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.

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.

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 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.

These days rules have been made and it is mandatory for the manufacturers to display complete information about the ingredients used, price, batch number, date of manufacture, date of expiry and the address of the manufacturer on their products. When buying medicines, we find 'direction for proper use' and when buying garments, information on 'instructions for washing' are some examples about consumers' right to relevant information.
The advantages of the right to be informed are as follows.
(a) On the basis of this right, consumers can now lodge a complaint and ask for compensation or replacement, if the product is found defective in any manner.
(b) On account of RTI Act, today, the consumer is empowered to ask for any relevant information related to his queries speedily.
(c) Serious follow up of the matter as per the act also benefits the consumer, who gets lawfully what he desires.

(i) Consumers should learn to be well informed to avoid exploitation and unfair trade practices that happen in the market place in various ways. For example, sometimes shopkeepers weight less than what they should or when traders and charges that were not mentioned before or when adulterated and defective goods are sold to ignorant consumers.
(ii) At times false information is passed on through the media to attract consumers. Consumers have the right to be informed about the particulars of goods and services that they purchase. Consumers can then complain and ask for compensation and replacement if the product proves to be defective in any manner. One can also protest and complain if someone sells a good at more than MRP or can bargain with the seller to sell than the MRP.
(iii) When we as consumers become conscious of our rights, while purchasing various goods and services, we will be able to discriminate and make informed choices. This calls for acquiring the knowledge and skill to become a well informed consumer.

(i) Many a times, consumers are required to hire lawyers. These cases require time for filing and attending court proceedings. Also a lot of money and resources have to be spend on the lawyers fees, paperwork etc.
(ii) High most purchases, cash memos are not issued, therefore it is difficult to gather evidence in case a consumer is cheated.
(iii) The existing laws are also not very clear on the issue of compensation to consumers injured by defective goods.
(iv) Also, enforcement of laws that protect workers in the unorganized sectors is weal.

(a) Right to safety: The consumers have the right to protect against marketing of goods and services, which are hazardous to life and property.
(b) Right to be informed : It is the right of the consumers to know the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of the goods. Right To Information Act support this right.
(c) Right to choose : It is the assurance of access to variety of goods with quality and services at competitive prices. A consumer who receives a service in whatever capacity regardless of age, gender and nature of service has the right to choose whether to continue to receive the service. The consumers can choose any product of any brand that gives him more satisfaction.
(d) Right to seek redressal : Consumer has the right to get the money back or compensation in the event of loss of money, damage, improper functioning or any other form of exploitation.
(e) Right to represent in the consumer courts : The consumer has the right to seek constitutional remedy against unfair trade practices or exploitation. He/she can go to a court to seek remedy and to get compensation depending on the degree of damage.​​​​​

(i) Illiteracy of the consumers: Most of the consumers are illiterate and ignorant. They cannot differentiate between sub-standard and standard products. They may not know the market prices and their rights and duties. Hence, the sellers often cheat them.
(ii) Limited Competition (Monopoly of the product): Certain products in the market are supplied by a particular company only. Since similar products are not available, people don't have choice and are forced to purchase what is offered with whatever price and quality.
(iii) Limited supply: When there is a shortage of a product in the market, consumers are tempted to rush to get whatever is available at whatever is available at whatever price and quality and can be cheated often.
(iv) Limited information: Sometimes the information gives may be false or incomplete. On certain products, consumers have limited information, which leads to exploitation.

The following factors are responsible for the consumer exploitation:
(i) Limited information - For a correct decision and choice about a product, a consumer needs full information about the price, quality, durability, composition, etc of the product. In the absence of full and correct information, a consumer may get exploited.
(ii) Limited supplies - when the supply of goods is less than their demand, the prices may go high and may also encourage the tendency of hoarding. As a consequence, consumers will get exploited.
(iii) Limited competition - when there is limited competition with regard to production i.e., when producers are few and can control and restrict the supply of a product there is a possibility of manipulation in prices.
(iv) Low literacy - Illiteracy causes ignorance, which leads to exploitation of consumers. The level of awareness in our country is generally low.