In a recent case of child birth involving surgery, anaesthesia was given to an expecting mother. But the late arrival of the operating doctor created a situation where only the child could be saved and mother could not survive because of extra time for which anesthesia was given to her.

Before buying any packed food, one should check the information related to ingredients used, price, batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date and address of the manufacturer.

Manufacturers or producers should display the information because consumers have the right to be informed about the particulars of goods and services that they purchase.

No seller has the right to sell any good more than the MRP. If someone does so, then one can protest or complaint to the respective department.

Agmark

ISI

The following are the five rights of a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
(a) Right to Safety. According to this right, a consumer has the right to be protected against goods and services which are hazardous to life and health. For example, electrical goods which are manufactured with substandard products or do not conform to the safety norms might cause serious injury. Thus, consumers are educated that they should use electrical goods which have ISI mark as this would be an assurance for such products in meeting quality specifications.
(b) Right to be Informed. According to this right, a consumer has the right to have complete information about the product he intends to buy including its ingredients, date of manufacture, price, quantity, directions for use etc.
(c) Right to Choose. According to this right, consumer has freedom to choose from a variety of products at competitive prices. This implies that the. marketers should offer a wide variety of products in terms of quality, brand, prices, size etc. and allow the consumer to make a choice from amongst these.
(d) Right to be Heard. According to this right, consumer has the right to file a complaint and to be heard in case of dissatisfaction with a good or a service. It is because of this reason that many enlightened business firms have set up their own consumer service and grievance cells. Many consumer organisations are also working towards this direction and helping consumers in redressing their grievances.
(e) Right to Seek Redressal. According to this right, a consumer has the right to get relief in case the product or service falls short of his expectations. The Consumer Protection, Act provides a number of reliefs to the consumers including replacement of the product, removal of defect in the product, compensation paid for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer etc.

The following are the five responsibilities of a consumer, which he should perform.
(a) Must exercise his/her rights. Consumers must be aware of their own rights with regard to the products or services they buy from the markets and should exercise them whenever required.
(b) Cautious consumer. The consumer must be cautious before purchasing, any good or service. He must insist on getting full information on the quality, quantity, utility, price, etc. of the good or service. This will ensure a better purchase.
(c) Filing complaints. Sometimes, consumers ignore the loss incurred believing that the loss is small but this attitude encourages corrupt business practices to continue. So, a consumer should file complaint for the redressal of genuine grievances.
(d) Quality conscious. A consumer must be quality conscious. He should look for quality certification marks like ISI, Agmark, FPO, Woolmark, etc. while making purchases.
(e) Insist on cash memo. A consumer must ask for cash memo from the shopkeeper because if there is any defect in the goods purchased and consumer has to make a complaint, the cash memo must be there as a proof of purchase. A seller is always bound to give a cash memo.

The following are the five achievements of the consumer movement in India.
(a) A company, for years, sold milk powder for babies all over the world as the most scientific product claiming to be better than mother's milk. It took years of struggle before the company was forced to accept that it had ben making false claims.
(b) A long battle had to fought with court cases to make cigarette manufacturing companies accept that their product could cause cancer. Hence, there is a need for rules and regulations to ensure protection for consumers.
(c) It took many years for organizations in India, and around the world, to create awareness amongst people. This had also shifted the responsibility of ensuring of goods and services on the sellers.
(d) Because of all these efforts, the movement succeeded in bringing pressure on business firms as well as government to correct business conduct, which may be unfair, and against the interest of consumers Protection Act.
(e) Today, there are more than 700 consumer groups in the country.

Consumer Protection Councils (CPCs) are voluntary organizations, locally known as Consumer Forums. These councils are set up by the consumers themselves.
The main activities of Consumer Forums or Consumer Protection Councils are:
(a) They guide consumers on how to file cases in the consumer courts.
(b) They may represent individual consumers in the consumer courts.
(c) They create awareness among the people.
These voluntary organizations receive financial support from the government for the above purposes.