‘Jago Grahak Jago’ – An Initiative towards Consumer Education and Awareness
An enlightened consumer is an empowered
consumer. An aware consumer not only
protects himself from exploitation but induces efficiency, transparency and
accountability in the entire manufacturing and services sector.
Realising the importance of consumer awareness,
Government has accorded top priority to ‘Consumer Education, Consumer Protection
and Consumer Awareness. India is a country, which has taken
a lead in introducing progressive legislation for consumer protection. The
most important milestone in Consumer Movement in the country has been the
enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The Act has set in motion
a revolution in the field of consumer rights, that
perhaps cannot be paralleled anywhere else in the World. The Act applies to
all goods and services unless specially exempted by the Central Government,
in all sectors whether Private, Public or Co-operative.
Consumer Protection Act,
1986
The Act enshrines all the consumers rights which are internationally accepted. As per
the Act, consumer protection councils have been established at Central, State
and District levels to promote and protect the consumer rights. They are:
Right to Safety: To be protected against the
sale of goods and services which are spurious/ hazardous to life.
Right to information: To know the quality,
quantity, weight and the price of goods/services being paid for, so that one is
not cheated by unfair trade practices.
Right to Choose: To be assured, wherever
possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.
Right to be heard: To be heard and to be
assured that the interest would receive due consideration at appropriate fora.
Right to Seek Redressal:
To seek legal redressal against unfair or restrictive
trade practices or exploitation.
Right to Consumer Education: To have access
to consumer education.
Gandhiji in the light of the above rightly said about consumer
and his rights as the following: “A customer is the most important visitor
on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is
not an interruption in our work - he is the purpose of it. We are not doing
him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour
by giving us the opportunity to serve him.” It was therefore most appropriate
that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was processed and enacted in India soon after the UN declaration.
Basic Framework for
Consumer Protection
Consumer protection
initiatives by the Government hinge on 3 basic parameters. Firstly ensuring a legal framework
that comprises of Consumer Protection Act. The Consumer Protection Act enacted in 1986
has been recognised as one of the finest basis of
legislation enacted in any part of the world and India can boast of being the only
country having such specialised legislation for
consumer protection. The CPA has a
three tier, simple, quasi judicial machinery at the National, State and District
level for hearing cases raised by consumers.
Secondly, evolving standards for different products
to enable the consumers to make an informed choice about different products. Standards which are the essential building block
for quality play a key role in consumer protection. Standard could be on technical requirement (specifications),
improved specific standard terminology (glossary of terms), codes of practice or test methods or management systems standards.
The standards are set generally by Government or inter-Governmental
bodies but world wide it is being recognised that
voluntary establishment of standards plays an equally important role for protecting
consumers. Thirdly, consumer awareness and education is
the main building block for consumer protection.
National Action Plan on
Consumer Protection
Consequent
upon the 50th National Development Council
Meeting, Planning Commission has identified consumer awareness, redressal and enforcement of Consumer Protection Act as a
priority agency for action by the Deptt. of Consumer Affairs. The
allocation for consumer protection activities was significantly enhanced in
the last 2 years of the X Plan.
Consumer Awareness Scheme in
the XI Plan
The Consumer Awareness Scheme for the
XI Plan amounting to a total of Rs. 409 crores has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs on 24.01.08. This scheme has
been formulated to give an increased thrust to a multi media publicity campaign
to make consumers aware of their rights. The slogan ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ has now become a household
name as a result of publicity campaign undertaken in the last 3 years.
Through the increased thrust on consumer awareness in the XI Five Year
Plan, the Government has endeavoured to inform the common man of his rights as a consumer.
As part of the consumer awareness scheme, the rural and remote areas
have been given top priority. In a big country like India, given the
scenario of economic disparity and level of education and ignorance, educating
the consumers remains a gigantic task. Government has taken up number of activities
and schemes in creating consumer awareness in the country as part of this
Consumer Awareness Scheme.
Multi Media Publicity
Campaign
As part of the Multi Media publicity
campaign, the activities being undertaken are:
Publicity through
print media using news paper advertisements, to educate the consumers about
their rights and responsibilities.
Publicity
through electronic medium by telecast of video spots of 30 seconds duration on
various consumer related issues such as
Grievance Redressal system, MRP, ISI
Hall-Mark, Alternate Dispute, Redressal system, weights and measures, Rights of Consumers
etc. Issues pertaining to rural and remote areas have been given prominence in
the various advertisement spots.
Telecast of
advertisement in North Eastern states in Regional languages of 20 seconds and
30 seconds duration on various consumer related issues such as M.R.P. (Maximum
Retail Price), Short Measurement, Expiry date on medicine, adulteration,
damaged product and redressal system.
The
Department in consultation with the Department of Post has disseminated
consumer awareness messages through Meghdoot Post
cards to reach far-flung rural areas including North East States. A bigger plan
of partnership with the Department of Posts to use the vast network of postal
department for spreading the message of consumer awareness has been chalked out
Calendars containing the message of consumer awareness are being displayed
through the vast network of 1.55 lakhs post offices.
The
Department through Printed Literature is also creating awareness. A folder
entitled “Consumer Awareness Mission” containing the salient features of
Consumer Protection Act 1986, Consumer Resource kit as well pocket calendars
and posters is being distributed during various events such as IITF, Nukkad Nataks and also through
the State Governments at grass root level.
The publicity material relating to consumer awareness has also been
translated in regional languages and is being disseminated to various State
Governments.
Nukkad Nataks are being performed
in consultation with Song & Drama division of the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting . More than 1000 programmes
in all the States/UTs have been organised
to create awareness at grass root level.
A pilot
project National Consumer Help Line initiated can be accessed through a Toll
Free Number 1800-11-4000 which is being operated by Delhi University
for counselling the Consumers to redress their
grievances. The timing of toll free number facility is available to consumers
from 9-30 A.M.
to 5-30 P.M. on all the working days (Monday—Saturday). Through the various advertisements pertaining
to Department of Consumer Awareness adequate publicity has been given to
National Helpline so that the affected consumers could seek guidelines/counselling through the national helpline.
In order to
reach maximum number of consumers, the Department has telecast video spots
containing consumer related information during the popular sports events such
as Tri-series cricket tournament, Indo-Pak Series, Indo-Australia Series, Indo-
England Cricket Series etc.
India is a
country with more than 70% population being under 35 years. The youngsters are
using the internet in a big way for various purposes and also happen to be
major consumers. Realizing this, a major initiative is being taken to spread
consumer awareness through the online medium.
The advertisements being brought out by the Department are also being
displayed on the website of the Ministry www.fcamin.nic.in.
Advertisements are being carried in
journals of Publication Division such as Yojana,
Kurukshetra, Bal Bharti, Aajkal and their regional
editions. Focussed
articles on consumer awareness are being published in these magazines keeping
in view their target readership. Employment
News, the flagship publication of Publication Division, which is the largest
selling career weekly of its kind occasionally publishes articles that are
of interest to youngsters in keeping them informed about their rights.
The advertisements of Department are also published regularly in Employment
News/Rojgar Samachar so
that the youth of the country are made aware of their consumer rights.
Participation in India
International Trade Fair
Keeping in view the large number of
visitors to India International Trade Fair, the Department displayed its activities
through a stall in IIPA. Publicity material regarding main provisions of Consumer
Protection, Standardisation, Weights & Measures,
ISI, Hall Marking and other issues of consumer interest was distributed free
of cost. On the spot guidance was also given to consumers during the Trade
Fair.
Joint Campaign
‘Jago Grahak Jago’ has become the focal
theme through which issues concerning the functioning of almost all Government
Departments having a consumer interface can been addressed. To achieve this objective joint campaigns have
been undertaken/are being undertaken with a number of Government Departments.
The Department had run a joint campaign with Bureau of Energy Efficiency
to educate people about energy conservation by having awareness of the BEE
star labels. A joint campaign with National Pharmaceuticals
Product Authority is being devised to educate consumers about the various
issues concerning pharma industry. Similarly, campaigns with Reserve Bank of India, FICCI,
Ministry of Urban Development (for real estate sector) and HRD (for education
sector) are being planned.
Special scheme on
assistance to State Governments/UTs
Considering the fact that active
involvement of State Governments in awareness campaign is crucial in taking
forward the movement to rural, remote and backward areas, State/UT Governments
have been actively associated in expanding the area of consumer awareness. In fact
the effectiveness of the scheme is enhanced by the involvement of States/UTs/PRIs. The
provision for grant in-aid/support to States/UTs has
been one of the key components of the Consumer awareness scheme.
The
Department of Consumer Affairs provided publicity material such as posters,
audio, video, folders, calendars, and magazines etc. to the State Governments/UTs for distribution through panchayats
in the rural areas.
The Future Roadmap
The multi media publicity to educate
consumers and make them aware about their rights will have a long lasting
impact not only on the end consumers but also on the entire manufacturing
and services sector. The scheme will
go a long way in introducing greater accountability and transparency in the
services provided by the public as well as private sector since the end user
i.e. a consumer will be educated and aware enough to ask for best possible
services in return of his hard earned money. ‘Jago
Grahak Jago’ is thus an initiative
which empowers consumers by making them aware about their rights as well as
the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. (PIB Features)
*Inputs from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs
RTS/VN
(Release ID :46055)