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Need of Consumer Rights

• Producers produce goods and services and sell them in the market.
• Peoples who uses goods and services after purchasing them from the market are known as consumers.
• Often consumers are exploited by producers and sellers in order to gain extra profit, extra sell and similar interests.
• These issues are happening every day so there is a need to protect the consumer from exploitation.
• Consumer rights are those laws that safeguard consumer interests.These rights provide a way to report a case against the trader or producer if consumer is not satisfied with the product and service.
• Examples of consumer exploitation –

1. Selling adulterated/ defective goods such as mixing water in milk
2. hoarding the products to create shortages and then selling them at high rates.
3. Shopkeepers weigh less than what they should
4. Traders add charges that are not mentioned before.
5. Charging unfair price especially at the time of scarcity
6. Many times seller shift the responsibility on to the buyer. such as after purchasing a defective product if consumer complaint the seller then seller ignore the complaint saying that because of your improper use this had happened.
7. often consumer has to buy low quality products at high rates.
8. Companies with huge wealth power and reach to manipulate the market advertise false information regarding their product in order to increase their sell. e.g. Complan a well known product have claimed via advertisement that it contains memory chargers that boost the performance of the child. Thousands of peoples are victim of such advertisement. Similarly, a company producer of powder milk sold their product claiming that it is better than mother’s milk, later the company was forced to accept that it was making false claims. in case of services :Unfair telephone bill or electricity bill.

Consumer Movement

• Consumer movement originated as a social force for protecting and promoting the interests and rights of the consumers against unethical and unfair trade practices

Reasons that gave birth to consumer movement

• Rampant food shortages
• hoarding
• black marketing
• adulteration of food and edible oil

Effects of consumer movement in India

• Formation of consumer forums and consumer protection councils. These are volunteer organisations that guide the consumer to file consumer complaint in the court. Many times these organisations also represent consumer case in the court. These organisation receive financial support from government for creating consumer awareness.
• Resident Welfare associations are group of residentials that represent the case of exploitation of members against unfair trade practices.

COPRA

• India is observing 24 December as National Consumers Day.
• Today there are more than 700 consumer groups in the country
• under COPRA consumers are provided with the consumer courts for addressing the consumer exploitation and give justice.
• The courts are set up at three levels. If Consumers did not get satisfactory justice from low level courts then he has right to represent in higher level court.

1. District level court: It deals with the complaints involving claims of upto 20 lakhs.
2. State level court: It deals with the complaints involving claims between 20 lakhs and 1 crore.
3. National level court: It deals with the complaints involving claims of above 1 crore.

Consumer Rights
Under the consumer protection act Government of India provided following rights to consumers:-

1. Right to Safety
2. Right to information
3. Right to choice
4. Right to seek redressal
5. Right to represent
6. Right to consumer education