The moment a person comes into this world, he starts consuming. He needs milk, clothes, oil, soap, water and many more things and these needs keep taking one form or the other all along his life. Thus we all are consumers. When we approach the market as a consumer, we expect value for money, i.e., right quality, right quantity, right prices, information about the mode of use, etc. But there may be supplied with goods which do not perform as per their description or have one or more defects. Likewise, in case of services, there may be deficiency.
In India, a large number of legislations have been enacted over these years to safeguard the interests of the consumers such as Consumer Protection Act, Essential Commodities Act, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, Indian Contract Act, Sale of Goods Act, Standards of Weight and Measures Act, Bureau of Indian Standards Act, Agricultural Produce Grading and Marketing Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Competition Act(MRTP), etc.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is indeed a very unique and highly progressive piece of social welfare legislation and is acclaimed as the magna carta of Indian consumers with an aims to provide better and all round protection to consumers. The Act has made the consumer movement really going and more powerful, broad-based and effective and people-oriented. It provides effective safeguards to the consumers against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, unsatisfactory services and unfair trade practices.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, attached great importance to what he described as the ‘poor consumer’, who according to him should be the principal beneficiary of the consumer movement, He said: “A Consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us we are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor to a consumer by giving him an opportunity. He is doing us a favor by giving an opportunity to serve him”. Inspite of these views consumerism is still in its infancy in our country, thanks to the sellers market and the government monopoly in most services. Consumer awareness is low due to the apathy and lack of education among the masses. No one has told them about their rights-to be informed and the product quality, price, protection against unsafe products, access to variety of goods at competitive prices, consumer education, etc. What consumerism lacks here is education and information resources, testing facilities, competent leadership, price control mechanism, and adequate quasi-judicial machinery. The providers of goods and services have been reluctant to give due consideration to consumer interest protection.
It is correct to be mentioned that any one interested in the task of consumer protection movement has to be well versed in various laws and not merely with the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. He should have knowledge of laws relating to Contract, Tort, Railways, Telegraphs, Telephones, Post, Air travel, Insurance, Electricity, Water, Housing, Medicine, Banking, Finance, Engineering, Motor Vehicles, Hotel Industry, Entertainment, Cooperative Societies, Tourism Agencies, Sales Tax, Central Excise, Limitation, Transport etc. There is no limit to subjects, which may come before a Consumer Forum/Commission for decision. In addition, one should also be well versed with the laws relating to unfair trade practice and restricted trade practices.
The Govt. of India particularly the department of Consumer Affairs has formulated scheme on “Promoting Involvement of Research Institutions/Universities/ College etc. in Consumer Protection and Consumer Welfare” with a view to provide solution to the problems faced by the Consumers. It is also important to mention that in the previous years some of the steps taken by the department such as creation of National Consumer Helpline(NCH) with a Toll free No. 1800-11-4000 to help the Consumers to get assistance about their problems in the first instance and Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment Centre(CORE Centre) to create a National Resource Centre in the area of Consumer Protection and to develop networking of consumer organizations and also to provide online complaint registration and redressal mechanism.
The Training Programme for the Coordinators & Advisors of State Consumer Helpline on Consumer Protection & Consumer Welfare conducted from August 01-05, 2011at Indian Institute of Public Administration(IIPA), New Delhi sponsored by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution was attended by Shri. Kezhokhoto Savi, Advocate & President NVCO and Shri. Haikambe Zeliang Asst. Controller LMCP.
And now the state of Nagaland particularly the department of Legal Metrology & Consumer Protection(LMCP) & Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation(NVCO) has been well acquainted with the need & importance of Consumer Helpline and already in the full preparation to run State Consumer Helpline setting up at Old MLA Hostel Building , Kohima, Nagaland which is to be launch within a month’s time.
The State Consumer Helpline is highly recommended so to develop an alternate consumer grievances redressal mechanism which shall be of great help in solving day to day consumer problems in the state of Nagaland. It is agreed that the State Consumer Helpline will suit the needs of the State to cater to consumers especially in rural and backward areas.
The success of any consumer movement depends on the consciousness and awareness of rural consumers. A number of awareness programmes should be taken up in local language to teach the consumers to avoid being duped by the traders. The rural consumers should be made aware of their rights as a consumer. They should be taught to check quality marks on the products they purchase so that they do not fall prey to greedy traders. They should be taught to take a receipt after purchase and check the expiry date of an item. It is required that the individuals, government and non government organizations should work hand-in-hand for educating the rural consumers, so that their hard earned money is not wasted. In conclusion I would like to remind every citizen with a special message – “A vigilant consumer is an asset to the Nation”.
During the interaction session a member of college faculty suggested what would be the best solution the BSNL was do not provide/connect telephone services to college(several landlines) since 27th November, 2010 despite of college several verbal request and written complaint as well and it is well understood that the college is in need for official calls both national and international as well and the bill is always prepared by the BSNL although services was not given to consumer. Mr. Savi fully blamed the BSNL as a service provider and termed to be a case of deficiency services which is amounting exploitation as per the Consumer Protection Act and further appealed the BSNL to provide services to college at the earliest failing which the college authority or the NVCO would initiate appropriate step.
The students also complaint about the increase of Rs.10/- in one time which has raised by the southern area vehicle owners/drivers. The NVCO also condemned such illegal action by the association/union/ngo as they have authority to fix any transportation charges but only the government/regional transport authority is competent & further supported the initiative of the Southern Angami Students’ Union (SASU) in negotiating with the excessive increase of taxi/tata sumo/bus fare in the southern angami area.
The NVCO has also appreciated the raid on fake cosmetic shops in Dimapur as many citizen/consumer wer e not aware of fake cosmetics and also not aware of the consequences which caused cancer and further appealed the district administration and the expert/companies to investigate the case to the extend of closing the manufacturer and it would very helpful to the citizens/users to further provide detailed information as to how to know that the cosmetics are fake and genuine.
Yes this is an eye opener to consumers in the state to be more alert and vigilant while buying goods and availing services in day to day lives. The full set of booklets, pamphlets, note pad, pen, etc provided by Nagaland Legal Services Authority(NLSA) was distributed to all students both Economics & Commerce attended the seminar. A short presentation on the topic legal services authority, FIR, RTI & Juvenile(care & protection of children) was delivered by Holovi, Amen, Nunshi & Achet respectively. Earlier Mr. Sarju HOD Economics deptt delivered welcome address and the vote of thanks by the President of Economic Students’ Association.
(The writer is Advocate & President NVCO. The above article is the paper presented during the one day seminar on the topic “Consumer Rights” at St. Joseph’s College Jakhama)
In India, a large number of legislations have been enacted over these years to safeguard the interests of the consumers such as Consumer Protection Act, Essential Commodities Act, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, Indian Contract Act, Sale of Goods Act, Standards of Weight and Measures Act, Bureau of Indian Standards Act, Agricultural Produce Grading and Marketing Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Competition Act(MRTP), etc.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is indeed a very unique and highly progressive piece of social welfare legislation and is acclaimed as the magna carta of Indian consumers with an aims to provide better and all round protection to consumers. The Act has made the consumer movement really going and more powerful, broad-based and effective and people-oriented. It provides effective safeguards to the consumers against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, unsatisfactory services and unfair trade practices.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, attached great importance to what he described as the ‘poor consumer’, who according to him should be the principal beneficiary of the consumer movement, He said: “A Consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us we are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor to a consumer by giving him an opportunity. He is doing us a favor by giving an opportunity to serve him”. Inspite of these views consumerism is still in its infancy in our country, thanks to the sellers market and the government monopoly in most services. Consumer awareness is low due to the apathy and lack of education among the masses. No one has told them about their rights-to be informed and the product quality, price, protection against unsafe products, access to variety of goods at competitive prices, consumer education, etc. What consumerism lacks here is education and information resources, testing facilities, competent leadership, price control mechanism, and adequate quasi-judicial machinery. The providers of goods and services have been reluctant to give due consideration to consumer interest protection.
It is correct to be mentioned that any one interested in the task of consumer protection movement has to be well versed in various laws and not merely with the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. He should have knowledge of laws relating to Contract, Tort, Railways, Telegraphs, Telephones, Post, Air travel, Insurance, Electricity, Water, Housing, Medicine, Banking, Finance, Engineering, Motor Vehicles, Hotel Industry, Entertainment, Cooperative Societies, Tourism Agencies, Sales Tax, Central Excise, Limitation, Transport etc. There is no limit to subjects, which may come before a Consumer Forum/Commission for decision. In addition, one should also be well versed with the laws relating to unfair trade practice and restricted trade practices.
The Govt. of India particularly the department of Consumer Affairs has formulated scheme on “Promoting Involvement of Research Institutions/Universities/ College etc. in Consumer Protection and Consumer Welfare” with a view to provide solution to the problems faced by the Consumers. It is also important to mention that in the previous years some of the steps taken by the department such as creation of National Consumer Helpline(NCH) with a Toll free No. 1800-11-4000 to help the Consumers to get assistance about their problems in the first instance and Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment Centre(CORE Centre) to create a National Resource Centre in the area of Consumer Protection and to develop networking of consumer organizations and also to provide online complaint registration and redressal mechanism.
The Training Programme for the Coordinators & Advisors of State Consumer Helpline on Consumer Protection & Consumer Welfare conducted from August 01-05, 2011at Indian Institute of Public Administration(IIPA), New Delhi sponsored by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution was attended by Shri. Kezhokhoto Savi, Advocate & President NVCO and Shri. Haikambe Zeliang Asst. Controller LMCP.
And now the state of Nagaland particularly the department of Legal Metrology & Consumer Protection(LMCP) & Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation(NVCO) has been well acquainted with the need & importance of Consumer Helpline and already in the full preparation to run State Consumer Helpline setting up at Old MLA Hostel Building , Kohima, Nagaland which is to be launch within a month’s time.
The State Consumer Helpline is highly recommended so to develop an alternate consumer grievances redressal mechanism which shall be of great help in solving day to day consumer problems in the state of Nagaland. It is agreed that the State Consumer Helpline will suit the needs of the State to cater to consumers especially in rural and backward areas.
The success of any consumer movement depends on the consciousness and awareness of rural consumers. A number of awareness programmes should be taken up in local language to teach the consumers to avoid being duped by the traders. The rural consumers should be made aware of their rights as a consumer. They should be taught to check quality marks on the products they purchase so that they do not fall prey to greedy traders. They should be taught to take a receipt after purchase and check the expiry date of an item. It is required that the individuals, government and non government organizations should work hand-in-hand for educating the rural consumers, so that their hard earned money is not wasted. In conclusion I would like to remind every citizen with a special message – “A vigilant consumer is an asset to the Nation”.
During the interaction session a member of college faculty suggested what would be the best solution the BSNL was do not provide/connect telephone services to college(several landlines) since 27th November, 2010 despite of college several verbal request and written complaint as well and it is well understood that the college is in need for official calls both national and international as well and the bill is always prepared by the BSNL although services was not given to consumer. Mr. Savi fully blamed the BSNL as a service provider and termed to be a case of deficiency services which is amounting exploitation as per the Consumer Protection Act and further appealed the BSNL to provide services to college at the earliest failing which the college authority or the NVCO would initiate appropriate step.
The students also complaint about the increase of Rs.10/- in one time which has raised by the southern area vehicle owners/drivers. The NVCO also condemned such illegal action by the association/union/ngo as they have authority to fix any transportation charges but only the government/regional transport authority is competent & further supported the initiative of the Southern Angami Students’ Union (SASU) in negotiating with the excessive increase of taxi/tata sumo/bus fare in the southern angami area.
The NVCO has also appreciated the raid on fake cosmetic shops in Dimapur as many citizen/consumer wer e not aware of fake cosmetics and also not aware of the consequences which caused cancer and further appealed the district administration and the expert/companies to investigate the case to the extend of closing the manufacturer and it would very helpful to the citizens/users to further provide detailed information as to how to know that the cosmetics are fake and genuine.
Yes this is an eye opener to consumers in the state to be more alert and vigilant while buying goods and availing services in day to day lives. The full set of booklets, pamphlets, note pad, pen, etc provided by Nagaland Legal Services Authority(NLSA) was distributed to all students both Economics & Commerce attended the seminar. A short presentation on the topic legal services authority, FIR, RTI & Juvenile(care & protection of children) was delivered by Holovi, Amen, Nunshi & Achet respectively. Earlier Mr. Sarju HOD Economics deptt delivered welcome address and the vote of thanks by the President of Economic Students’ Association.
(The writer is Advocate & President NVCO. The above article is the paper presented during the one day seminar on the topic “Consumer Rights” at St. Joseph’s College Jakhama)
