The rights of every consumer are observed and encouraged all over India every year on December 24 on National Consumer Rights Day.
Consumers carry the most power in selling and purchasing goods. The West has appropriately set consumer rights, India is still seeking to emphasize its nationwide customer action and stand in solidarity with it.
With e-commerce acquiring more and more fame, consumers need to be mindful of and exert their rights and duties.
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History of National Consumer Rights Day
Consumers’ rights were accepted seriously in the country when the Consumer Protection Act was passed in 1986. This bill aimed to protect consumers against manipulation like unfair trade, fraudulence, selling faulty stocks, and lack of services.
Over the years, the country’s economy has transformed significantly. It resulted from the increasing market competition, inventions, and rising e-commerce services, which extended the choices open to consumers.
So the tried-and-trusted practices of the customer have been disturbed, creating needs for the Consumer Protection Act to be modified and updated.
Bearing this active and progressive market into view, the nation’s parliament enacted the revised Consumer Protection Bill on 6th August 2019.
Usually called CPA 2019, the bill obtained permission from the country’s President on 9th August 2019. After that, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution announced 20th July 2020, for the bill to be in force.
The CPAs of both 1986 and 2019 are accompanied by the Right to Information Act, which made India’s governance methods straight to the residents and had extensive implications for consumer rights.
These contain the right to choose, the right to information, the right to safety, and consumer education.
How to celebrate National Consumer Rights Day?
● Campaign for a change
Find local events in your town to increase awareness of customer rights and campaign on places of general policy that need a transformation.
● Call out violators
It occurs far too frequently that we get fooled by a company or service and choose to let it glide. You can publicize these happenings so that other customers are conscious of this and know which exercises and businesses to bypass.
● Check out international consumer rights
While India’s CPA is created to maintain its economy in a sense, you can review Consumers’ global website to witness how other nations project consumer rights.
5 Attractive Facts about Consumer Rights
● Protection from hazardous goods
It is the consumer’s right to be safeguarded from fraudulent marketing of any services or goods that can be deceitful to people’s lives or property, such as unnatural coloring utilized in food.
● Knowing all the product information
The customer has the right to know each detail regarding their buying product. From the beginning to the end cycle, it should all be transparent.
● You can bargain and arrange the cost
What many consumers don’t know is that they can put their own price on the MRP as this has no obstruction from the government.
● There are consumer education programs.
The government of India has organized various awareness programs on customer rights and safety. An excellent example of this is ‘Jago Grahak Jago.’
● A healthy environment is a consumer right
Consumers have the freedom to pursue safety against pollution for a more satisfactory quality of life.
Why do we love National Consumer Rights Day?
● More power to the people
Consumer rights support the idea that the ordinary individual carries all the power over those in control and can pursue the freedoms they genuinely deserve.
● A breakthrough for India
With multiple preceding loopholes in the public legal system of India, the Consumer Rights Act was indeed an advance for the country’s economy. It decreases illicit trade and practices and assures that the people’s hard-earned finances are not wasted.
● Strength in solidarity
Just enacting an Act is not sufficient. There are still individuals out there who are clueless about their rights as customers, and a day committed to this seeks to switch that.