Awareness and Utilization of Consumer

Protection Act, 2019

We have all heard the popular saying that customer is the king of the market, but in reality, the customer is
also a target of all kinds of exploitations. Almost every day, we witness and hear news about consumer being
cheated on or misled in the marketplace. To protect the consumers from this exploitation, The consumer
Protection Act, 1986 was passed which is now replaced by the new and improved Consumer Protection Act,
2019. Section 6 of this act provides the consumers with 6 basic rights: Right to Information; Right to Safety;
Right to choose; Right to education; Right to be heard and Right to Redressal. The Act also provides for a
three-tier Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies at district, state and national level.

While this was definitely a laudable initiative and a revolutionary act on the part of the government, this
writeup is to access the scope of improvement in the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 in general and
Consumer Awareness in particular. Lack of Awareness about these rights given to the consumers and the
laws made to protect them among the common people, I believe, is the biggest hurdle towards consumers’
security and a major contributor of ever-increasing exploitation. Even if they are aware, the number of
consumers who actually utilize these laws is far away from being satisfactory. The reason behind this is not
the lethargy or inactiveness or carefree attitude of the consumers, but it is because of the inadequate response
they get after raising their voices. The adaptation of such time consuming, expensive and formal methods for
protecting interest of consumer further demotivates the consumers from taking action. Few are aware about
their rights as a consumer, fewer are aware about the procedure, how and where to enforce them; and fewest
dare to actually invoke the proper machinery. Most of the time, due to unawareness of the exact procedure or
unable to spend time in fighting with business giants, consumer tends to capitulation.1

A study, with the example of stats from Kerala and Bihar, showed that there is a direct relationship between
literacy and consumer awareness.2 Lack of education and rational thinking among consumers is the main
reason of low consumer awareness. This ignorance makes the consumer himself partly responsible for the
exploitation. A large number of Indian consumers are poor, illiterate, ignorant, ill-informed and unorganized.
In order to curb this, no measure can be better than consumer education. Seminars, Workshops, discussions
should be conducted in the educational institutions frequently. Consumer courts should advertise about the
cases solved by them and should motivate consumers to complain about their problems.3 Rural population
should be made the target audience and they should be educated about the laws and made aware in the
simplest ways possible.

1
Sudhir Tarote, “Critical Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Consumer Complaint Redressal Agencies under
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986”, selected works, November 2013.

2
Srinivasan K. (1999) “A New Era in Consumerism” Consumer: October 31, 1999 Special issue with the
Sunday Magazine of The Hindu

3
P. Uma Maheswari Devi & B. Sankara Rao,” Consumer Protection Awareness- Role of Education” Universal
Journal of Industrial and Business Management vol. 4, no. 4.
It is undeniable that without the conscious efforts of consumers to be alert, the Government alone cannot
protect consumers. The solutions for the problem of consumer exploitation lies with every individual, be it a
common man or king.4 The government can make n number of laws and acts for consumer protection but
ultimately the deciding factor of their success will be the participation of consumers and sincerity of
authorities in their implementation and spreading awareness. Awareness among the masses can be increased
by sincere efforts of government, media and society. Department of Consumer affairs promotes the
consumer awareness through Voluntary Consumer Organizations, but most of the activities of these
organizations are limited to just participate in programs organized on 15 th March (World Consumer Rights
Day) and 24th December (National Consumer Rights Day). These organizations need to be more efficient
and sincere and work at the grass root level.

Consumer education should help to open the 'CONSUMER EYE' of the consumers. The consumer eye
concept means that an informed consumer looks at a product critically and analytically, first from his own
point of view as an individual consumer, then with the interest of the community at large in mind. 5
Consumers’ consciousness determines the ultimate effectiveness of consumer protection. Our country has
come a long way from where it started the journey of consumerism, the act has a lot of merits and has
definitely achieved a lot in protecting consumers against exploitation, but there is still a long way to go. The
actual realization of the goals of the act will be when each and every beneficiary of the act is aware and
educated, and there is no apprehension in his mind to approach a consumer court and fight for his rights.

4
ibid

5
Ishwar Mittal & Ravi Gupta, “Awareness as an instrument to utilize consumer rights: A consumer protection”
Sandesh- Mast Nath Journal of Management (ISSN: 0975-6515); Vol. 8 No. 1-4; Jan.- Dec., 2013