National Consumer Rights Day, also known as Bharatiya Grahak Diwas or National Consumer Day, is annually observed across India on 24 December to raise awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities.
- The day also aims to educate people about their rights as consumers to avoid exploitation like freedom of choice, access to information and protection against dangerous products.
- The theme of National Consumer Day 2024 was “Virtual Hearings & Digital Access to Consumer Justice”.
Background:
The day commemorates the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 1986, which received the assent of the President of India on 24 December 1986.
- The 1st National Consumer Rights Day was observed on 24 December 1986.
About Consumer Protection Act of 1986:
i.The Consumer Protection Bill (CPB) of 1986 aims to provide better protection of the interests for consumers and to set-up Consumer councils & authorities for dispute resolution.
ii.The CPA of 2019 was enacted to replace the CPA of 1986 to further strengthen the provisions for consumer protection, addressing challenges posed by e-commerce markets and online platforms.
iii.Under the provisions of the CPA of 2019, a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was established from 24 July 2020, to regulate matters related to false or misleading advertisements.
- The theme of 2024 also aligns with the goals of the new CPA 2019, which was designed to provide consumers with quick, affordable and easy access to justice.
iv.6 Fundamental Rights of CPA: Right to safety; Right to choose; Right to be informed; Right to be heard; Right to seek redressal and Right to consumer education.
2024 Events:
On the occasion of National Consumer Day 2024, Union Minister, Pralhad Joshi, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (MOCAF & PD) & Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, inaugurated and launched several pro-Consumer initiatives at an event held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi (Delhi).
Signing of Safety Pledge by 13 major (electronic) e-Commerce platforms :-
The Department of Consumer Affairs, MOCAF & PD launched a Safety Pledge, a voluntary commitment to enhance consumer safety in e-commerce.
- This initiative was aligned with global best practices which was signed by top executives from 13 major e-commerce platforms, including Reliance Retail, Tata Sons, Zomato, Ola, and Swiggy.
Launch of ‘Jago Grahak Jago App,’ ‘Jagriti App,’ and ‘Jagriti Dashboard” :-
The initiative enhances the to protect Consumers from the Dark Pattern
- The Jago Grahak Jago App provides consumers with crucial information about e-commerce Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), alerting them to potential unsafe links and advising caution.
- The Jagriti App enables users to report URLs suspected of containing illegal dark patterns. These complaints are submitted to the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for investigation and action.
- The Jagriti Dashboard generates real-time reports on e-commerce URLs to detect dark patterns, helping the CCPA quickly identify them and resolve consumer disputes faster.
Launch of ‘e-Mapp’ portal for all services of Legal Metrology Services
The e-Mapp portal, a unified digital platform to integrate State Legal Metrology portals into a single national system.
- This initiative streamlines licensing, verification and registration processes for businesses, reduces compliance burdens and promotes transparency.
It also aims to enhance ease of doing business, support consumer rights, and enable data-driven governance.
Launch of SMART Standards from 2025:
The another initiative of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART) Standards from 2025 aims to simplify traditional standards, which are typically created as PDFs for humans but difficult for computers to process.
- With advanced, adaptive systems, standards must evolve. Smart Standards are designed to be clear for both humans and machines.
Launch of various e-Books and submissions of Reports
- Submission of Report on ‘Reorientation of Consumer Commissions and Impact Assessment’, conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak (Haryana).
- Launch of updated eBook on ‘Packaged Commodities Rules’ summarising all the amendments at one place.
Advancing Consumer Safety: New State-of-the-Art Testing Facilities by NTH
The National Test House (NTH) inaugurated two advanced facilities on National Consumer Day, emphasizing its commitment to product safety and consumer trust.
- The 1st initiative was the Organic Food Testing Laboratory at NTH named-entity recognition (NER) in Guwahati (Assam) aims to safeguard public health, accredited by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
- The 2nd initiative was the Low Voltage Switchgear Testing Laboratory in Mumbai (Maharashtra) focused on electrical safety and certification, including short-circuit testing.
Other Initiatives :-
- Launch of Artificial Intelligence (AI)- enabled National Consumer Helpline (NCH) 2.0.
- Inauguration of the ‘Organic Food Testing Laboratory’ at National Test House (NTH), Guwahati (Assam) & ‘Low Voltage Switchgear Testing Facility ‘at NTH, Mumbai (Maharashtra).
- Exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Legal Metrology Department and Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) for collaboration in areas of mutual interest.
- Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC),establishing the Software Testing Facilities at 6 Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs).
- Three teams have been selected by the Department of Consumer Affairs as winning solutions under Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC). These winning teams were felicitated during the National Consumer Day celebrations on December 24, 2024.
Note – Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC)- In June 2023, Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with M/o Education (Innovation Cell) launched the Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC). The aim of Tomato Grand Challenge was to develop “Technologies for Pre-production, Primary Processing, Post-Harvest, Storage and Valorisation of Tomato” to be set up at the farm / rural / urban levels.
About Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (MOCAF&PD):
Union Minister- Pralhad Joshi (Lok Sabha-Karnataka)
Ministers of State (MoS)- BL Verma ,and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya
