Question

Describe and tell me about consumer awareness?

Answer 1

Modern business is an integral part of current day society. Each company has as a socio-economic impact on the people and has to deliver the goods and services and the standard of living as per the aspirations of the people. It has a great social responsibility towards the well being of society. Therefore consumer is an important component of society and business has an obligation to him. But, when the goods are short in supply the producers charge high prices and consumers have no choice other than to purchase what is available. Therefore, consumer is to be protected from unsafe products, poor quality of goods and services, high prices, unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements. Therefore, it is necessary for an awareness to prevail amongst the consumer to protect them from unscrupulous trade practices and to give them the idea of the utility of money spent by them.
Consumer occupies a supreme position in a free economy. But, he never received the attention he deserves. In a country like India, he is not the 'sovereign¡ but a 'slave¡. The welfare of the consumer lies in the fulfillment of his normal and legitimate expectation with regards to the goods and services he needs. The consumer is worried about the quality, quantity, price and timeliness of the supply of goods and services.
The need for consumer awareness was coined by the Western World in 1960s. It is a social force designed to protect the interest of the consumers by organising the consumers to bring pressure on the business community to heed to their say. The pressure may be moral, legal or economic. It is a combined effort of the consumers to seek redressal of their grievances adversely effecting their standard of living. It is the protest against unfair business practices and injustices.
In order to provide awareness to the consumers regarding the unfair practices the Government has taken many steps. Government has passed various acts to prote.

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