CONSUMER AWARENESS

                     

"The 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 on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider on our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so."

                                                                                                  - MAHATMA GANDHI

Consumer is the real deciding factor for all economic activities. It is now universally accepted that the extent of consumer protection is a true indicator of the level of progress in a nation. The growing size and complexity of production and distribution systems, the high level of sophistication in marketing and selling practices and forms of promotion like advertising, etc. have contributed to the increased need for consumer protection.

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986(External website that opens in a new window) is the most important legislation enacted to provide for effective safeguards to consumers against various types of exploitation and unfair dealings. This Act was amended in 2002 in the form of Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002

CONSUMER RIGHTS Right to Safety Means right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services, which are hazardous to life and property. The purchased goods and services availed of should not only meet their immediate needs, but also fulfill long term interests. Before purchasing, consumers should insist on the quality of the products as well as on the guarantee of the products and services. They should preferably purchase quality marked products such as ISI, AGMARK, etc Right to be Informed Means right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices. Consumer should insist on getting all the information about the product or service before making a choice or a decision. This will enable him to act wisely and responsibly and also enable him to desist from falling prey to high pressure selling techniques. Right to Choose Means right to be assured, wherever possible of access to variety of goods and services at competitive price. In case of monopolies, it means right to be assured of satisfactory quality and service at a fair price. It also includes right to basic goods and services. This is because unrestricted right of the minority to choose can mean a denial for the majority of its fair share. This right can be better exercised in a competitive market where a variety of goods are available at competitive prices. Right to be Heard Means that consumer's interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums. It also includes right to be represented in various forums formed to consider the consumer's welfare. The Consumers should form non-political and non-commercial consumer organizations which can be given representation in various committees formed by the Government and other bodies in matters relating to consumers. Right to Seek Redressal Means right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers. It also includes right to fair settlement of the genuine grievances of the consumer. Consumers must make complaint for their genuine grievances.Many a times their complaint may be of small value but its impact on the society as a whole may be very large. They can also take the help of consumer organisations in seeking redressal of their grievances. Right to Consumer Education Means the right to acquire the knowledge and skill to be an informed consumer throughout life.Ignorance of consumers, particularly of rural consumers, is mainly responsible for their exploitation. They should know their rights and must exercise them. Only then real consumer protection can be achieved with success.

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS REDRESSAL

To provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal of consumer disputes, the Consumer Protection Act envisages a three tier quasi-judicial machinery at the National, State and District levels. It is an alternative to the ordinary process of instituting actions before a civil court. These fora are mandated to provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal of the consumers' grievances. The three redressal agencies are the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC)

Who can file a complaint ?

• A complainant in relation to any goods or services may be filled by a consumer or
• Any voluntary consumer association registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1of 1956)or under any other law for the time being in force or
• The Central Government or any State Government; or
• One or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers having the same interest or
  In case of death of a consumer, his legal heir or representative
• A power of attorney holder cannot file a complaint under the Act.

 How to File a Complaint?

A complaint can be filed on a plain paper. It should contain:

• The name description and address of the complainant and the opposite party.
• The facts related to complaint and when and where it arose.
• Documents in support of allegations made in the complaint.
• The relief which the complainants is seeking
• The complaint should be signed by the complainants or his authorized agent.
• No lawyer required for filing the complaint
• Nominal court fee

 Where to File a Complaint?

It depends upon the cost of the goods or services or the compensation asked:

• District Forum: If it is less than Rs. 20 lakhs
• State Commission: If more than Rs. 20 lakhs but less then Rs. 1 crore
• National Commission: If more than Rs. 1 crore

After the Computerization and Computer Networking of Consumer Forums in Country (ConfoNet)(External website that opens in a new window), users can track their case online. It is an internet based Case Monitoring System developed for automating the work flow of the consumer forums, starting from case registration until announcement of judgment. Users can search Cause lists(External website that opens in a new window),Judgements

(External websit

CONSUMER 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 empowerment the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Jago Grahak Jago

The slogan 'Jago Grahak Jago' has now become a household name as a result of the publicity campaign undertaken in the last 5 years. Through the increased thrust on consumer awareness in the XIth 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 the top priority. The Government has used multiple channels to create awareness it includes: Print media advertisements, Audio campaigns, video campaigns etc.

(External website that opens in 

NCF AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Textbooks should certainly be child-friendly but it is equally necessary that the school teacher should be made child-friendly. Teachers need a more intensive exposure to social science concepts, changes in data and methods in history, and critical inquiry.

There has been a public debate on the NCF, the more widely publicized aspect has been on textbooks in history. There has, however, been less concern with other constituent subjects of the social sciences, namely the input of geography, politics, economics, and sociology. The approach of the social sciences is relevant to scientists as part of integrated knowledge needs emphasizing. In addition to textbooks, two other aspects of the curriculum require immediate attention — the training of teachers and the re organisation of the examination system. These are recognized in the NCF but in a somewhat limited manner.

Textbooks are not the only source of knowledge in school nor the only way of encouraging the development of a critical mind, although if sufficiently sensitively written (and this is rare), they can perform both functions. The accepted function of textbooks is to provide a framework for the student to access knowledge in a particular subject. We generally don't remember textbooks triggering off creative ideas in our school-going youth. We do remember a particular teacher or a particular book outside the curriculum.

A textbook in history should provide the infrastructure of the subject: reliable information about the past, an explanation of how this information can be analysed, and what this tells us implicitly or explicitly about aspects of the society in which we live. The range selected would vary according to the syllabus requirement. 

The old textbooks are critiqued, as being heavy and dull and therefore diverting students from history, and for being concerned with developmental issues. Development as such may be out of fashion these days, but the issues with which these older textbooks were concerned are still with us. They will have to be addressed in whatever textbooks are used, issues such as the causes of economic inequality, the continuity of social privilege, the intervention of religious institutions in civic life, and the use of religious ideologies for political mobilization. Indian society in its history has experienced considerable achievements but has also had to grapple with inequality, injustices, and violence. These are of significance in understanding the present.

According to the NCF, the old textbooks should give way to books with a child-centered pedagogy. Textbooks should certainly be accessible to the young readers for whom they are intended. However, there is some fear that the emphasis on pedagogy may erode the disciplinary orientation of the subject. Each of the social sciences has its specific take on knowledge and students should be made familiar with these. 

The document says that the social sciences will explain diversities in Indian society with references to local conditions so that the existence of variants can be understood by children in their local context. One hopes that the social sciences will also explain how diversities came or come into being, why there is an inequality among diverse groups, and how attitudes supporting this inequality are constructed.

Textbooks should certainly be child-friendly but it is equally necessary that the school teacher should be made child-friendly. It is not enough to encourage participative discussions between teachers and students in class. An extensive program-me of familiarizing schoolteachers both with changes in the methods and concepts of the social sciences and with child-centered pedagogy will help. Without this, there will be no essential change in either the approach to the subject or the pedagogy. Children will still be required to memorize sections of the new or old textbook and reproduce these for the exam. Instant workshops for history teachers are not going to make a dent. Teachers need a more intensive exposure if they are to understand the concepts of the social sciences.

Courses by the Open University on various subjects can be yet another source of orienting teachers to new knowledge. The creation of an educational channel on TV for both students and teachers remains an untapped resource for the social sciences.

There should be a regular assessment of samples of textbooks in each category of schools. But there should be a record to hear if this is being done.  A quality textbook would suggest further reading. But books that claim to be textbooks, irrespective of who publishes them, if they are treated as reliable in the knowledge they convey, must be vetted by a committee of professional scholars in the particular subject and such as are respected by their peer group. Such a committee would be responsible to the public and to the educational system for clearing the disciplinary content of textbooks. Otherwise, textbooks will become like the Internet where anything goes.

If the learning of sections of the textbook by rote and repeating the text in the exam are to be avoided, then the examination system needs to be revamped. This would begin with reorganizing the board of examinations as has been suggested in passing by the National Curriculum Framework. Paper setters and examiners will also have to be retrained to understand the changes required in setting and evaluating examination questions. Evaluating critical thinking and logic based on reading beyond the textbook at the high school level will need an altogether different training for examiners, used as they are to answers repeating what is said in the textbook. Examiners will have to judge whether an answer that differs from that of the textbook shows initiative and further reading, or merely reflects a lack of understanding the question, or worse. One has heard so often from school students about their anxiety as to which historical interpretation to quote in an answer to an examination question, the fear being that one does not know which view is favored by the examiner. Critical thinking would make such a dilemma relatively redundant, but only if the examiner is sensitive to critical thinking.

NCF - 2005

Summary of NCF - 2005

• Social science content needs to focus on conceptual understanding rather than lining up facts  to be memorized for examination, and should equip children with the ability to think independently and reflect critically on social issues.

• Interdisciplinary approaches, promoting key national concerns such as gender, justice, human  rights, and sensitivity to marginalized groups and minorities.

• Civics should be recast as political science, and the significance of history as a shaping influence  on the children's conception of the past and civic identity should be recognized.