Ways and means of consumer protection

Consumers are protected by many hands:

• Self-regulation by business: firms follow ethical practices and set up customer service and grievance cells of their own.
• Business associations: bodies like FICCI and CII lay down codes of conduct for their members.
• Consumer awareness: an informed consumer can protect himself. The government's 'Jago Grahak Jago' ('Wake up, consumer') campaign spreads this awareness.
• Consumer organisations: they educate consumers and press businesses to behave fairly.
• Government: it runs a national consumer helpline, passes laws like the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and sets up the machinery to enforce them. The Act created the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which deals with violations of consumer rights, unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, and set up three tiers of consumer commissions.

No single way is enough; they work together.