We use a lot many types of goods for a reason.\nThese goods are both tangible (goods) and non-tangible (services). Together\ngoods and services are known as commodities. The reason for their use is what\ncan be called as the \u201csatisfaction of wants\u201d. Wants are satisfied by using\ngoods and services. The process of using various goods and services to fulfil a\nwant is known as consumption. When we pay the price for a good or a service and\nuse it to satisfy a want, we become consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this age of capitalism and globalisation, the\nprimary objective of each producer is to maximise his profit. In each and every\npossible way the producers are trying to increase the sale of their products.\nTherefore, in fulfilment of their aim, they forget the interests of consumers and\nstart exploiting them, for example\u2014overcharging, under-weighing, selling of\nadulterated and inferior quality goods, misleading the consumers by giving\nfalse advertisements etc. Thus, to save himself from being cheated, it is\nnecessary for a consumer to be aware. In this way, Consumer Awareness means\ncreating awareness of a consumer towards his rights and duties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nowadays we find that there are a lot of\nadvertisements promoting goods and services. Their number has grown immensely\nover the years. Commercials bombard us through various mediums all through the\nday. The constant barrage of advertisements often confuses the customer from\npurchasing the correct product or service meeting his needs. So it is important\nto be aware of how we can be cheated as consumers. We must know our rights and\nduties as consumers. Even the law provides us protection as consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A consumer is exploited when in any form he\/she\nis cheated or not informed adequately about the product. Consumers may be\nexploited by giving incomplete or wrong information. One of the very common and\nserious problems by which a consumer may be exploited and cheated by the\nshop-keeper is by providing impure or adulterated products. Consumption or\nusage of these adulterated products can have a detrimental effect on the health\nand well-being of consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consumers not only pay more they also suffer\nfrom bad health and may even risk their lives by purchasing duplicate medicines\nand electronic devices. An electric\nheater may give a shock or a generator may produce a high voltage surge harming\nthe electric wiring or bulbs and tubelights in the house. To be able to charge\na high price a supplier may hoard the commodities and create an artificial\nscarcity. The consumer may panic and be forced to pay a high price for the\nsame. Sometimes, some articles are copied and sold with its original brand name\nwith inferior quality such as creams, soaps etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some items like a telephone or a gas\nconnection, licence or a passport or even for doctor\u2019s treatment, the consumer\nmay be made to undergo delays and subject to rude and rough treatment.\nSometimes the customer is subject to harassment and displeasure. Consumer\ndurables like a refrigerator or a sewing machine or scooter etc., need\nmaintenance. The sellers may not give these after-sales services or may charge\na high amount for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many factors behind the exploitation\nof the consumer. Illiteracy<\/strong> is one of the causes. An illiterate consumer\ncan be cheated easily as he\/she can neither read the name of the product nor\nthe instructions. Illiteracy also affects the level of consumer awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lack of information<\/strong> is another cause. The seller may take advantage of the freedom of\nthe market and keep away important or correct information from the consumer.\nPrice, composition, quantity, conditions of use and terms of purchase all must\nbe given to the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monopoly<\/strong> is also a cause of consumer exploitation. In a market where only one\nor few producers or sellers operate, the consumer is more vulnerable. The\nconsumer in such areas is charged high prices; given a inferior quality and\nhis\/her problems are not taken seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In India, Consumer Protection was given\nimportance in the past. Kautilya\u2019s Arthashastra <\/strong>mentions the protection\nof a consumer\u2019s interest against exploitation by producers and sellers.\nMalpractices such as adulteration, overcharging and underweighing of the goods\nwere considered as punishable offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indian ethos and culture promote wise\nconsumption. Consumption which does not damage the environment and which\ngenerates a spirit of abstinence and sharing is held supreme. Only when\nconsumers make irrational purchases and start responding indiscriminately and\nplay into the hands of the producers and sellers, they make themselves\nvulnerable to exploitation. Thus, an ideal consumer is alert, responsible and\nenvironment friendly, buys only when there is a need, prevents himself\/herself\nfrom being cheated and knows his\/her rights and duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An economy, in which consumers are aware, can\npractise their duties and exercise their rights freely, the efficiency of the\nsellers and producers will be higher and so the economy will be more developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consumer should be aware of\nthe following things:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. He\/sheshould receive\nproper invoice, bill, cash memo or voucher. 2. The name of things bought or the\ndescription of the service should be clearly mentioned in the invoice. 3. The\ndate of the transaction should be mentioned. \n Rights of Consumers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Consumers have the right to buy good commodities\nand services from the market. The protection of the law has been provided to\nhim so that producer or seller cannot cheat him in any way. Generally a\nconsumer has got the following rights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Right to safety <\/strong>: This is essential for producers that they should obey the rules\nrelated to the safety of consumers. The reason is if the producers do not obey\nsafety rules then the consumer may have to bear a big risk. For example, in a\npressure cooker there is a safety valve which if faulty can lead to a major\naccident. The manufacturers of the safety valves should fix a high quality for\nit. If manufacturers do not do this then the consumers can take help of\nconsumer Law to force the manufacturer to install a high quality valve\nconforming to ISI requirements in the pressure cooker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Right to choose :<\/strong> A consumer has the right to select any goods or services when he\nbuys a product or service. Suppose you\npurchase a gas connection and the gas dealer compels you to buy the burner also\nalong with gas connection, but you want to buy the gas connection only, and\nthere is no requirement of the burner. In this situation your right to\nselection is not followed. The reason is that the seller pressurises you to buy\nthat thing which you do not want to buy. In this situation you can take legal\naction against the seller for forcing you to make a purchase against your\nwishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Right to be informed : <\/strong>When we purchase any product we see that some special information is\nwritten on the packet. This information contains details such as batch number\nof the commodity, manufacturing date, expiry date, address of the manufacturer\netc. When we purchase any medicine, then we get the information regarding the\nside effects, expiry date, and dangers of the medicines. When we purchase\nclothes, then we should have the washing directions. It is necessary to provide\nimportant information because consumers are given the right to obtain\ninformation about things and services which they buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Right to information :<\/strong> In the year 2005, the Government of India enacted The Right to\nInformation Act. The Right to Information Act provides the right to get the\ninformation about all the activities of the Government departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Right to redressal :<\/strong> The consumers have the Right to Redressal against unreasonable\nbargaining and exploitation. The right to redressal can be understood by a\nsingle example. A man named Mathew got admitted to a private hospital for the\nremoval of his tonsils. An ENT surgeon operated for removal of tonsils under\ngeneral anaesthesia. Due to improper application of anaesthesia, symptoms of\nmental imbalance developed in Mathew due to which he became handicapped for his\nentire life. Consumer Dispute Redressal Committee found the hospital guilty of\nnegligence in the treatment and directed to pay the compensation. Thus, it is\nclear that if a consumer bears any loss,\nthen he\/she has the right to get redressal depending upon the amount of loss. \n\nAn informed customer is an aware customer. Consumer Awareness is the\nbiggest weapon in the armoury of the consumer to guard against deficient and\nnegligent goods and services. An informed consumer ensures that the goods and\nservices hawked by any organisation conform to or even exceed the laid\nguidelines and specifications.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We use a lot many types of goods for a reason. These goods are both tangible (goods) and non-tangible (services). Together goods and services are known as commodities. The reason for their use is what can be called as the \u201csatisfaction of wants\u201d. Wants are satisfied by using goods and services. The process of using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n4. Taxes (if any) should be mentioned on the invoice or bill. 5. Consumers\nshould check if the name of the goods, weight, quantity, manufacturing date,\nname of the manufacturer and address are mentioned on the covers of the\npackaged goods. 6. The government has fixed the rate of indirect taxes on\ndifferent kinds of goods. 7. The consumer should check for symbols such as\nISI mark on industrial goods, Agmark on agricultural products, Hallmark on\ngold ornaments, etc. as a further check on their authenticity. 8. The goods\nwhich can be weighed should be bought after checking the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n