Business Portal of India : Consumer Rights and Welfare : Education and Awareness of Consumers : States Initiatives and Outcomes

For promoting consumer awareness and ensuring consumer education in every State/ District of the country, the Departments of Consumer Affairs/ Departments of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Welfare; etc. have been set up in various States/ UTs. The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and District Forums in all or some of the districts of the particular State; State Consumer Protection Council; etc. have also been set up to deal with various consumer issues in States/UTs.

Some of them are as follows:-

These Departments and forums have been organising various workshops, seminars and conferences, from time to time, for protecting the interests of consumers and making them aware of their rights and duties. They have also been undertaking publicity and advertising campaigns as well as publishing magazines/ journals/other documents for the welfare and education of consumers.

Further, in order to promote consumer movement throughout the country, the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations have been creating their own consumer welfare fund. So far, the State level Consumer Welfare Fund have been created in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.

The Scheme of Consumer Clubs has been decentralised and transferred to the Governments of States/UTs with effect from 1.04.2004. All interested NGO/VCOs shall apply to the nodal officer in the Food, Public distribution and Consumer Welfare Departments of the respective States/UTs. Till the end of March 2006, 4661 consumer clubs have been sanctioned in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, NCT of Delhi, Punjab, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.

All such efforts made by State Governments and Union Territory Administrations are on their right path of generating awareness among consumers and educating them about various aspects like maximum retail prices of commodities, their expiry dates, hallmarking of gold jewellery, provisions related to weights and measures, etc.