Unit 5: Contemporary Issues in Consumer Affairs

Consumer movement

The consumer movement is an effort to promote consumer protection through an

organized social movement, which is in many places led by consumer organizations. It
advocates for the rights of consumers, especially when those rights are actively breached by
the actions of corporations, governments, and other organizations which provide products
and services to consumers. Consumer movements also commonly advocate for increased
health and safety standards, honest information about products in advertising, and
consumer representation in political bodies.

Evolution of Consumer movement in India

Due to shortage of food, hoarding, black marketing, adulteration of edible oil and food,
there was rampant exploitation of consumers. Hence, it gave rise to the consumer
movement in the 1960s. This movement was in an organised form.

There was no legal system in India to protect the consumers in the marketplace which
resulted in rampant exploitation.

In 1986, the Consumer Protection Act was enacted by the Government of India. This was a
crucial step in the evolution of the consumer movement in India to protect the rights of the
consumers.

Consumer Organisations/Associations

A consumer organisation/association is a membership-based non-governmental non-profit

body created to promote the interests of consumers of goods and services, by disseminating
information and lobbying for laws to protect consumers against producers or sellers, who
may usually be better organised or have more resources. Examples of consumer
organizations in India: Voluntary Organization in Interest of Consumer Education(VOICE),
Consumer Care Society, Citizen consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG)

Citizens often gather together to form consumer organisations/ associations on the basis of
their recognition that:
1.There is a need for an independent party which is non-political and non-commercial to
voice the issues that impact consumers in a market economy;

2.There is a need for the views of the under-represented, i.e. the inarticulate and
disadvantaged to be heard in order to address the disparity in bargaining power, knowledge
and resources between consumers and business; and

3.Consumer organisations/associations would be an effective avenue to collectively exercise

the civil rights of disadvantaged/vulnerable communities/groups or those with disabilities to
be represented and heard before decisions affecting them are taken.

Functions of consumer organization:

In India, some consumer organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have

been set up for the defense and support of consumers’ interests. Nongovernmental
organizations are nonprofit organizations which aspire at promoting the benefit of people.
They have a foundation of their own and are free from government interfering. Consumer
organizations and NGOs execute numerous functions for the protection and support of
awareness of consumers. These include:

(i) Educating the common public about consumer rights by organizing teaching programmes,
seminars and workshops.

(ii) Publishing periodicals and other publications to impart knowledge about consumer
problems, legal reporting, reliefs available and other matters of interest.

(iii) Carrying out comparative testing of consumer products in accredited laboratories to test
relative qualities of competing brands and publishing the test results for the benefit of
consumers.

(iv) Encouraging consumers to strongly protest and take an action against unscrupulous,
exploitative and unfair trade practices of sellers.
(v) Providing legal assistance to consumers by way of providing aid, legal advice etc. in
seeking legal remedy.

(vi) Filing complaints in appropriate consumer courts on behalf of the consumers.

(vii) Taking an initiative in filing cases in consumer courts in the interest of the general
public, not for any individual.

National Consumer helpline (NCH)

It works with the mission to provide telephonic advice, information and guidance to
empower Indian consumers and persuade businesses to reorient their policy and
management systems to address consumer concerns and grievances adopting world class
standards.

National Toll free helpline number for consumers

NCH recognizes the need of consumers for a Telephone Helpline to deal with a multitude of
problems arising in their day-to-day dealings with business and service providers. It provides
a National Toll Free Number 1800-11-4000 OR 14404. The Helpline is available on all days
Except National Holidays between 09:30 AM To 05:30 PM.

A consumer can call this number to seek information, advice or guidance for his queries and
complaints.

Sectors covered

Service sectors like LPG, Electricity, Telecom, Banking, Insurance, Credit cards, Automobiles,
Postal, Courier, water, Transport, Education and Medical etc.

Products like Domestic Home Appliances in the range of ACs, Geysers, Fans, pressure
cookers, Gas burner, Food Products, drinking water, Sindhur, etc.

Approach of NCH in helping consumers

NCH advises consumers on dealing with problems related to defective products, deficiency
in services and unfair trade practices. The Helpline follows a three-tier approach.

First the consumer is informed of his rights in a particular consumer problem and who s/he
should approach in the concerned company or the organization.

If the problem remains unresolved s/he would be directed to take up the matter with
industry level bodies or chambers of commerce, industry regulators (as they exist in sectors
like insurance and banking) or Govt. officials who are in charge of the relevant industrial
sector.

As a last resort, the consumers will be advised to take their case to consumer courts under
the Consumers Protection Act. This helpline is designed to promote avenues of out of court
settlement of consumer disputes and resultantly helps to reduce the burden on consumer
courts.

Convergence model of grievance redressal

Under the convergence model, which is an out of court dispute redressal mechanism, NCH
partners with companies who have a proactive approach to efficient consumer complaint
resolution. It shares with them the data of the complainants along with the complaints
received at NCH related to their company, to facilitate free, fair and fast redressal through
participative cooperation.
Under Convergence process companies are expected to resolve/close the complaints by
stating "a gist of the resolution" in the remarks column which is accessible to both - the
consumer and NCH. Website Complaints are those which are directly assigned by consumer
to that company and CRM complaints are those which are received at the toll free helpline
and uploaded by NCH in a predefined frequency.
Thus, NCH acts as a bridge in building symbiotic synergies between consumers and service
providers maintaining the confidentiality of consumer complaints within the specific
company.

Register your complaint and track its status

You can register your grievance in the following ways.

 You can call to register your grievance 1800-11-4000 or 14404. Timing: All Days
Except National Holidays (09:30 AM To 05:30 PM)
 You can SMS on this Number 8130009809.
 Register online
o Click here to register as consumer
o Sign-in to register your complaint
o Click here to track your complaint status
 Register your grievance through National Consumer Helpline App
 Register your grievance through Consumer App
 Register your grievance through UMANG App
 Functions of NCH

National Consumer Helpline supports consumers by:

 Guiding consumers in finding solutions to problems related to Products & Services.

 Providing information related to Companies and Regulatory Authorities.
 Facilitating consumers in filing complaints against defaulting Service Providers.
 Empowering consumers to use available Consumer Grievances Redressal
Mechanisms, Educating Consumers about their Rights and Responsibilities.
 Developing the awareness among Consumers about their Rights and Responsibilities.

Bureau of Indian Standards

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standard Body of India. BIS is responsible for
the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality
certification of goods and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

BIS through its core activities of standardization and conformity assessment, has been
benefiting the national economy by providing safe, reliable and quality goods; minimizing
health hazards to consumers; protecting the environment, promoting exports and imports
substitute; controlling over proliferation of varieties etc. The standards and certification
scheme of BIS apart from benefitting the consumers and industry also support various
public policies especially in areas of product safety, consumer protection, food safety,
environment protection, building and construction, etc.

Objectives of BIS
 Harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality
certification of goods
 To provide thrust to standardization and quality control for growth and development of
industry on one hand and to meet the needs of consumers on the other.

Organizational Network
BIS has its Headquarters at New Delhi. It has 5 Regional Offices (ROs) located at Kolkata
(Eastern), Chennai (Southern), Mumbai (Western), Chandigarh (Northern) and Delhi
(Central). Under the Regional Offices are the Branch Offices (BOs). There are 33 BOs located
at 28 different locations namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Chandigarh,
Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Delhi, Durgapur, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Guwahati,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur,
 Parwanoo, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot and Vishakhapatnam. The BOs serve as an effective
link between State Governments, industries, technical institutions, consumer organizations,
etc., of the region.

Activities
The activities of BIS can be broadly grouped under the following heads:
1. Standards formulation

2. International activities

3. Product Certification

4. Hallmarking

5. Laboratory services

6. Training services - National Institute of Training for Standardisation

7. Consumer Affairs and Publicity

Common quality standards in India

1. AGMARK: it is a certification mark for agricultural produce, assuring that they
conform to a grade standard notified by Directorate of Marketing & Inspection
(DMI), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of
Agriculture & Farmers Welfare under Agricultural Produce (Grading Marking) Act,
1937.These standards differentiate between quality and 2-3 grades are prescribed
for each commodity. Till date, grade standards for 222 agricultural commodities have
been notified. These include fruits, Vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable
oils, ghee, spices, honey, creamery butter, wheat, atta, besan, etc.
While framing the standards, the existing standards in The Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006,International Organization for Standardization, etc. are
considered. Trade Associations, Research Institutions, etc. are also consulted.

Objective of AGMARK Grading Scheme

The main objective is to provide consumers with quality, unadulterated products.

The grading can be used for both domestic and export purposes.
Difference Between FSSAI and AGMARK

 The FSSAI mark is compulsory whereas, AGMARK is a voluntary certification.

 FSSAI licensing covers all processes of food packing and every food item, agrarian or
not. AGMARK, on the other hand, is meant exclusively for agricultural products.
 FSSAI licensing comes under the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006, but AGMARK
comes under the Agriculture Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act of India, 1937.

2. BIS Hallmark: The BIS hallmark is a hallmarking system for gold as well as silver
jewellery sold in India certifying the purity of the metal. It certifies that the piece of
jewellery conforms to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the
national standards organization of India. India is the second biggest market for gold
and its jewellery.
It has now become mandatory for all jewellers to hallmark gold jewellery. The
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution issued a notification on
January 14, 2020 stating that it will give one year's time to jewellers and retailers to
register themselves with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and clear their old
stock.
The Union Consumer Affairs Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan said, "The purpose of
making hallmarking mandatory for Gold Jewelry and Artefacts is to ensure that
consumers are not cheated while buying gold ornaments and get the purity as
marked on the ornaments, they are better informed about the purity of Gold which
will now be in only 3 caratage i.e. 14, 18 and 22 and corruption is removed."

So, from January 15, 2021, no jeweller is allowed to sell any kind of gold ornaments
without hallmarking.