CONSUMERS
TODAY: WHERE THEY STAND
Background
For the last many years Consumer Unity &
Trust Society (CUTS) is working actively to protect consumer interests in
various ways viz., by organising training seminars/workshops for generating
awareness among consumers, documenting relevant legal provisions and case
studies to provoke consumers to fight for their rights.
In this endeavour, some of the important
initiatives taken have culminated in the following studies published by CUTS.
The study “State of the Indian Consumer”
stresses the need for awareness about consumer rights among the people and an
involvement of the community in matters related consumer rights and protection.
The study discusses the present status of consumer rights in
The book “Is It Really Safe?”, the second in the series of publications on the theme of Caveat Emptor, meaning “Buyers Beware”, is a compilation of articles on different safety aspects of various products and services. The aim of the book is to make consumers aware about their safety-related rights so that they could push for improved legislations, standards and their implementation.
The Consumer Affairs Department, Government of
West Bengal, are also intimately concerned with these issue for the people of
West Bengal and had felt the need to give wide publicity to these issues and
generate awareness.
Objectives
CUTS and the Consumer Affairs Department,
Government of West Bengal jointly organised a presentation on these important
consumer issues to people from various facets of society like consumer
activists, voluntary consumer organisations, school consumer club members (with
the specific objective of instilling consumer awareness from a young age),
government officials, academicians, the media etc. so
that these groups would propagate these ideas in their own spheres of influence
and thus these issues will percolate down to society at large and hopefully
generate greater inquiry and involvement.
Participants
The event drew about 125 participants from
different government departments, consumer clubs in schools, chamber of
commerce, academia, consumer organisations, different trade associations and
media.
Though
Mr. Nazeeb Arif, Secretary
General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, in his address said that although there
are large segments of laws in
He pointed out that consumer
protection has become a crucial issue especially in the era of globalisation
where consumers are offered a large number of products, which are from known as
well as unknown sources. Increase in the purchasing power of the people along
with the mushrooming of outlets has made the situation more dubious.
Addressing the participants,
Mr. Arif said that the businesses are concerned about their “brand loyalty,” as
they do not operate in a sellers market and therefore try to always give “best
value for money”. He said that the common belief that producers are there out
to cheat the consumer is largely not
true. He however regretted the presence of a few black sheep – as in any
section of society – among the business community that unfortunately lends the
negative perception to the community as a whole sometimes.
He pointed out the absence
of an institutional framework, which should be there to bridge the gap between
the industry and the regulators by increasing awareness of each other’s
concerns.
He appreciated the excellent
quality of CUTS’ research and database. He said that it would be wonderful if
the chambers could access these databases.
Mr. Arif stresses on the
fact that penalties should be much better publicised so that people think twice
in future before indulging in unfair practices.
Mr. P. Bhattacharya, Principal
Secretary, Consumer Affairs Dept., GoWB, informed the participants that
He however pointed that
there is a long way to go before consumer awareness reaches an acceptable among
the people of
Sri Naren De,
Minister-in-charge, Cooperation and Consumer Affairs Department, GoWB, the
Guest-of-honour of the programme, mentioned about the different activities
undertaken by the department to raise consumer awareness, especially on March
15, World Consumer Rights Day and December 24 National Consumers Day. Among
other activities, the Department organises essay and drawing competitions among
children on these days to raise awareness.
He mentioned that earlier
the Legal Metrology Department was with the Commerce Department, which the
Consumer Affairs Department has taken under their control because of its close
link with consumer issues.
He also informed the
participants that the Department has now taken a slot on television where they
will broadcast drama, music etc. for raising consumer awareness. The Department
has also set up consumer clubs in schools.
Sri. Dey also said
that they are now renaming National Institute for Consumer Education as Netaji
Institute for Consumer Education, for which they have got financial support
from Govt. of West Bengal and Govt. of India. It will be a training centre for
voluntary consumer organisations.
He informed the participants
about the diploma course introduced by the Netaji Subash Open University
to educate consumer organisations about consumer protection issues. He stressed
on the fact that consumer awareness is necessary to protect consumers from
unfair trade practices.
Session I: Presentation on
the “State of the Indian Consumer”
Mr. Pradeep S. Mehta,
Secretary General, CUTS made a presentation on a seminal CUTS’ study “State of
the Indian Consumer” where he compared a set of guidelines given by the UN to
assist governments to frame consumer policies, against the ground realities as
experienced by the Indian consumers. He spoke on basically eight consumer
rights, i.e.,
right to basic needs,
right to safety,
right to choice,
right to information,
right to consumer
education,
right to redressal,
right to
representation, and
right to a healthy
environment.
His talk clearly brought out
the state of the tardy implementation of various laws.
At the outset he spelled out
his philosophy as very aptly put by Margaret Mead that it is only a small group
of committed people that are required to change the world.
Basic needs are those that
are the minimum necessities for survival and a dignified living and cited the
following two goods and six services to be included within its ambit:
Food,
Clothing,
Shelter,
Water & Sanitation,
Healthcare,
Education,
Energy,
Tranportation.
The UN guidelines
on basic needs talk about food security for all consumers, efficient
distribution of goods and services, proper production and use of drugs and safe
drinking water.
In general, Mr Mehta said
that, most of the basic rights are under subnational (state or local)
management who are more often than not plagued by resource constraints and
governance problems. For example though food production about doubled between
1971-72 and 2001-02, 233mn (highest in the world and a third of all the world’s
hungry) remain hungry in India because of faulty distribution, lack of funds in
many states and endemic corruption.
On clothing he said that in
spite of the Supreme Court ruling that clothes to be an essential part of ‘living
with dignity’ the per capita availability of cloth has hardly increased and
distribution is tardy.
With regard to healthcare he
said that though life expectancy at birth has increased between 1951 and
2001from 36.7 years to 51 years healthcare is still woefully inadequate though
there are a plethora of pious policies and laws in the country.
In spite of the national
water policy 2002 and accelerated rural water supply programme, 62 percent home
rural homes have to make do without potable water. Only 23 percent of rural
homes and 70 percent of urban homes have toilets.
Mr Mehta rued the fact that
about 13 mn families have no houses. Housing finance has become more affordable
for the upper and middle classes but this has to be made equally affordable for
the poorer classes. He also emphasised on the development of appropriate
technology to make house building cheaper.
On healthcare he said that
though life expectancy at birth has increased from 36.7 years to 65 years in
2001 the condition of state run hospitals and health centres are still very
poor. Availability of doctors and hospital beds are 0.4 and 0.8 respectively
per 1000 (Brazil 1.3 & 3.1 and China 2.0 & 2.9 respectively) The national health policy envisages ‘health for all by
2020’ and its effects remains to be seen.
The UN guidelines talk only
of consumer education but in
While the right to energy is
not mentioned in the Guidelines, it is impossible to fully realise some of the
other rights (like the rights to food and drinking water) without the right to
energy. According to the latest census data about 44 percent households do not
have electricity and many of them that do, do not have reliable supply. The
Central and State Governments have taken up the goal of electrifying all Indian
households by 2012. The Electricity Act 2003, while consolidating the earlier
Acts on the subject, provides for development of the electricity industry,
promoting competition and in general protecting consumer interests. The need of
the hour is policies to target energy conservation, energy efficient
technologies administrative reforms, etc.
Though transportation is a
basic need, there is only an indirect basis of this as a fundamental right:
like Article 38(2) and some other articles. Both the Central (Railways etc.)
and the State Governments (State Road Transport Corporations etc.) as well
private operators provide transportation and communication. Still in actual
experience road transport services are not good. Most of the SRTC’s are in the
red and the private operators are unregulated. Also people’s access to roads is
far from satisfactory. All weather roads connect only about 33 percent of villages
in
Right to Safety:
The UN Guidelines considers
the right to safety as a fundamental right and provides for safety and quality
of food and other essential goods and services including their measures and
standards, facilities for inspection and certification as well as compensation
against defective and hazardous goods and services. In India we have the
umbrella Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (COPRA) as also other acts like the
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, Bureau of Indian Standards Act 1986,
Essential Commodities Act 1955 etc. In spite of a surfeit of acts incidents
like the
Right to Choice:
The right to choice is not
specifically mentioned in the US Guidelines but is alluded to in its section on
promotion and protection of consumers’ economic interests. The Guidelines has
provisions against restricted and abusive trade practices, for goods that meet
durability, utility and reliability, protection of consumers from unfair
contracts, etc. In
Right to Information:
The UN Guidelines discusses
the right to information under various themes of consumer protection. The
Guidelines also call for legislation relating to diffusion of information for
consumer protection. Mr Mehta gave instances from a number of laws on the
subject. He also related a number of instances where this right is flouted for
the flimsiest of reasons hiding behind the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (of
British vintage). The Freedom of Information Act, 2002, is expected to remedy
much of the situation. The bane of the consumer’s right to information is poor
implementation of the various relevant clauses in the different laws that need
to be addressed seriously. Legislation on mandatory labelling/information
should be strengthened. Consumer organisations should be encouraged to
proactively various issues. He appreciated the efforts of the Government of
West Bengal for establishing consumer fora in all districts to disseminate information.
Right to Consumer Education:
The Guidelines recommend
introduction of consumer education in the basic curricula itself. The education
programmes should aim to arm the depressed classes of society, encouraging
business to take up factual and relevant consumer training programmes. As far
as
Right to Redress:
Mr Mehta emphasized that the
right to redress is one of the foremost consumer rights. One of the major
objectives of the UN Guidelinesis that govern should have in place proper fora
for the redressal of all means of consumer grievances through both formal and
informal procedures that are fair expeditious and inexpensive. The three-tier
quasi-judicial consumer courts established under COPRA is, in his opinion, a
step in the right direction where aggrieved consumers can plead their own cases
without taking recourse to lawyers. COPRA lays down clearly the definition of a
consumer, and gave the example where COPRA does not cover disputes in cases
involving domestic help. However he pointed out the lacuna of long pending
cases, which vitiates the very purpose of establishing consumer courts. He
called upon various consumer organisations to come forward to facilitate out of
court settlement and gave some example of CUTS’ initiative in this regard
Right to Representation:
The right to advocate for
consumer rights follows naturally in the basket of rights for consumers. The
Guidelines calls upon government to facilitate the process by which the
concerns of the consumers are heard and taken into account in all-relevant
decisions. Standing committees of Parliament, committees on petition and
representation through consumer organisations are some of the avenues
available. But he rued the fact that a strong consumer movement was yet to find
its bearings in
Right to a Healthy environment:
The right to
‘sustainability’ was not included in the original Guidelines but was included
in 1999. It recognises the responsibility of the present generation to address
the concerns of future generations for goods and services in ways economically,
socially and environmentally sustainable. It strongly emphasizes the role to be
played by government alone or with other stakeholders. There is a plethora of
laws towards pollution control and sustainable production and consumption. However he regretted that on the ground lack
of awareness and apathy is nullifying the best of efforts. He gave the example
of the Indian ECOMARK that has been formulated to recognise environmentally friendly products is yet to gather momentum. He emphasized
on bringing the issue of sustainable development to the mainstream and also
underscored the relevance of making eco-labelling mandatory. Increasing
awareness on this important issue is also very important.
The presentation was
followed by a lively question and answer session.
The moderator of the
session, Mr. Prabhat K. Rohatgi, an eminent Consumer Activist, concluded the
session by saying that the very informative talk was a “capsule course on
consumer activism” and added that this talk could well form the basis of the
course being introduced by the Netaji Subhas Open University on Consumer
Affairs.
Session II: Presentation
on the Campaign on Consumer Safety Issues - “Is It Really Safe?”
Ms. Soumi Home Roy, Research
Assistant, CUTS made a presentation on her book “Is It Really Safe?” where she
informed the participants about various safety aspects related to milk, edible
oil, mosquito repellents, toys, emergency services and pesticides.
She said that although
Ms. Home Roy informed
participants about four aspects related to milk safety i.e. adulterated milk,
pesticide residues in milk, presence of bacteria in milk, and use of hormone
injections in cows and female buffaloes. She mentioned that consumption of milk
adulterated with urea, detergent, shampoo, baking soda, starch etc. can cause
diseases like Septic sore throat, Bruscellosis, zoonotic tuberculosis. She informed the participants about different
cases of adulterated milk, presence of pesticide residues and bacteria in milk,
and use of hormone injections in cows and female buffaloes. She also mentioned
about the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), 1954 and Milk and Milk
Products Order (MMPO), 1992 that are there to protect consumers from unsafe
milk. At the end, Ms. Home Roy suggested a number of steps that will ensure
safe and quality milk to consumers.
Her next presentation on
edible oil safety clearly showed the poor implementation of the Edible Oils
Packaging (Regulation) Order 1998, which was promulgated by the Centre to
protect consumes from adulterated edible oil. She narrated cases of adulterated
oil like Behala Oil Tragedy, Delhi Dropsy case and similar other cases to show
the frequency of adulterated edible oil cases. After informing participants
about health risks related to consumption of adulterated edible oil, Ms. Home
Roy suggested a number of steps to ensure supply of safe edible oil to
consumers.
National Malaria Eradication Programme reported that in
After presenting some important facts and figures on toy safety, Ms.
Home Roy cautioned that a manufacturer is not obliged to follow the BIS safety
standards unless he is exporting. She informed the participants that in March
CUTS issued a press release on toy safety where after giving possible health
hazards associated with playing with toys, it requested the parents/doctors to
report cases of injury while playing with toys to CUTS. The press release has
been issued from other centres of CUTS and also consumer organisations in other
parts of
Her next presentation on emergency services by medical institutions
clearly revealed the poor condition of emergency health care. She informed the
participants that after the Supreme Court’s Directive in 1989, Section 134 of
the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 was amended which mandates that every driver
responsible for an accident should take the accident victim to the nearest
hospital/doctor and the hospital/doctor thus approached would be obliged to
attend the victim immediately without completing any legal provisions. But not
much has been done to popularise this section, said Ms. Home Roy. Here she mentioned
about CUTS’ initiative to popularise this section among the film/serial
directors so that they portray the right message through their films and
serials. She also requested the participants to spread the message as has been
given in the material distributed among them by CUTS, i.e. a one pager on Sec
134 and an FAQ on Sec 134, among their friends, relatives and acquaintances.
Her last article on pesticide safety clearly showed the non-judicious
use of pesticides by farmers because of lack of knowledge on safe pesticide
application. Her presentation also showed that many pesticides, which are banned/restricted in other countries, are still in use in
The moderator of the session, Dr. Indira Chakravarty, Director
Professor and Dean, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health made some
valuable remarks on the issue of consumer safety.
Agreeing to Ms. Home Roy’s point she added that
Referring to pesticide safety, Dr. Chakravarty pointed out that current
permissible level of safe doses of pesticides is not at all safe for Indian
population, as a huge portion is under nourished. Therefore, there is an urgent
need to bring down the pesticide dose. She mentioned that their institute have
published about 40 studies on the issue.
While referring to the presentation of Ms. Home Roy on Edible oil
safety, Dr. Chakravarty pointed out that adulteration of mustard oil with
argemone oil is not always intentional. The smell is almost same and during
plucking one can do a mistake. She mentioned that they strongly object the
fortification of oil with vitamin A and D, as there is high chance of
adulteration.
Consumers Today: Where They Stand
14.30 hrs Registration
15.00 – 15.05 hrs Welcome
Address: CUTS
15.05 – 15.30hrs Inaugural
Session:
Keynote Address: Nazeeb Arif,
Secretary General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata
Guest
of Honour: Naren Dey, Minister-in-Charge,
Cooperation
and Consumer Affairs Departments,
Government of
Session I:
15.30 – 16.00 hrs Presentation
on the “State of the Indian Consumer”
-
Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS
16.00 – 16.30 hrs Floor
Discussion
Session II:
16.30 – 17.00 hrs Presentation on the Campaign on Consumer
Safety Issues - “Is It Really Safe?”
- Soumi Home Roy, Research Assistant, CUTS
17.00 – 17.30 hrs Floor
Discussion
17.30 hrs Vote of Thanks: Consumer
Affairs Department, Government of
17.35 hrs Tea