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.

Consumers are exploited in the market in a number of ways. Individual consumers often find themselves in a difficult situation to protect their interests. Certain rules and regulations are, therefore, required for the markets to work in a fair manner, where the producers are few and powerful and consumers are scattered and purchase in small quantities. Some examples showing exploitation of consumers are:
(a) Sometimes traders indulge in unfair trade practices such as underweight and under measurement, adulteration, hoarding etc. Adulteration in vegetable oils, spices, milk, ghee etc. are common during the festive seasons.
(b) Whenever a complaint regarding goods or service is made, the seller tries to shift all the responsibility on the buyer.
(c) Producers may create artificial scarcity by hoarding so as to sell the products at a higher price and maximize their profits such as cereals, vegetables, food grains etc. are stored by the wholesaler and released in the market after a long time.

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.

Yes, indeed there is a great need for acquiring the knowledge and skill to become a well-informed consumer. If we, as consumers, becomes conscious of our right while making a purchase of various goods and services, we will certainly be able to discriminate between good or bad, right or wrong and thereby succeed in making informed choices, based on correct decisions. For this, one has to acquire the knowledge and skill to become a well-informed, so that no one succeeds in exploiting us.
In this area, the government has enacted the Consumer Protection Act (COPRA) and thereby set up separate departments of consumer affairs at the central and state levels. Government is trying hard to make the consumers aware through various campaigns like Jago Grahak Jago and meaningful advertisements on the TV. Channels. Thus, the consumer has a pivotal role to play, only if he is well-informed and fully aware.

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) The transformation of markets in recent years has come because of legal institutions helping consumers in getting compensation and upholding their rights as consumers.
(ii) The awareness of being a well-informed consumer which arose out of consumer movement has also shifted the responsibility of ensuring quality of goods and services on the sellers.
(iii) The producers in the market need to strictly follow the required safety rules and regulations. The manufacturer in the market is now required to display information about the ingredients used, price, batch number, date of manufacture, expiry date and the address of the manufacturer.
For example, pressure cookers have safety valves and manufacturers have to ensure its high quality. While buying medicines the 'directions for use' and information relating to side effects and risk associated with its usage are to be mentioned on the packets.

(i) Consumers are exploited in a number of ways in the market. Individual consumers often find themselves difficult to protect their interests. Therefore, rules and regulations are required to protect the interest of consumers.
(ii) Sometimes traders indulge in unfair trade practices such as underweight and under measurement, adulteration, hoarding etc.
(iii) Whenever a complaint regarding goods or service is made, the seller tries to shift all the responsibility on to the buyer.
(iv) Certain rules and regulations are required for the markets to work in a fair manner when producers are few and powerful whereas consumers purchase in small amounts and are scattered.
(v) 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 been making false claims.
(vi) Similarly, a long battle had to be 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.
(vii) It took many years for organizations in India, and around the world, to create awareness amongst people. This has also shifted the responsibility of ensuring quality of goods and services on the sellers.
(viii) 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 interests of consumers at large. A major step taken in 1986 by the Indian government was the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act 1986, popularly known as COPRA.
(ix) There are today more than 700 consumer groups in the country.