Consumer awareness

INTRODUCTION

(A) WHO IS A CONSUMER?

A consumer is one that buys goods for consumption and not for resale or commercial purpose.
The consumer is an individual who pays some amount of money for the thing required to
consume goods and services. As such, consumers play a vital role in the economic system of
a nation. Without consumer demand, producers would lack one of the key motivations to
produce: to sell to consumers. The consumer also forms part of the chain of distribution.

In the fields of economics, marketing and advertising, a consumer is generally defined as the
one who pays to consume the goods and services produced by a seller (i.e., company,
organization). A consumer can be a person (or group of people), generally categorized as an
end user or target demographic for a product, good, or service.
Some may find the term or label “consumer” somewhat offensive because it can be
construed as being more descriptive of plain consumption (black and white purchase), rather
than recognizing the person behind the purchase, who typically has feelings, needs and
overall importance. It is important to note that consumers (or customers) play a vital role in
the economic system of a nation. Typically when business people and economists talk of
consumers they are talking about an individual person, an aggregated commodity item with
little individuality other than that expressed in the buy/not-buy decision. Now, there is a trend
in marketing to individualize the concept of “A Consumer.”

(B) CONSUMER EXPLOITATION

Consumer exploitation is a situation in which a consumer is cheated or given false

information by the producer. Large companies with huge wealth, power and reach can
manipulate the market in various ways. At times they pass on false information through the
media, and other sources to attract consumers.
Reason for exploitation:

1. Lack of knowledge: The main reason for exploitation of consumers is lack of knowledge.
Several consumers do not have the knowledge about the price, quality, services related
commodities. Therefore, consumers simply trust the facts told to them by the sellers and
purchase goods, thus become trapped and are exploited.
2. Consumer's indifference towards the market: There is a large group of such consumers who
behave indifferently regarding purchasing. There are some consumers who think as – what
to do, everything is alright, leave it , things should be cheap, good and durable , What is the
need of the standardization marks like ISI and AGMARK etc. The producers take full
advantage of this indifferent behaviour of consumers and succeed in exploiting them.
3. Tele Marketing: Today in the age of computers, tele- marketing and e-commerce have
become very popular. You also must have seen the advertisement on T.V. The information
about the goods and the prices is also given in the advertisement. The consumer can send
the required money and get the commodity through parcel. But very often the consumers
feel cheated by this deal as he/ she does not receive the expected benefit from the product
4. Limited Information: In this age of globalization there are several types of products in the
market. Producer is free to produce. There is no fixed law for quality and rate. There is lack
of knowledge about several aspects of goods like rate, quality, rules for usage, rules for
selling etc. Therefore a consumer makes wrong choice and suffers financial loss.
5. Illiteracy and Feeling of satisfaction: When the consumers are uneducated, the sellers cheat
them very easily. The shopkeeper tells the resembling words as of branded and sells the
goods of poor quality.

Consumer exploitation In India:-

Consumer Exploitation in Indian Market: Consumer Exploitation is widespread in many
rural areas in India. This occurs mainly due to the lack of awareness among people and also
due to the manipulative mentality of certain sellers. Consumer exploitation in India can
take the shape of many forms.
 (C) CONSUMER RIGHTS

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,
including 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 h e ri g h t to b e p ro tected from all kind of hazardous goods

a n d s erv i c es o r ri g h t to safety.
 T h e ri g h t to b e fu l l y i nformed about the performance and
q u a l i ty o f a l l g o o d s a nd services or right to information.
 T h e ri g h t to free c h o i ce of goods and services
 T h e ri g h t to b e h ea rd in all decision-making processes
rel a ted to c o n s u mer i nterests
 T h e ri g h t to s eek red ressal, whenever consumer rights have
b een i n fri n g ed
 T h e ri g h t to c o mp l ete consumer education
Let’s look at each one of them in detail:

RIGHT TO SAFETY

According to the Consumer Protection Act 1986, the consumer right is referred to as ‘right to be
protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property’. It is
applicable to specific areas like healthcare, pharmaceuticals and food processing, this right is spread
across the domain having a serious effect on the health of the consumers or their well-being viz.
Automobiles, Housing, Domestic Appliances, and Travel etc. When there is violation of the right then
there occur medical malpractice lawsuits in the country. It is estimated every year that thousands or
millions of citizens of India are killed or seriously injured by immoral practices by doctors, hospitals,
pharmacies and the automobile industry. Still the government of India, known for its callousness,
does not succeed in acknowledging this fact or making a feeble effort for maintaining statistics of the
mishaps. The Government of India needs to have world class product testing facilities to test drugs,
food, cars or any other consumable product that can prove to be a menace to life. It does not
happen coincidently that Tata Nano is sold in India for half of what it costs in a country which is
industrially developed, this is a classic case of requirement of a cheap product that outweighs the
need for safety of family and self. The developed countries like the United States have stalwart
agencies which oversee the protection of consumer products, the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) for food and drugs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for
automobiles and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for various other consumer
products etc. This right needs each product which can potentially be a danger to our lives to be
marketed after adequate and complete verification as well as validation. India is 50 years away, for
empowering this right adequately and completely.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

The right to information is defined as ‘the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency,
purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer
against unfair trade practices’ in the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. In the market place of India,
consumers get information by two ways namely advertising and word of mouth however these
sources are considered to be unreliable but still this word of mouth is quite common here. Because
of this, the Indian consumers hardly have precise and complete information for assessing the true
value, safety, suitability, reliability of any product. Usually the hidden costs can be found, lack of
suitability, quality problems and safety hazards only after the purchase of the product. There is
another right claimed by Indian government on paper, this right must ideally make sure that all
consumable products have been labelled in a standard manner containing the cost, quantity, the
ingredients and instructions given to use the product safely. It is unfortunate that even the
medicines in the country do not follow a standardized labelling convention. There should be
establishment of unit price publishing standards for consumer market where costs are revealed in
standard units like per kg or per litre. The consumers, ought to be informed in an exact yet accurate
manner for the cost involved during time of availing a loan. For providing benefit to the society
through this right, advertisers must be held against the standards of products in the advertisements.
The pharmaceuticals require to disclose potential side effects related to their drugs and
manufacturers ought to be required to publish reports from independent product testing
laboratories for the purpose of comparing the quality of their products from competitive products.

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’.
For regulating the market place, there is just one factor required and that is competition. The
existence of cartels, oligopolies and monopolies prove to be counterproductive to consumerism. The
natural resources, liquor industry, telecommunications, airlines etc. all are being controlled by a
mafia to some or the other extent. Since the Indian consumers come from a socialistic background,
the tolerating of monopolistic market is found in their blood. It is seldom seen that people want to
switch the power company, in the times when they have a blackout at home. It is interesting to
know that even micro markets like fish vendors in some cities are known to collude and discourage
the consumers’ bargaining power. No matter what size or form, or span, but collusion of various
companies which sell a similar kind of product is unethical or say less legal. It can be estimated that
India has to stride for about 20 more years for empowering its citizens fully in this regard.

RIGHT TO BE HEARD

As stated in the Consumer Protection Act 1986, ‘the right to be heard and to be assured that
consumer’s interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums’ is the definition of the
right to be heard. This right helps to empower the consumers of India for putting forward their
complaints and concerns fearlessly and raising their voice against products or even companies and
ensure that their issues are taken into consideration as well as handled expeditiously. However, till
date the Indian Government has not formed even one outlet for hearing the consumers or their
issues to be sorted out. There are a number of websites striving to do this. The major objective of
Consumer is to ensure that their voices are heard by the corporate world. There is a website,
[Link], where consumers can upload their criticisms as well as file complaints. Every
criticism filed gradually lessens the overall score of the product which is being criticized therefore
each complaint is independently checked by an investigator who belonged to [Link]
website. This website provides the consumers the benefit of doubt always, so their voice is
considered over that of the company. It is believed at [Link], that consumer is always
right, and that he is the king. In case a consumer makes an allegation regarding the product, the
onus goes to the dealer, or supplying company or manufacturer to disprove that allegation is not
true. To be precise, the consumer is heard, and the load of proof goes to the company. Various
attempts are made by the government for empowering the citizens with this right, and it is believed
that about 10-15 years more are required for the accomplishment of this goal.

RIGHT TO REDRESSAL

The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or
unscrupulous exploitation of consumers’ is referred to as the right to redressal according to the
Consumer Protection Act 1986.

The government of India has been bit more successful with regard to this right. The Consumer courts
like District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums at district level, State Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commissions and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions have been
incorporated with the help of the consumer protection act. These consumer grievance redressal
agencies have fiduciary as well as geographical jurisdictions which address consumer cases between
businesses and consumers. About 20 lakhs Consumer cases are heard in the district consumer
forum, and around one crore can be heard in the state consumer court while more than one crore
cases are heard at national consumer court. It has been found that if one becomes guardian of
consumer protection or consumer rights in the country these courts today are found to be
ineffective because of bureaucratic sabotages, clogged cases, callousness of government and
decadent infrastructure. Only some of the district forums have appointed officials for time being and
majority of them are non-functional because of funding and infrastructure constraints. There are
around 20-30 million open cases in India which remain unsolved and would take around 320 years to
wind up. Having such type of compromised legal system the consumer cases form just civil litigations
and are carried forward to the bottom of the priority list. It is estimated that India is 10 years away in
effectively ensuring the right to redressal to every consumer of India.

RIGHT TO CONSUMER EDUCATION

The right of every Indian citizen to have education on matters regarding consumer protection as well
as about her/his right is regarded as the last right provided by the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
The right makes sure that the consumers in the country have informational programs and materials
which are easily accessible and would enable them to make purchasing decisions which are better
than before. Consumer education might refer to formal education through college and school
curriculums as well as consumer awareness campaigns being run by non-governmental and
governmental agencies both. Consumer NGOs, having little endorsement from the government of
India, basically undertake the task of ensuring the consumer right throughout the country. India is
found to be 20 years away from giving this right that gives power to the common consumer.
Why are these rights needed?

Consumer rights are needed as consumers are protected against the marketing of goods
and services which are hazardous to life and property. Consumer sovereignty in the choice
of goods is guaranteed. Consumers are entitled to a speedy, simple, and inexpensive relief
under the act.

(D) RESPONSIBILITY OF A CONSUMER

There is a well-known saying that ‘there cannot be rights without responsibilities’. Having examined
the consumer rights and the purpose served by them, it is necessary to consider whether consumers
should also be responsible enough to be entitled to exercise their rights. For instance, to be able to
exercise their right to be heard, consumers should avail of the opportunities to know and keep
informed about consumer problems. To exercise their right to seek redressal of complaints,
consumers must take all precautions to choose the right goods at the right price and learn how to
use the products to prevent injury or loss. Specifically, the responsibilities of consumers may include
the followings:

(i) Responsibility of self-help it is always desirable that a consumer should not depend on the
seller for information and choice as far as possible. As a consumer, you are expected to act
in a responsible manner to protect yourself from being deceived. An informed consumer
can always take care of his/her interest more than anyone else. Also, it is always better to
be forewarned and forearmed rather than getting remedies after suffering a loss or injury.
(ii) Proof of Transactions: The second responsibility of every consumer is that the proof of
purchase and documents relating to purchase of durable goods should be invariable
obtained and preserved. For example, it is important to get a cash memo on purchase of
 goods you should remember that in case you have to make any complaint about defects in
goods, the proof of purchase will enable you to establish your claim for repair or
replacement of the goods. Similarly, durable consumer goods like TV, refrigerator, etc. carry
warranty /guarantee cards issued by the dealers. The cards entitle you to get the service for
repairs and replacement of parts free of cost during a certain period after purchase.
(iii) Proper claim: Another responsibility that consumers are expected to bear in mind is that
while making complaints and claiming compensation for loss or injury, they should not
make unreasonably large claims. Very often, consumers have to exercise their right to seek
redressal in a court. There have been cases in which consumers claimed huge compensation
for no apparent reason. This is regarded as an irresponsible act which should be avoided.

(IV) Proper use of Product/services: Some consumers, especially during the guarantee
period, make rough use of the product, thinking that it will be replaced during the
guarantee period. This is not fair on their part. They should always use the products
properly.
Besides the above responsibilities, consumers should be conscious of some other
responsibilities. They should stick to the agreement made with manufacturers, traders and
service providers. They should make timely payment in case of credit purchases. They
should not tamper with the media of services, like electric and water meters, bus and train
seats, etc. They should remember that they can exercise their rights only when they are
willing to fulfil their responsibilities.

(i) ISI: Indian Standards Institute

ISI stands for Indian Standards Institute. It was established to create standards for the
orderly industrial growth and maintaining quality in industrial production. It provides an ISI
mark which is a certification mark for industrial products in India. It is the most popular and
recognized certification mark in the Indian subcontinent. This mark ensures that the product
conforms to the Indian standards mentioned by Indian Standard Institute.

The ISI was established on 6 January 1947 and Dr. Lal C. Verman became the first Director of
ISI in June 1947. Today, ISI is now known as BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards). It lays down
the quality standards for consumer and industrial goods. It checks the quality and standard
of every product and provides them a certification mark. BIS is authorized to offer
certification by a legislation of 1986. ISI mark is mandatory for certifying products to be sold
in India. Any manufacturer whose product meets the BIS standard can apply for ISI product
certification.

General products with ISI marks

LPG Cylinders
Electrical equipment
Packaged foods and drinking water
Thermometers
Kitchen appliances and equipment
Packaged Grocery items etc.
Abuses of ISI marks
There are many products with fake ISI marks in the market. They use ISI marks on the
product without actually getting it certified. So, you must be very careful to choose the
products.
Fake ISI marks features
Fake ISI marks don't carry the mandatory 7 digit license number.

There is an IS number on the top of the ISI mark which signifies the number of the Indian
standard for the particular product.

AGMARK is a certification mark employed on agricultural products in India, assuring that

they conform to a set of standards approved by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection
an attached Office of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare
under Ministry of Agricultural & Farmers Welfare an agency of the Government of India. The
AGMARK Head Office at Faridabad (Haryana) is legally enforced in India by the Agricultural
Produce (Grading and Marking) Act of 1937 (and amended in 1986). The present AGMARK
standards cover quality guidelines for 222 different commodities spanning a variety of
pulses, cereals, essential oils, vegetable oils, fruits and vegetables and semi-processed
products like vermicelli

The term Agmark was coined by joining the words 'Ag' to mean agriculture and 'mark' for a
certification mark. This term was introduced originally in the bill presented in the
parliament of India for the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act.

The entire system of Agmark, including the name, was created by Archibald MacDonald
Livingstone, Agricultural and Marketing Advisory to the Government of India, from 1934 to
1941. He was supported by a staff of several hundred. The system was designed to benefit
local growers throughout India who were, in the absence of a certification as to quality,
exposed to receiving less for their produce from dealers than its true worth.

Hallmark
Hallmarks are official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of
precious metal articles. In India, at present two precious metals namely gold and silver
have been brought under the purview of hallmarking.

Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian Marks

Packaged food products sold in India are required to be labelled with a mandatory mark so
that they can be distinguished between vegetarian and non-vegetarian. The red circle for
non-vegetarian and green for vegetarian ingredients.

ISO Mark
The objective of ISO is to make common standards of products and services at
international level. Some of the areas where ISO standards can be applicable are hospital,
insurance etc.

Silk Mark
Silk Mark is a quality assurance label for pure silk. It helps the consumers to identify Pure
Silk.

Wool mark
 Wool mark is a certification mark used on textile products as an assurance that the product
is made of 100% pure new wool.

Hologram
Hologram is a small square size plastic sticker with some text written on it. The purpose of
sticking it on the package of the product is to establish the authenticity of the product.

Handloom Mark
Handloom Mark is the Government of India’s initiative to provide a collective identity to the
handloom products in India.

Eco mark
The logo for the Eco mark Scheme signifies that the product is environment friendly and
that it does the least damage to the environment.

Recycling Mark
The universal recycling is an internationally recognized symbol used to designate recyclable
materials.

BEE Label
The manufacturers are required to place a label showing how much electricity the appliance
will consume under certain conditions. It is commonly referred to as star rating.

FSSAI Logo
FSSAI Logo is one of the obligatory requirements, which is not a mark of certification
but signifies a valid license for food business operators.

(E) CONSUMER AWARENESS

Consumer awareness is the knowledge that a consumer should have about his/her legal rights and
duties. It is a must for a consumer to follow these rights. It is implemented for the protection of the
consumer, so that the consumer is not exploited by the seller of the products.

Consumer protection is very important to prevent consumers from getting exploited due to factors
like (I) Physical protection of a consumer; (ii) unfair trade practices; (iii) Protection against
environmental hazards; (IV) Protection from deceptive advertising; (v) Unorganised consumer; and
(VI) Growth of business.

There are three ways of protecting the consumers:

(i) Self-regulation by business
(ii) Consumer self-help
(iii) Legislative regulations
 Survey on consumer awareness among households

It has been observed very often that a consumer does not get right goods and services. He is charged
a very high price or adulterated or low quality goods are sold to him. Therefore it is necessary to
make him aware. Following facts classify the need of making consumers aware:
1. To achieve maximum satisfaction : The income of every individual is limited. He wants to buy
maximum goods and services with his income. He gets full satisfaction only by this limited
adjustment. Therefore it is necessary that he should get the goods which are measured
appropriately and he should not be cheated in any way. For this he should be made aware.
2. Protection against exploitation: Producers and sellers exploit the consumers in many ways
as underweighting, taking more price than the market price, selling duplicate goods etc. Big
companies through their advertisement also mislead the consumers. Consumer awareness shields
them from the exploitation by producers and sellers.
3. Control over consumption of harmful goods: There are several such goods available in market
which cause harm to some consumers. For example we can take goods like cigarette, tobacco, liquor
etc. The consumer education and awareness motivate people not to purchase such goods which are
very harmful for them.
4. Motivation for saving: The awareness controls people from wastage of money and extravagancy
and inspire them to take right decision. Such consumers are not attracted by sale, concession, free
gifts, attractive packing etc. due to which people can use their income in a right way and can save
money.
5. Knowledge regarding solution of problems: The consumers are cheated due to illiteracy,
innocence and lack of information. Therefore it becomes necessary that the information about their
rights should be provided to them so that they cannot be cheated by producers and sellers. Through
consumer awareness they are also made known to the proceedings of laws so that they can solve
their problems.
6. Construction of healthy society: Every member of the society is a consumer. So, if the consumer is
aware and rationale, then complete society becomes healthy and alert towards their rights.
(F) CONSUMER MOVEMENT
The consumer movement is a socio-economic movement which seeks to protect the rights of the
consumers in relation to the goods purchased and services available. Government has accorded
high priority to the programme of consumer protection. The department in the field of consumer
affairs being a modal department in the field of consumers. Protection has initiated a number of
steps to promote a responsible and responsive consumer movement in the country. Such
measures includes the use of multimedia for promoting consumer awareness and encouraging
consumers’ involvement through the efforts of the government and NGOs and others

Objective of consumer movement

The objects of the consumer movement are as follows:

 To create suitable administrative and legal mechanisms which would be within the easy
reach of the consumers.
 To involve and motivate various sections of society such as consumer organisations,
woman and youth to participate in the programme.
 To assist, encourage and provide financial assistance to government and NGOs to take
up various consumer protection activities.
 To generate awareness among consumers about their rights and responsibilities.
Motivate them to assert their rights and not to compromise. On quality and standard of
goods and services and seeks redrssal in consumer courts, whenever required.

(G) CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 1986

The consumer protection act 1986 is a unique piece of legislation as it provides a separate three-
tier-quati- judicial consumer dispute redressal machinery at the national, state and district level.
The act is intended to provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal of the consumers’
grievances. In terms of Act, the central consumer protection council (CCPC) first contributed on
1st June 1987 and it has been reconstituted from time to time. The CCPC was last contribution in
May, 2003 for three years.

According to this act: forums for the redressal of the complaint of the consumers were set at the
district, state and national level. At the district level, it was known as District Forum, at the state
level, it was known as State Commission while at the national level, it was known as national
commission.

The Consumer Protection Act was passed in 1986 and it came into force from 1st July, 1987.
The main objectives of the Act are to provide better and all round protection to consumers and
effective safeguards against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, deficient
services and unfair trade practices. It also makes provisions for simple, speedy and inexpensive
machinery for redressing of consumer's grievances.

The main objectives of the Act are to:

 Ensure fair, competitive and responsible markets that work well for consumers and
promote ethical business practices.

 To promote and protect the economic interests of consumers.

 To improve access to information that consumers require, to make informed choices

according to their individual needs.

 To protect consumers from hazards to their well-being and safety.

(H) JAGO GRAHAK JAGO PROGRAMME

Jago Grahak Jago is a consumer awareness programme from Ministry of Consumer Affairs,
Government of India.

Consumer awareness is one of the significant social, economic and political concern in most of
the developing nations. Thousands of people die every day due to adulterated food and
consuming duplicate medicines. The Central government has taken numerous steps for
protecting the consumers and for this a national campaign has been established – Jago Grahak
Jago.

It is very important for every citizen to know about the Consumer Rights in India. The consumer
protection act is applicable on all goods and services except the ones which are purchased for
commercial purpose, or resale purpose. The consumer protection act of 1986 provides a council
or forum set up at national, state and district level. The same has been established to help the
people be aware about the Consumer Rights in India and help them seek redressal when
needed.