing l y, th at c au se in jur y t o
he al th , sa fe t y or li f e.
The Act replaces the Sale of Goods Act, Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations
1999 and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982,[5] making some changes to rights to
return faulty goods for refund, replacement or repair, and adding new rights on the purchase
of digital content. [6]
Part 1 concerns consumer contracts for goods, digital content and services.
Part 2 concerns unfair terms.
Part 3 concerns other miscellaneous provisions.