Who is a Consumer

Any individual who purchases products or services for his personal use and not for
manufacturing or resale is called a consumer. A consumer is one who is the decision maker
whether or not to buy an item at the store, or someone who is influenced by advertisement
and marketing. Every time someone goes to a store and buys a shirt, toy, beverage or
anything else, they make a decision as a consumer.Consumer refers to any person who
purchases some goods for a consideration that has been either paid or promised to pay or
partly paid and partly promised, or found under any system of deferred payment and does
include any user of this type of goods other than the person who purchases these types of
goods for consideration paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised, or under any type
of system of deferred payment when this type of use is done with the agreement of such
person, and does not include a person who gets such goods for resale or for any business
purpose or hires or avails of some services for a consideration which has been paid or
promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under some system of deferred payment as
well as includes some beneficiary of such services other than the people who ‘hire or avail of
the services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under
any system of deferred payment, when such services are provided having the approval of
the first described person and does not include a person who takes such services for any
business purposes

Duties of consumer
Duties of consumers are:

i). It is the responsibility of the consumer to be more alert and questioning about the
price and quality of goods and services that he/she uses.

ii). To assert and act to ensure that he/she gets a fair deal.

iii). To organize together as consumers to develop the strength and influence to promote
and protect their interests.

iv). To purchase quality marked products such as ISI, AGMARK etc.

v). To ask for cash memo for the items purchased whenever possible.

vi). To make complaint for genuine grievances.

vii). Consumer must know their rights and must exercise them.

Consumer exploitation
 Factors causing exploitation of consumers

Consumer movement
Factors led to CM
Answer:

 The consumer movement arose out of dissatisfaction of the consumers as many

unfair practices were being indulged in by sellers.
 There was no legal system available to consumers to protect themselves from
exploitation in the marketplace.
 It was presumed that it was the responsibility of the consumers to be careful while
buying a commodity or service.
 It took many years for organisations in India and around the world to create
awareness among-st people.
 This has also shifted the responsibility of ensuring the quality of goods and services
onto the sellers.

NEED OF CM
Consumer Protection Act – 1986 (COPRA)

 To protect and promote the interest of consumers.

 Under COPRA, a three-tier quasi-judicial machinery at the district,
state and national levels is set up for redressal of consumer disputes.
 The district level court deals with the cases involving claims upto Rs.
20 lakhs; The State level courts between Rs. 20 lakhs and Rs. 1 crore
and the national level court deals with cases involving claims
exceeding Rs. 1 crore.
 If a case is dismissed in district level court, the consumer can also
appeal in state and then in national level courts. Thus, the Act has
enabled us as consumers to have the right to represent in the
consumer courts.
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 redresal.

There are today more than 700 consumer groups in the country of which
only about 20-25 are well organised and recognized for their work.
 RIGHT TO SAFETY
According to the Consumer Protection Act 1986, the consumer right is
ref erred to as ‘right to be protected against marketing of goods and
services which are ha zardous to life and propert y’. 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 consumersortheir well being viz. Automobiles, Housin g,
Domestic Appliances, Travel etc. When there is violation of the right
then there occur medical malpractice lawsuits in the countr y. It is
estimated ever y ye ar that thousands or millions of citizens of India are
killed or seriously injured b y immoral pra ctices b y doctors, hospitals,
pharmacies and the automobile industr y. Still the government of India,
known for its callousness, does not succeed in acknowledging this fact
or making a feeble eff ort for maintaining statistics of the mishaps.The
Government of India needs to have world class product testing
facilities to test drugs, food, cars or an y other consumable product that
can prove to be a menace to lif e. It does not happen coincidently that
Tata Nano is sold in India for half of what it costs in a cou ntry which
is industriall y developed,this is a classic case of requirement of a
cheap product that outweighs the need f or safet y of f amily and self .
The developed countries like the United States have stalwart agencies
which oversee the protection of consu mer products, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for food and drugs, the National Highway
Traffic Safet y Administration (NHTSA) f or automobiles and the
Consumer Product Saf ety Commission (CPSC) for various other
consumer products etc. This right needs each product which can
potentiall y be a danger to our lives to be marketed after adequate and
complete verif ication as well as validation. India is 50 years away, f or
empowering this right adequatel y and completel y.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION
The right to information is defined as ‘the right to be informed about
the qualit y, quantity, potenc y, purit y, standard and price of goods or
services, as the case ma y be so as to protect the consumer against
unf air trade practices’ in the Consumer Protection Act of 19 86. In the
market place of India, consumers get inf ormation b y two wa ys namel y
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 hardl y have precise and
complete information f or assessing the true value, safet y, suitabilit y,
reliabilit y of an y product. Usuall y the hidden costs can be f ound, lack
of suitabilit y, qualit y problems and safet y hazards onl y after the
purchase of the product. T here is another right claimed by Indian
government on paper, this right must ideall y make sure that all
consumable products have been labeled in a standard manner
containing the cost, quantit y, the ingredients and instructions given to
use the product safe l y. It is unfortunate that even the medicines in the
countr y do not follow a standardized labeling convention. There
should be establishment of unit price publishing standards f or
consumer market where costs are revealed in standard units like per kg
or per liter. The consumers, ought to be informed in an exact yet
accurate manner f or the cost involved during time of availing a loan.
For providing benefit to the societ y through this right, advertisers
must be held against the andards of products in the adve rtisements.
The pharmaceuticals require todisclose potential side effects related to
their drugs and manuf acturers ought to be required to publish reports
from independent product testing laboratories f or the purpose of
comparing the qualit y of their produ cts f rom competitive products.
There is a website: Consumerdaddy.c om, for the purpose of
empowering the consumers withright to information. Without help of
these t ypes of websites it is difficult to spread awareness among the
consumers of India. The right to information gives the power to the
consumers to have an eas y access to inf ormation which is necessar y
for the consumer.

RIGHT TO CHOOSE
The def inition of Right to Choose as per the Consumer Protection Act
1986 is ‘the right to be assured, wherever possi ble, to have access to a
variet y 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 industr y, telecommunications, airlines etc all are being
controlled b y a ma fia to some or the other extent.Since the Indian
consumers come from a socialistic background, the tolerating of
monopolistic market is f o und in their blood. It is seldom seen that
people want to switch the power compan y, in the times when the y have
a blackout at home.It is interesting to know that even micro markets
like f ish vendors in some cities are known to collude and discourage
the consumers’ bargaining power.No matter what size or f orm, or span,
but collusion of various companies which sell a similar kind of
product is unethical or sa y less legal. It can be estimated that India has
to stride for about 20 more years for empowering its citizens full y 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 f earlessl y and raising their
voice against products or even companies and ensure that their issues
are taken into consideration as well as handled exp editiousl y.
However, till date the Indian Government has not f ormed 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 voice s are heard b y the corporate
world. There is a website, Consumerdadd y.com, where consumers can
upload their criticisms as well as file complaints. Ever y 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 Consumerdadd y.com website. This
website provides the consumers the benefit of doubt alwa ys, so their
voice is considered over that of the compan y. It is believed at
consumerdadd y.co m, that consumer is alwa ys right, and that he is the
king. In case a consumer makes an allegation regarding the product,
the onus goes to the dealer, orsuppl ying company or ma nuf acturer to
disprove that allegation is not true.To be precise, the consumer is
heard, and the load of proof goes to the compan y. Various attempts are
made b y the government f or empowering the citizens with this right,
and it is believed that about 10 -15 ye ars more are required f or 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 bi t 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 w ith the help of the consumer protection act.
These consumer grievance redressal agencies have fiduciar y as well as
geographical jurisdictions which address consumer cases between
businesses and consumers.About 20 lakhs Consumer cases are heard in
the distr ict 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 countr y
these courts toda y are found to be ineffective because of bureaucratic
sabotages, clogged cases, callousness of government and decadent
inf rastructure. Only so me of the district forums have appointed
off icials for time being and majorit y of them are non -f unctional
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 t ype of compromised legal
s ystem the consumer cases f orm just civil litigations and are carried
forward to the bottom of the priorit y list. It is estimated that India is
10 years away in effectivel y ensuring the right to redressal to every
consumer of India.

RIGHT TO CONSUMER EDUCATION

The right of ever y Indian citizen to have education on matters
regarding consumer protection as well as about her/his right is
regarded as the last right provided b y the Consumer Protection Act
1986. The right makes sure that the consumers in the countr y have
inf ormational programs and mater ials which are easil y accessible and
would enable them to make purchasing decisions which are better than
bef ore. Consumer education might refer to formal education through
college and school curriculums as well as consumer awareness
campaigns being run b y 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 countr y. India is f ound to be 20 years away f rom giving
this right that gives power to the common consumer.

Why consumer education is important

1. Consumer education helps a person in making proper purchase. It enables the
consumer in making right selection.

2. Consumer education familiarizes the consumer with the problems which he

faces while making purchases. This education inculcates the logical viewpoint
in him.

3. Consumer education provides the consumer full information of marketing

conditions like various sources of purchasing a particular commodity, from
where to get cheap and best goods, the shops providing additional facilities, and
to latest products. All these information enables him in taking right decision
regarding shopping.

4. Consumer education familiarizes the consumer with various standards of

standardization and their markings.

5. One of the most important uses of consumer education is that it familiarizes

the consumer about the various acts enacted by the Government from time to
time. Consumer education helps the consumer in getting maximum satisfaction
by proper utilization of his money and leads a better living standard