Ans) Consumer Movement in India– The consumer movement started due to consumer dissatisfaction. There were many reasons for consumer dissatisfaction, such as, shortage of food items, hoarding, black marketing, adulteration etc. To deal with these problems, the ‘Essential Commodities Act’ was first passed in 1955. Through this act, an attempt was made to control the production, distribution, price and supply of essential commodities. After this, the standards of measures and measures Act was passed in 1976 to regulate the measurement and weight of goods. In 1986, the Consumer Protection Act was passed.

“Consumer Protection Act” has contributed significantly in widening the consumer movement in India. These courts provide guidance as well as redressal of consumer disputes. ‘The Department of Consumer Affairs’, of Government of India has also contributed to create consumer awareness by making many schemes.

As a result of consumer movement in India, there has been a lot of awareness among consumers about their rights. Today more than 2000 organisations are working in the nation. But due to consumer apathy, the number of effective and recognized organisations is relatively less.

In a developing nation like India, along with the government, voluntary organizations also play an important role in protecting consumers from exploitation. These organisations can do important work towards making consumers aware. Along with this, it is necessary that the consumers themeselves understand their rights and come forward to make their active contribution in the consumer movement.

Ans) Rules and regulations are required for the protection of the consumers in the market place. Individual consumers often find themselves in a weak position. Whenever there is a complaint regarding a goods or service that had been bought, the seller tries to shift all the responsibility on to the buyer.

Markets do not work in a fair manner when producers are few and powerful whereas consumers purchase in small amounts and are scattered. This happens especially when large companies are producing these goods. For example, a company for years sold powder milk for babies all over the world as the most scientific product claiming this to be better than mother’s milk. It took years of struggle before the company was forced to accept that it had been making false claims. Similarly a long battle had to be fought with court cases to make cigarette manufacturing companies accept that their product could cause cancer. Hence, there is a need for rules and regulations to ensure protection for consumers.

Ans) Rights of Consumers- Consumer have the right to buy the best goods and services from the market. It has been protected by law so that the producer or seller can not cheat the consumer in any way. Generally the consumer has the following rights:-

1. Right to Safety- It is necessary for the producers to follow the rules related to the protection of the consumers. The reason is that if the producers does not follow these rules, the consumer may have to bear a huge risk. For example pressure cookers have a safety valve, if it is defective can cause a serious accident. The manufacturers of the safety valve have to ensure its high quality. If manufacturers do not do so, consumers can take recourse of the law.
2. Right to Choose- When a consumer buys any goods or services, he/she has the right to choose. For example, if we take gas connection and gas dealer pressurizes to buy burner (chulha) also, whereas we want to take gas connection only and we do not need Chulha. In this situation, our right to choose is violated. The reason is that the seller or dealer compels us to buy what we do not want to buy. In such situation, we can take legal action against the seller.
3. Right to Consumer Education- When we buy an item, we find that certain informations are written on its packing. For example, the batch number of that item, date of manufacturing, expiry date and the address of its manufacturing site etc. When we buy clothes, washing instructions should be mentioned, when we buy medicines, we can receive instructions related to side effects and dangers of that medicine. Thus, the consumer has the right to get information about the goods he buys…
4. Right to Information-The government of India has passed the law in 2005 in the name of ‘Right to information’. This law ensures the right to all information about the activities of government departments. Consumers also have the right to receive consumer education.
5. Right to Seek Redressal-Refer Answer 8 of “Short Answer Type Questions”.

Ans) India has been observing 24 December as the National Consumers’ Day. It was on this day that the Indian Parliament enacted the Consumer Protection Act in 1986. India is one of the countries that have exclusive courts for consumer redressal.

The consumer movement in India has made some progress in terms of numbers of organised groups and their activities. Today there are more than 2000 consumers groups in the country of which only about 50-60 are well organised and recognised for their work.

However, the consumer redressal process is becoming combersome, expensive and time consuming. Many a time, consumers are required to engage lawyers. These cases require time for filing and attending the court proceedings etc.

The existing laws also are not very clear on the issue of compensation to consumers injured by defective products. After more than 35 years of the enactment of COPRA consumers awarness in India is spreading but slowly. Besides this the enforcement of laws that protect workers, especially in the unorganised sectors is weak. Similarly, rules, and regulations for working of markets are often nat followed. Nevertheless, there is scope for consumers to realise their role and importance.

Ans) As a consumer, following measures should be adopted, to avoid getting cheated in the market:-

1. Obtaining Receipt, It is very important to take cash memo of any item along with the purchase. Due to this, legal acion can be taken in case the item becomes defective or substandard or gets damaged before the stipulated time.
2. Purchase of Standardized Goods-Many types of goods are available in the market but consumers should always buy standardized goods to avoid exploitation. ISI, AGMARK and Hallmark markings are standardized.
3. Consumer Education-The most important remedy for exploitation is consumer education and awareness. The government has made many laws for the protection of consumers. But this has been noticed that the general public is not aware of them. Therefore consumers should be given knowledge about their rights.
4. Do not Fall Under-the Guise of Advertisements-Big companies telecast attractive advertisement of their products through Doordarshan and other mediums. It has a psychological effect on the consumer, and they become ready to buy the goods but consumers should be careful regarding such advertisements. Before buying an item, its quality, price, quantity etc. should be checked.
5. Checking the Date of Expiry-We should always see the date of manufacturing and date of expiry because after this date, there is no use of that item and there is a possibility of bad effects for example, medicines, packed food items etc.

Ans) Generally producers and traders are exploited in the following ways:

1. Adulteration and Impurity-Adulteration means the mixing of some cheap item in commodity. This sometimes harms the health of the consumer. White small pebbles in rice, colour in spices, khesari dal in tur dal and mixing of harmful items in other expensive food items for the purpose of earning more profit..
2. Excess Price Often shopkeepers charge arbitrary price more then the fixed retail price. It is often seen that we buy an expensive item from a shop and the same item is found at a lower price from other shop. If we show the printed value, then he gives numbers of excuses like local taxes etc.
3. False or Incomplete Information-Manufacturers and sellers sometimes give incorrect information to customers. Due to this, customers are trapped by buying the wrong item and their money goes in vain. Complete information is not given about the price, quality, last date, impact on environment, terms of purchase etc. The customer gets upset after purchasing the item.
4. Substandard Quality-When some goods go into the market, some manufacturers, in the desire to earn money, copy them completely and sell counterfiet goods in the market. In such a situation, the shopkeepers also give substandard goods to the customer because there is more profit in selling such items. Thus, the consumer is cheated and exploited.
5. Mistakes in Measurements-In measurement and weighing, sellers makes mistakes in many ways for example, hollowing the bottom of weighing standards, its weight being less than desired, using stone in place of weight, the bottom of the litre scale being thicker or raised from upwards, putting a magnet under the scale of balance etc. Thus, in this way, the consumer does not get the correct quantity in return for what he pays.
6. Unsatisfactory Service After the Sale-Until the consumer buys the product, he is offered various things and the attraction of the services provided later on, but the services are not provided in reasonable time and no attention is paid to the problems of the consumers. As a result, the consumer keeps getting upset.

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