Consumer Protection Act 1986 and Initiatives of the Government in Enforcement of the Act

Customers, Consumers and Clients all over the world are demanding quality goods and services for the value of money they spend. There is a great impact on quality, safety and availability of variety goods of and services due to advancement of technology. But consumers are still targeted by the traders and service providers by their unfair trade practices. Consumer related problems are high in a developing country like India because of high rate of poverty, unemployment and low rate of literacy. Hence consumers have not played a major role in the consumer movement which helps to safe guard and strengthen the rights of the consumers. But the state has played a major role to protect the rights of the consumers through legislation, policies, schemes, rules etc right from ancient days. This article brings out the historical view point of consumerism from ancient period to modern era. It also analyzes the various enactments of laws related to consumer protection in India and briefly describes the framework of Indian Consumer Protection Act (COPRA). Finally it highlights the various initiatives taken by the government as national action plan for successful enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act, consumer awareness and redressal of consumer grievances.