Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Consumer Awareness
Consumer Awareness
Some of the common ways by which the consumers are exploited by the
business community are as follows:
1. Limited information
2. Limited supply
3. Limited competition
4. Low literacy
Rights and Duties of The Consumers
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:
Right to Safety
Means right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services, which are
hazardous to life and property. The purchased goods and services availed of should
not only meet their immediate needs, but also fulfil long term interest
Right to choose
The definition of Right to Choose as per the Consumer Protection Act 1986 is 'the
right to be assured, wherever possible, to have access to a variety of goods and
services at competitive prices. Right to seek redressal
Right to be heard
Means that consumer's interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums.
It also includes right to be represented in various forums formed to consider the
consumer's welfare. The Consumers should form non-political and non-commercial
consumer organizations which can be given representation in various committees
formed by the Government and other bodies in matters relating to consumers.
Right to be informed.
Means right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of
goods so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices. Consumer should insist
on getting all the information about the product or service before making a choice or a decision.
This will enable him to act wisely and responsibly and also enable him to desist from falling
prey to high pressure selling techniques.
Right to seek redressal
1. Administrative measures
1. Technical measures
1. Legislative measures
Administrative Measures
Administrative measures of the government include the distribution of essential
commodities through Public Distribution System (PDS). PDS is a system
through which the government distributes some essential commodities at a
reasonable price through the Fair Price Shop. In a free market economy, the
price of a commodity is determined in the market through the free play of
demand and supply. Equilibrium price is that price at which demand and
supply of the commodity are equal to each other i.e. there are zero excess
demand and excess supply. But sometimes government interferes in the market
systems by fixing the price lower than the equilibrium price, to protect the
interest of the consumers belonging to the lower strata of the society. This price
is known as Control Price. When the government fixes price lower than the
equilibrium price, demand exceeds supply, which leads to black-marketing and
hoarding. To check these government sales different commodities at different
FPS at control price.
Technical Measures
Technical measures consist of Standardization of the product. One of the
important measures taken by the government to protect the consumers is the
creation of institutions for setting up the standards for making and producing
various products and enforcing them. In India, this has been achieved through
the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and Agmark. While BIS caters to the
industrial and consumer goods while Agmark is meant for the agricultural
products
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.
Legislative Measures
Legislative measures include enactment of Consumer Protection Act,
1986. The Government enacted a specific law called the Consumer Protection
Act, 1986. The Act provides for the establishment of consumer disputes
redressal agencies at District, State and National level for the protection of
consumer interests and to redress their grievances in a speedy, simple and
inexpensive manner. The Act has led to the setting up separate Department of
Consumer Affairs in Central and State Government, which focus exclusively
on the rights of the consumers, as enshrined in the act.
Consumer Protection Act of 1986
And Case Studies
4.1. Consumer Protection Act of 1986
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.
Case Studies
1. S.L. Pati VS. Postmaster, Aligarh, Orissa (1993)
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 complaint can be made on plain paper and you can file it in person or
through an authorised agent, after it has been notarised, through registered
post or regular post. It is important that you serve a personal or legal notice to
the opposite party before filing the complaint.
You will need to file four copies, plus additional copies for each opposite
party. And the complaint must be filed within two years from the date of the
cause of action having arisen. The court fee for cases involving up to Rs 1
lakh is nil for those holding Antyodaya Anna Yojana cards and Rs 100 for the
rest. For cases involving up to Rs 5 lakh the case fee is Rs 200, for case up to
Rs 10 lakh the court fee is Rs 400 and for those up to Rs 20 lakh the case fee
is Rs 500. The demand draft should be made out to the President, Consumer
Disputes Redressal Forum, (name of) district.
Cases where the value of goods or services exceeds Rs 20 lakh can be filed
and orders of the district forum challenged here within 30 days of the order
being passed.
The court fee for cases above Rs 20 lakh and up to Rs 50 lakh is Rs 2,000
while the court fee for cases up to Rs 1 crore is Rs 4,000. The demand draft
should be made in favour of the registrar, (name of) state commission and be
payable in that state only. To file an appeal you need the following:
a) Documents of record with correct name of all parties and their addresses;
(b) Certified copy of the district forum order;
(c) More than four additional copies for each respondent for filing an appeal;
(d) Any conditional delay, interim orders and other petitions to be submitted along
with an affidavit; and
(e) A statutory deposit of Rs 25,000 or 50 per cent of the award / compensation
amount, whichever is less, is to be made by the appellant / opposite parties.
A dissatisfied consumer can file a complaint directly with the national commission or
appeal against decisions of the state commission within a month from the date of the
order. The court fee is Rs 5,000 and the demand draft should be in the name of The
Registrar, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. There is no fee for
filing an appeal before the state or national commission. You can appeal against the
orders of the national commission in the Supreme Court within a period of 30 days.
CONSUMER AWARENESS
PROGRAMME:
For the project report, total number head of households interviewed is 80 and all
belong to urban area. Out of total head of family interviewed, 78 are literate whereas
only 2 are illiterate. All belong to different income group i.e. high, medium and low
income group. However, majority of them belong to medium
income group(75%). Again, on the basis of occupation, 85% of respondents are
government servants whereas other are businessmen.
Close-
up is the most preferred brand(37.5%) of toothpaste followed by Colgate(27.5%)
among the surveyed households. Households from medium and high income group
prefer respective brand of toothpaste taking into account the quality of the product
and wishes of their children also. On the other hand, for the low income group, the
most important factor that determines the use of toothpaste is the price of the product.
Again, majority of respondent(70%) are influenced by the advertisement about the
product and the important media is Television.
Educational implications of the study is that every students as well as parents should
be aware about different aspects of different commodities they consume in day-to-
day life. They should have knowledge about certified products, Check MRP, date of
manufacturing, and expiry at the time of purchase of a commodity. They must have
awareness about their rights and duties. This project report will give a
preliminary idea about survey work to the students. Lastly, students will get an
idea about how statistical techniques can be used in different socio-economic
problems.