Know Your Rights

One of the most important milestones in the consumer movement in the country has been the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act,1986 to better protect the interest of the consumers. This has revolutionised consumer rights.

The consumer movement in India is as old as trade and commerce itself . Even in Kautilya's Arthshastra , there are references to the concept of protection of consumers against the exploitation by trade and industry, short weighment and measurements, adulteration along with the punishment for these offences. There was however, no organized and systematic movement actually safeguarding the interests of the consumers.

Today consumers face various problems on account of competition in the market, misleading advertisements, availability of inferior quality of goods and services, etc. consumers are to protect themselves from being exploited or cheated, they have to be given these six rights so that they are in a position to ensure that sellers of goods and service providers are more careful in dealing with them.

For example,one of the rights of consumers is the right to choose. If you are aware of this right, you may ask for different varieties of the same product to be shown to you by the shopkeeper so that you can choose what you like. Sometimes, shopkeepers try to sell a particular brand of product on which they get higher commission on sale. It may not be of the best quality, or it may be available at a relatively lower price. This practice can be prevented if you exercise your right to choose the product and visit other shops if one shop does not have a large variety of the product

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