Overview
This chapter explores consumer rights in the context of market operations in India, highlighting unequal market situations and weak enforcement of rules. It emphasizes the need for consumer awareness, the role of the consumer movement, and legal frameworks like the Consumer Protection Act (COPRA) 1986. Through case studies, it illustrates exploitation and the mechanisms for seeking justice, encouraging active participation in the consumer movement.
The Consumer in the Marketplace
Consumers participate in markets by purchasing goods and services, while producers operate in sectors like agriculture, industry, or services. Markets often favor powerful producers, leaving individual consumers vulnerable to exploitation.
Need for Rules and Regulations
- Purpose: Protect consumers from unfair practices, similar to protections for workers or the environment.
- Examples of Exploitation:
- Shopkeepers weighing less than promised or adding hidden charges.
- Selling adulterated or defective goods (e.g., expired medicines).
- Companies using false advertising (e.g., claiming powder milk is better than mother’s milk).
- Market Dynamics: Large companies manipulate markets with wealth and reach, while scattered consumers lack power.
Questions:
- What are the various ways people may be exploited in the market?
- Share an example of market cheating from your experience.
- What should the government’s role be in protecting consumers?
Consumer Movement
The consumer movement emerged to address unfair trade practices and protect consumers, evolving into a social force in India.
Origins and Evolution
- 1960s: Triggered by food shortages, hoarding, black marketing, and adulteration of food/edible oil.
- 1970s: Consumer organizations focused on writing articles, holding exhibitions, and addressing malpractices in ration shops and transport.
- Post-1970s: Surge in consumer groups, with over 2000 groups today, though only 50-60 are well-organized.
- Global Influence: 1985 UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection led to Consumers International, supporting over 200 organizations in 100+ countries.
- India’s Milestone: Enactment of COPRA 1986, a major step to empower consumers.
Questions:
- What steps could consumer groups take to address unfair practices?
- Why are rules and regulations often not followed?
Insight: The consumer movement shifted responsibility for quality onto sellers, driven by decades of advocacy.
Consumer Rights
Consumers have specific rights to protect them from exploitation, enforced through legal systems like COPRA.
Right to Safety
- Definition: Protection against goods/services hazardous to life and property.
- Example: Reji Mathew was crippled due to improper anaesthesia during a tonsillectomy. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held the hospital liable, ordering Rs 5,00,000 compensation.
- Applications: Safety standards for LPG cylinders, medicines, edible oil, cinema theatres, marriage pandals, high-rise buildings, and circuses.
Questions:
- What safety rules should producers observe for LPG cylinders, cinemas, circuses, medicines, edible oil, marriage pandals, and high-rise buildings?
- Share a case of accident/negligence where the producer was responsible.
Right to Information
- Definition: Right to know details about goods/services (e.g., ingredients, price, expiry date, manufacturer’s address).
- Examples:
- Packaging includes batch number, MRP, and washing instructions for garments.
- Medicines list side effects and usage directions.
- Impact: Enables complaints for defective goods or overpricing (e.g., replacing defective products within expiry).
- RTI Act 2005: Extends to government services (e.g., Amritha used RTI to get job interview results).
Questions:
- Why do prices sometimes differ from MRP? Should consumer groups act?
- Examine packaged goods for useful information and suggest additional details.
- How does the RTI Act empower citizens to question civic issues?
Right to Choice
- Definition: Freedom to choose whether to continue a service or buy a product without forced bundling.
- Examples:
- Abirami was refunded Rs 28,000 for opting out of a coaching course, with the institute fined Rs 25,000 for denying her choice.
- Forced bundling (e.g., buying a toothbrush with toothpaste or a stove with a gas connection) violates this right.
Right to Redressal
- Definition: Right to seek compensation for unfair practices or damage.
- Example: Prakash filed a case for a non-delivered money order, using the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to seek justice.
- Process: Consumers can file complaints without lawyers, in person or online, with cases heard via video conferencing.
Right to Representation
- Definition: Right to present cases in Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions.
- Structure:
- District Commission: Claims up to Rs 1 crore.
- State Commission: Claims between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore.
- National Commission: Claims exceeding Rs 10 crore.
- Appeals: Cases dismissed at lower levels can be appealed at higher commissions.
Right to Consumer Education
- Definition: Right to acquire knowledge to make informed choices.
- Tools: Government posters, TV ads, and Department of Consumer Affairs initiatives promote awareness.
Quality Standards and Certifications
Certifications ensure product quality, protecting consumer health and safety.
- Logos: ISI, Agmark, Hallmark, +F (fortified foods).
- Role: Issued by organizations like the Bureau of Indian Standards (ISI) and Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (Agmark) to certify quality.
- Mandatory Products: LPG cylinders, food additives, cement, packaged water require certification due to health/safety concerns.
- Voluntary Certification: Not all producers certify, leading to substandard goods in markets.
- Hallmark: Certifies jewelry purity (Bureau of Indian Standards).
- ISO Certification: International standards for quality management (International Organization for Standardization).
Questions:
- Design a poster for a commodity highlighting consumer aspects.
- Locate the nearest Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
- Differentiate between consumer protection councils and Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions.
- Categorize cases under consumer rights (e.g., Lata’s electric shock under Right to Safety).
- Why are non-certified goods sold despite standardization?
- Who provides Hallmark and ISO certifications?
Taking the Consumer Movement Forward
Despite progress, challenges remain in making the consumer movement effective.
- National Consumers’ Day: Observed on 24 December, marking COPRA’s enactment in 1986.
- Progress: Over 2000 consumer groups, with 50-60 well-organized, supported by government funding.
- Challenges:
- Cumbersome, costly, and time-consuming redressal process, often requiring lawyers.
- Lack of cash memos for small purchases complicates evidence.
- Slow spread of consumer awareness and weak enforcement of laws.
- COPRA 2019 Amendments:
- Covers online purchases.
- Holds service providers/manufacturers liable with penalties/imprisonment.
- Encourages mediation for dispute resolution.
- Future: Requires active consumer participation and voluntary efforts for effectiveness.
Key Learnings
- Consumers face exploitation due to unfair practices, necessitating rules and regulations.
- The consumer movement, born in the 1960s, led to COPRA 1986, empowering consumers with rights like safety, information, choice, redressal, representation, and education.
- Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions at district, state, and national levels address grievances, supported by certifications like ISI and Agmark.
- Despite progress, the redressal process is slow, and awareness is limited, requiring active consumer involvement.
Exercises
- Need for Rules: Prevent exploitation (e.g., adulteration, overpricing); ensure safety (e.g., LPG cylinders).
- Consumer Movement: Began in 1960s due to food shortages, hoarding; evolved with COPRA 1986 and 2000+ groups.
- Consumer Consciousness: Prevents overpricing (e.g., checking MRP); ensures safety (e.g., verifying expiry dates).
- Exploitation Factors: Unfair practices (e.g., underweight goods), false advertising, lack of consumer power.
- COPRA Rationale: Protect consumers from exploitation, provide legal redressal.
- Consumer Duties: Check certifications, insist on bills, verify weights, report unfair practices.
- Logos: Agmark for honey, ISI for biscuits to ensure quality.
- Legal Measures: COPRA 1986, RTI Act 2005, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions.
- Rights:
- Safety: Protection from hazardous goods (e.g., defective pressure cookers).
- Information: Access to product details (e.g., MRP, expiry).
- Choice: Freedom from forced purchases (e.g., no bundling).
- Redressal: Compensation for damage (e.g., Prakash’s case).
- Representation: Access to consumer commissions.
- Education: Awareness of rights (e.g., via government ads).
- Solidarity: Form consumer groups, protest unfair practices, support awareness campaigns.
- Progress: COPRA and commissions established, but slow awareness, cumbersome redressal, and weak enforcement remain challenges.
- Matching: (i) e, (ii) c, (iii) a, (iv) b, (v) g, (vi) f, (vii) d.
- True/False:
- (i) False (COPRA applies to goods and services).
- (ii) True.
- (iii) True.
- (iv) False (commissions handle all claims).
- (v) True.
- (vi) False (process is cumbersome).
- (vii) True.