National Consumer Day or Bhartiya Grahak Diwas is annually observed across India on December 24 to create awareness about consumer rights and responsibilities.
The day also aims to protect consumers from market exploitation like defective products or expensive pricing.
- The theme of National Consumer Day 2022 is “Effective Disposal of cases in Consumer Commission”.
- National Consumer Day is also known as National Consumer Rights Day.
Background:
i. The Day commemorates the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, which received assent from the President of India on 24th December 1986.
ii. The 1st National Consumer Day was observed on 24th December 1986.
About the Consumer Protection Act:
i. On 24th December 1986, the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 received approval from the President of India.
ii. The landmark Consumer Protection Bill of 2019, was passed by Parliament in 2019 to replace the decades-old Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
iii. The Act aims to protect consumers from all forms of exploitation, including defective goods, negligent services, and unfair trade practices.
Consumer Act’s 6 Fundamental Rights:
- Right to Safety
- Right to Choose
- Right to be Informed
- Right to be Heard
- Right to Seek Redressal
- Right to Consumer Education
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS):
i. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is India’s National Standard Body.
ii. It is in charge of the smooth development of standardisation, marking, and quality certification of goods, as well as matters related to or incidental to these activities.
iii. The Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, came into force on October 12, 2017.
iv. Some of the Standard marks of BIS are AGMARK (Agriculture Mark), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), BIS Hallmark, Fruit products order (FPO) Mark, and environment-friendly products (ECO) mark.
Jago Grahak Jago campaign:
Jago Grahak Jago (Wake Up Customer) is a consumer awareness program launched in 2005 by the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food& Public Distribution, Government of India.
- The main features of the Jago Grahak Jago programme: to protect consumer rights against unfair trade practices, provide access to goods at a competitive price, consumer education, to seek redressal against unfair trade practices.
World Consumer Rights Day:
World Consumer Rights Day is annually observed across the globe on 15th March to create awareness about the power of consumers and their rights.
- The theme of World Consumer Rights Day 2022 is “Fair Digital Finance”.
In India, World Consumer Rights Day was celebrated on 15th March 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Delhi.
About the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution:
Minister- Piyush Goyal (Rajya Sabha- Maharashtra)
Minister of State- Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Buxar, Bihar); Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh)
