INDEX:
- Introduction
- Consumer rights and responsibilities
- Consumer awareness and rights
- Responsibilities of a consumer
- What is consumer awareness?
- Consumer awareness in India
Introduction:
Consumer awareness is an act of conveying information about the products, goods, services, and consumer rights. Consumer awareness is very essential as it can help the buyer make the right decision and the right choice. It also implies that the consumers have the right to information, right to safety, and the right to choose. Now, let’s dive a bit deep into Consumer rights, Consumer awareness, and the responsibilities.
Consumer rights and responsibilities:
Consumer rights is an insight that dictates the rights consumers hold when buying a product or a service from a seller. In simple words, what should a consumer do if the product which they purchased is not up to the mark? Then, as per the consumer rights and consumer awareness, the consumer has the right to fight against the seller and take the matter to court. Now, let’s look at the different Consumer rights.
Consumer awareness and rights:
- Right to Safety: As per consumer rights, this is very important. All consumers should be protected against dangerous products that risk their safety. The protection must be against any services or products that affect the consumers either physically or mentally.
- Right to Information: The consumers must be informed accurately and correctly about the product they are buying. It is illegal for the sellers to provide false information to increase their sales.
- Right to choose: According to consumer awareness and rights, they should not be forced to buy a product or a service. The buyer should decide by himself.
- Right to Consumer Education: Consumer has the right to know all the information about the product and should be aware of the rights and responsibilities of the government.
- Right to seek redressal: In case a product or service is not up to the mark, or if the product did not satisfy a consumer, the customer then has the right to demand a refund, compensation, or a replacement. According to the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, a three-tier redressal system is built.
Responsibilities of a Consumer:
The consumer has many duties to carry. This is because consumer awareness is crucial to society, and everyone must be familiar with it. This will help the buyers to prevent unfair practices.
- All the buyers must be informed about the Consumer Protection Act(1) and should implement it.
- If a product or service was not satisfactory to a buyer, he/she has the right to file a complaint.
- The buyer or consumer should always request a Cash memo while billing.
- The buyer must always look for a standard mark like ISI or Hallmark while buying a product.
What is consumer awareness?
Consumer Awareness is the method of making the buyer aware of the rights he/she has. Consumer awareness includes informing the consumer about safety, information, and other essential information on the product that he/she is buying.
As mentioned above, one of the most problematic issues the government is facing is Consumer awareness and consumer protection. To solve this issue, the government drafted many Acts and rules throughout the years.
Consumer awareness in India:
As we know, India is one of the least informed countries on Consumer awareness, consumer protection, and the rights that all the buyers have. Hence, it is imperative to spread Consumer awareness. Therefore, to bring this into the light, many campaigns were conducted in India. One of the most successful and essential attacks on Consumer awareness and rights was the Jago Grahak Jago(2) campaign. This campaign opened the eyes of many people in the country. This popular campaign surely bought the concept of Consumer awareness to the light. Buyers started to look for more information that he/she is buying.
