Submitted by-

Rishabh Kumar Srivastava

Registration no. - 11605147
Submitted to- Sachin Bharti
Indian Government Innovative and Magnificent Steps Towards Consumer
Awareness, Education and Protection: An Overview

The issues relating to consumer welfare affects the entire people around us, since everyone is a
consumer in one way or the other John F. Kennedy rightly stated that “Consumers, by definition,
include us all. They are the largest economic group in the economy, affecting and affected by
almost every public and private economic decision. Two-thirds of all spending in the economy is
by consumers. But they are the only important group in the economies, who are not effectively
organized, whose views are often not heard”.
So, from this statement one should agree that all of us are consumers and there is no society
without consumers because all human beings, who live in an organized society are either
consumers of goods or services or a consumers of both either directly or indirectly, more over
from the moment a person comes into mothers womb and to this world he starts consuming.
Basically, without consumers there will be no economical activities.

All the people with their limited resources would like to fulfill their needs and wants and try to
get maximum satisfaction; by this they create demand for goods and services. In the absence of
their demand, producers would lack a key motivation to produce. Hence, one can say that
consumer plays an important role in the economy of any nation, which allows us to survive and
thrive.

So, from the above it is clear that in one way Consumer is sovereign and customer is the king
and at the same time because of various reasons these concepts are nothing more than myths in
the present scenario particularly in the developing societies like India for various reasons.

But Indian government recognized the importance of consumer welfare and to ensure consumer
welfare it has been working on this issue on various dimensions like consumer protection with
legal measures, education and awareness programmes etc. Ensuring consumer welfare is the
responsibility of the government. Accepting this, policies have been framed and the Consumer
Protection Act, 1986, was introduced.

A separate Department of Consumer Affairs was also created in the Central and State
Governments to exclusively focus on ensuring the rights of consumers as enshrined in the Act.
This Act has been regarded as the most progressive, comprehensive and unique piece of
legislation. In the last international conference on consumer protection held in Malaysia in 1997,
the Indian Consumer Protection Act was described as one “which has set in motion a revolution
in the fields of consumer rights, the parallel of which has not been seen anywhere else in the
world.”

The special feature of this Act is to provide speedy and inexpensive redressal to the grievance of
the consumer and provide consumer relief of a specific nature and award compensation wherever
appropriate. The aim of the Act is also to ensure the rights of the consumer, viz. the right of
choice, safety, information, Redressal, public hearing and consumer education.

To achieve this goals Indian government had proposed and even made several amendments to
Act and at present government of India has proposed to bring about a new law “Consumer
protection Bill, 2015”by which it would like to implement the principle of Caveat Vendor which
means let the seller be beware and Consumer is the king.

Historical background
In the early days of industry, companies could afford to ignore consumer wishes because there
was so much demand for their goods and services. As a result, they were often able to command
high prices for products of poor quality. In those days the principle of Caveat emptor played a
vital role.

Later, in modern period, industrialization, globalization, liberalization and privatization have

transformed the nations and world economy into a vibrant, rapidly growing consumer market. As
a result, the markets are flooded with different kinds of goods and services and importance of
consumer increasing day by day. Modern technological developments have made a great impact
on the quality, availability and safety of goods and services but unfortunately the consumers are
still victims of unscrupulous and exploitative trade practices of the sellers and the producers.

Consumers have been facing huge problems relating to defective goods, deficiency in services,
food adulteration, spurious goods, hoarding, use of deceptive and fractional weights, late
deliveries, variations in the contents of the pack, misleading advertisements, hidden price
components, price discrimination, ATM and credit card frauds, financial frauds, real estate
problems and problems related to public utilities. These problems arise because unscrupulous
sellers take an unfair advantage of the ignorance and helplessness of the consumers. More over
because of lack of awareness, cohesiveness and lack of effective organizations to voice their
concerns, a consumer has remained a faceless, voiceless.

In view of the emerging global markets and concerns for good governance coupled with rising
expectations of the people for better services, quality goods, availability of choice and value for
money, there is a national as well as universal emphasis and consumer movements for protection
and promotion of Consumers rights and interests has been increasing day by day. In fact the
concept of consumer protection is as old as consumer exploitation.

From the history one has to agree that even in ancient period society consumer protection was
sought to be promoted through religious texts, principles of ethics and morals and judgments of
kings. States also provided punishments for malpractices in business by traders.Best example for
this is Roman kingdom and India.

In the history of consumer protection 15th March 1962 is a remarkable day. On that day,
President John F. Kennedy of U.S. called upon the U.S. Congress to accord its approval to the
Consumer Bill of Rights. They are (i) right to choice; (ii) right to information, (iii) right to safety
and (iv) right to be heard. President Gerald R. Ford added one more right i.e. right to consumer
education. Further other rights such as right to healthy environment and right to basic needs
(Food, Clothing and Shelter) were added. In memory of that day every year the 15th of March is
observed as the World Consumer Rights Day.

Later UN General Assembly on April 9, 1985 adopted a set of general guidelines regarding
protection of consumer and it advised its member countries to adopt these guidelines through
policy changes or law. By this so many countries started to enacted consumer protection laws.

India being a member country in UN and in furtherance of continuous demand from various
groups for a specific consumer protection legislation, Indian parliament enacted the consumer
protection law, 1986 even though there are several Acts addressing consumer protection related
provisions such as, the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Indian Contract Act, 1872; Drugs Control Act,
1950; Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951; Indian Standards Institution
(certification marks) Act, 1952; Drug and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Acts,
1954; Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954; Essential commodities Act, 1955; Trade and
Merchandise Marks Act, 1958; Hire purchase Act, 1972; Cigarettes (Regulation of Production,
Supply and Distribution) Act, 1975; Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies
of Essential Commodities Act, 1980; Essential commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981;
Multi-State-Co-operative Societies Act, 1984; Standard of Weights and Measures (Enforcement)
Act, 1985; and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.This Act received assent
of the president on 24thDecember, so in commemoration of that day India has been celebrating
the National Consumer Rights Day.

From the above one can find that there has been numerous efforts taking by national and at
international level to provide protection to consumers through legal frame work by providing
numerous rights, besides this nations, voluntary organizations and some individuals making
numerous efforts to create consumer empowerment through public and private campaigns,
workshops, advertisements, through formal and informal education and more importantly
through consumer movements etc.

An aware consumer is an asset to the society, so, an enlightened consumer is needed, and it is
possible through proactive support of the government, business organizations, Educational
Institutions – Schools, Colleges, Universities and Research Institutions, organizations of Civil
Society and more importantly by individual efforts. So one should first understand that consumer
protection is a socio-economic and legal movement, it will be successful through consumer
education and awareness, which helps the consumer himself as well as his fellow member in
many ways. An aware consumer not only protects himself from exploitation but induces
efficiency, transparency and accountability in the entire manufacturing and services sector.

Hence, one can say that consumer awareness and education is the main building block for
consumer protection. An enlightened consumer is an empowered consumer. Realizing the
importance of consumer empowerment, it is the need of the hour to accord top priority to
consumer education and awareness for consumer protection by people as well as by nations.

Role of consumer education and awareness in protection of rights of consumer

Consumer education and awareness support consumers in their attempts to organize their
everyday lives in a sustainable way and it creates understanding of their role as actors in the
economic system and how and to what extent they can influence the economy, the environment
and the society through their individual consumer behavior to create a better society for all of us.
Consumer Education is concerned with educating people with the skills, attitudes, and
knowledge required for living in a consumer society.
Consumers should have education and awareness regarding their protection to achieve maximum
satisfaction with their limited resources and to have motivation for saving of scarce resources, to
protect themselves as well as his fellow members from exploitation and to control over
consumption of harmful goods and services, to have knowledge regarding solution methods, if
there is any problem aroused and more importantly to construct healthy society.

Initiatives by Government towards Consumer Protection, Awareness and Education in

India
In a country like India, despite numerous efforts, consumer protection and consumerism is still in
at infancy, given the scenario of economic disparity and level of education and ignorance,
educating consumers, remains a gigantic task. This calls for concerted efforts from every one.
Government, some voluntary organizations as well as activists have taken initiatives for creating
consumer education and awareness in the country.
Government of India has taken up number of initiatives for providing protection to consumers
through law and creating consumer awareness in the country, some of them are.

1. Consumer Protection Act

India has been a pioneer in consumer advocacy with the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, a path
breaking legislation. The existing Act provides the legislative framework to promote and protect
the rights of consumers and three-tier quasi-judicial consumer disputes redressal machinery at
the District, State and National levels, popularly known as Consumer Courts. The consumer
courts adjudicate complaints relating to defects in goods and deficiencies in services and are
meant to provide simple, inexpensive and speedy redressal of consumers' grievances. The
existing Act also provides for establishment of Consumer Protection Councils at the Central,
State and District levels to function as Advisory Bodies on consumer advocacy.1 These bodies
assigned some objects to promote and protect consumer rights; among them consumer
educations is also one of the rights.2 It is interesting to note that the Act doesn’t seek to protect
every consumer within the literal meaning of the term. The protection is meant for the person
who fits in the definition of consumer given by the Act.3 Even today to get protection one should
depend on judicial interpretations for proper understanding of the word consumer. So, to avoid
this, the present government of India has proposed to bring about a new law “Consumer
protection Bill, 2015” by which it would like to implement the principle of Caveat Vendor which
means let the seller be beware and Consumer is the king.

Salient features of the Consumer Protection bill, 2015

With a view to widen the ambit and amplify the scope of the Consumer Protection Act and to
modernise the legislation on consumer protection to keep pace with the changes in markets, to
1
The consumer protection Act 1986
2
Section 6(f) of the consumer protection Act 1986.
3
Section 2(1)(d) of the consumer protection Act 1986.
ensure fair, equitable and consistent outcomes for consumers, to enable executive intervention in
the nature of class action both to prevent consumer detriment and to provide redress to
consumers, it has been felt necessary to replace the existing Consumer Protection Act, 1986 by
introducing a fresh Bill, namely, the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015.

Some important features of the bill are4

·The Bill aimed to replaces the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The Bill enforces consumer
rights, and provides a mechanism for redressal of complaints regarding defect in goods and
deficiency in services.

·The Bill contains a few new definitions of certain key terms like Advertisement, Claimant,
Harm, Mediation, Product liability; Unfair Contract etc. All these new terms that have been
added, are of paramount importance in securing better protection and justice to consumers, apart
from reducing any scope for unnecessary litigation in regard to scope and ambit of these words
in the adjudicatory process.

·The bill widens the scope of Complaint by providing an option to make a complaint by
electronic means of communication.

·If a consumer suffers an injury from a defect in a good, he may file a claim of product liability
against the manufacturer. The consumer must establish seven conditions in order to prove such a
claim.

·The Bill classifies six contract terms as unfair. These cover terms such as (i) payment of
excessive security deposits; (ii) disproportionate penalty for a breach; (iii) unilateral termination
without cause; (iv) one which puts the consumer at a disadvantage.

·The Bill empowers consumers to file their complaints in Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commissions that have Jurisdiction over the place of their residence.

·This bill also proposed to enhance penalties

-If a person does not comply with orders of the district, state or national commissions, he may
face imprisonment up to three years, or a fine up to Rs 50,000, or both.
-If a person does not comply with an order issued by the Consumer Protection Authority, he may
face imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs 20 lakh, or both
-The Authority may also impose penalties with regards to the advertisement and production of
food. The penalty for publishing a false advertisement would be a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. The
penalty for the manufacture, sale, storage, distribution or import of food containing extraneous

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matter would be a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.

·The bill, 2015 proposed to establish several new authorities like,

-Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions (Quasi-Judicial body)
The proposed bill proposed for establishment of Consumer Dispute redressal commissions,
which is a quasi judicial body at district, state and at national level with functions and powers to
adjudicate disputes related to defective goods and deficient services, based on their value.

-Consumer Protection Authority (Regulator body)

The proposed bill proposed for establishment of Consumer Protection Authority as regulatory
body at Central and regional levels to perform functions like Inquire, investigate into
complaints, and launch prosecution in a court or commission; and with powers to issue safety
notices and pass orders in relation to recall of goods, reimbursement of prices, unfair practices,
misleading advertisements, unfair contracts, etc.; it also has power to impose penalties, including
fine.

-Consumer Protection Council (Advisory body)

The proposed bill proposed for establishment of Consumer Protection Council as an advisory
body at district, state and at national level with a view to promote and protect (six) consumer
rights.

-Mediation cells (Alternate dispute redressal)

The proposed bill also proposed for establishment of Medication Cells as alternate dispute
redressal. It is in fact an innovative step. It proposed it to establish at the central, state and district
levels as prescribed by respective governments with a view to Settle disputes by a mediator
(except in cases of grave threats to life, physical or mental injuries).

2. A separate Department to Consumer Affairs5

Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is one of the two Departments under the Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. It was constituted as a separate Department in
June 1997 as it was considered necessary to have a separate Department to administer the
policies for consumer cooperatives, monitoring prices, availability of essential commodities,
consumer movement in the country and give a fillip to the nascent consumer movement in the
country. This department is also responsible to educate and to create awareness among
consumers in India for that purpose the department of consumer affairs had taken numerous
initiatives and implementing them in an appreciable manner. Some of them are
i.Multi Media Publicity Campaign
Multi-media publicity campaign are being undertaken through print and electronic media by the

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Department of Consumer Affairs and the role of different departments on the issues that are
directly relevant to such as ISI, Hallmark, Labeling, MRP, Weights and Measures etc, and
regarding new emerging areas such as telecom, real estate, credit cards, financial products,
pharmaceuticals, Insurance, travel services, medicines etc. are under taken either through joint
campaigns or joint consultations with the concerned Departments.
ii. Creating awareness through Advertisements
a) Advertisements in Print and Electronic media
Print and Electronic media are considered to be the most common, powerful and preferred
medium for mass communication, by recognizing this the department of consumer affairs in the
name of Jago Grahak Jago has been giving advertisements to create awareness among public
regarding consumerism.

b) Advertisements in journals
The Department has entered into a tie-up with Publication Division under the Ministry of
Information & Broadcasting for displaying advertisements in the journals brought out by the
division such as Yojana, Krukshetra, Bal Bharti, Aajkal and their regional editions. By this
department focused to publish articles on consumer awareness in these magazines keeping in
view about their target readership.

d) Advertisements during Sports events

In order to reach maximum number of consumers, the department telecasted video spots
containing consumer related information during the popular sports events where the audience
interest is maximum.

3. Use of Internet to generate Consumer Awareness

Realizing that more than 70%population under the age of 35 years is using the internet in a big
way, a major initiative is being taken to spread consumer awareness through the internet. All the
print advertisements as well as the Audio Video spots of the Department have been uploaded on
the website of the Ministry i.e.www.fcamin.nic.in.

4. Introducing CORE Centre concept

The Department has launched on March 15, 2005 Consumer on Line Resources and
Empowerment (CORE) Centre on the website www.core.nic.in for consumer advocacy and
online redressal of consumer grievances. Through the various advertisements relating to
consumer awareness, adequate publicity is being given to the activities of CORE and its website
so that consumers can take the help of online counseling /guidance being provided through it.

5. Introducing National Consumer Helpline and Consumer Care Guidance Centers6

The Department has launched a National Help Line. The toll free number 1800-11-4000 facility

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is available to consumers from 9.30 A.M. to 5.30 P.M. on all the working days.
Grahak Suvidha Kendras have also been started in 2015 in six states to help the rural consumers
regarding filing of complaints in local language.
Consumer Care Guidance Centers (Grahak Suvidha Kendra) is a new initiative of the
Government as a One Stop Center catering to a spectrum of services for consumer welfare. It
will function as an extended arm of State Helpline and will function on a Common IT platform
of National and State consumer Help lines. Primarily in 2015 in six states it was started to help
the rural consumers regarding filing of complaints in local language besides English & Hindi It
will have trained personnel, experienced in counseling, drafting complaints, providing
information, and also appearing on behalf of consumers in consumer courts. These are working
as effective nodal points in raising the awareness on consumer rights through campaigns and
solving consumer problems.

6. Establishment of Centre for Consumer Studies (CCS)7

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public
Distribution have established a dedicated Centre for Consumer Studies (CCS) at the Indian
Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi. The Centre seeks to network, with national
and international agencies and interface with other stakeholders by serving as a bridging - think
tank‖, with an intensive advocacy role. It acts as a forum for creating dialogue among policy-
makers, service providers, representatives of various business establishments and their
associations, professional bodies/associations, civil society organizations, educational/ research
institutions, economic and social development organizations as well as leading NGOs. It also
acts as a storing and clearinghouse for the exchange and constant flow of information, ideas and
activities relating to consumer protection and welfare.

7. Consumer Clubs
Consumer Clubs, a scheme started by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to mobilize youngsters
to strengthen the consumer movement in the country. Consumer Clubs are forums where
students are sensitized about consumer rights. Youth can also explain about consumer rights to
the people and encourage them to boycott defective and bad quality goods. They can spread the
market and the product knowledge to the consumers.
Besides this some public spirited persons try to provide consumer education and awareness
through consumer movements and voluntary organizations by conducting seminars, workshops,
awareness campaigns etc.

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Conclusion

It is a fact that within India itself, the level of consumer awareness varies from state to state
depending upon the level of literacy and the social awareness of the people. Educating more than
126 crores people of various categories of population, particularly those in rural areas, where
consumers are more susceptible to exploitation because of illiteracy, blind beliefs, unawareness
etc is a herculean task. But Indian government as well as public spirited people is trying their
best,

Finally, one has to understand that whatever the law may be, it will give fruit full results when
people are aware about their rights and duties for this to achieve awareness of consumers is
imperative. Hence, there should be a multi pronged approach to generate proper awareness
among consumers in order to empower them. An aware consumer is an asset to the society;
he/she not only protects himself from exploitation but induces efficiency, transparency and
accountability in the entire manufacturing and services sector
The efficient and effective programme of Consumer Protection is of special significance to all of
us because we all are consumers. It is a social-economical-legal movement so the active
involvement and participation from all quarters i.e. the central and state governments, the
educational Institutions, the NGOs, the print and electronic media and more importantly realize
of producers/ providers for co-existence, interdependence and economical and national growth is
needed then the problem of consumer exploitation would become a thing of the past. It should be
done in the best way so that this world may become a better place to live.