How serious and conscious is the Indian government towards consumer rights?

Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone idea seems like introducing new postpaid and prepaid packages every other day. It's confusing, to say the least. You don’t know which one is better. You’re confused about the validity. And you have other queries.

(Do you know what will happen when Jio Prime membership expires?)

Now comes the punch line: Did you know you can DEMAND these carriers to explain their plans to you thoroughly? Did you know that consumer education is one of your rights?

Many people don't know about it!

There's a reason why consumers end up being cheated by different companies (or their salesperson). There's a reason why consumer complaints.in is plagued with countless (unaddressed) complaints.

Did these people know about their 'Right to Consumer Education', they might have made better decisions with their purchase or subscription.

Now coming to your question…

The reason that so many Indians do not know about consumer rights (to education, information, be heard, choose, redressal, and more), it's a clear indication of how less the awareness is about the topic in our country.

Now, of course, for this, the government cannot solely be blamed. Fingers must also be pointed out to the NGOs and Civil Societies. But since your question talks about the government, let's stick to that…

(Courtesy: Slideshare)

Answer these questions:

• When was the last time you saw an ad (on TV or phone) on consumer rights? OR, how long has it been since you last saw an ad or mention of "Jaago Grahak Jaago" campaign?

• When was the last time you saw an ad (on TV and phone) about the "achievements" of the Modi government?

Your answers will automatically underline how serious Indian government is towards consumer rights. Not just them… it would also underline how serious the consumers are about their own consumer rights.

15 March is the World Consumer Rights Day. The topic in question remains relevant only one day in the whole year.

• Many still sell milk by mixing water in it.

• Retailers still sell products at more than MRP.

• People at the banks still respond rudely to all.

• No government work is ever complete without a bribe.

• Service providers still manage to mooch more money from consumers.

• We only knew now that "internet handling fees" is supposed to be burdened on BookMyShow and not the consumers.

Indian consumers do not know about their rights. We don't know about our rights. Period.

And the government (past and present) has done very, very less in creating awareness about consumers rights.

(Perhaps because they know we have sold our rights as a citizen wherein questioning and demanding the governments is a social taboo.)

In short, to answer your question, the Indian government is not serious and conscious towards consumers right.

They don’t care, so we don’t care. We don’t care, so they don’t care.

We've learned to live with big potholes on streets (that kill hundreds of people every year). We are learning to live without consumer rights. We will learn to live in "democratic autocracy".