CONSUMER AWARENESS, PROTECTION AND EMPOWERMENT-ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

UNDER: CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1986

ABSTRACT
This paper has been written to study the general awareness and empowerment among consumers for
consumer's protection and specially awareness of provision of Consumer Protection Act,1986. In India,
the market is today dominated by the consumerism, particularly after a decade from economic reform
process. It gradually being transformed from a pre-dominantly seller's market to a buyer's market where
exercised choice by the consumers depends on their consumer awareness level. Ensuring consumer
welfare is the responsibility of the government as every citizen of the country is a consumer in one
way or the other. The Consumer Protection Act,1986 applies to all goods and services. Under the act,
consumers are empowered with various machinery to file their complaints to the consumer forums to find
appropriate redressal and get suitable compensation for the complained action. The main objective of this
paper is to study the emerging issues and challenges associated with the act and to study role of consumers
under the act and the protection conferred to them from unfair trade practices. This paper has got its
sources from primary data(questionnaires)and secondary data (internet, journals, newspapers,
magazines, articles and textbooks of various authors). In the conclusion of this paper some
recommendations have been given to strengthen the present setup more effectively through the research
done. Thus the paper attempts an analytical ,critical and synthetic examination of "CONSUMER
AWARNESS,EMPOWERMENT AND PROTECTION UNDER THE ACT OF 1986"

KEYWORDS: CONSUMER GOODS AND SERVICES ,COMPENSATION, AWARENESS,

EMPOWERMENT .