1.

Introduction

1.1 Rise Of Consumer Awareness

In the globalization, liberalization and privatization era, most of the economic decisions
are taken by the market. Though, the government has withdrawn itself from many
economic activities, it interferes very often when the market mechanism fails due to
structural rigidities in the economy and other factors, to provide goods and services
to the people. Consumption is one of the important economic activities, which
requires regular government intervention, as market is unable to promote security
and welfare aspects of the consumers. On the other hand, consumers have to be aware
not only of the commercial aspects of sale and purchase of goods but also of the health
and security aspect also. Besides this, they should be aware of their rights and duties
being as rational human beings.
Though, the first consumer movement began in England after the Second World
War, a modern declaration about the consumers rights was first made in USA in the
year 1962, where four basic consumer rights i.e. Choice, information, safety and right to
be heard were recognized. Ralph Nadar, a consumer activist is considered as the
father of ConsumerMovement. 15th March is now celebrated as the World
Consumer Rights Day. The U.N.O. Also adopted in the year 1985, certain guidelines
to achieve the objectives of maintaining protection for consumers and to establish high
level ethical conduct for those engaged in production and distribution of goods and
services. In India, 24th December is celebrated as Consumers Day every year.

1.2. Objectives of the Study

The Study based on following objectives:
1. To study the level of consumer awareness of the consumers in the study area
2. To make the students habituated about the survey work.
3. To make the students acquainted how different statistical tools can be applied in
different socio-economic problems.

1.3 Meaning of Consumer Awareness

Consumer awareness means awareness of consumers in different aspects of

consumption activities. Consumer awareness is a broader and wider concept. It covers
the followings:
a) Consumer awareness about Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
b) Consumer awareness about Fair Price Shop.
c) Consumer awareness about price, quality and expiry date of the product.
d) Consumer awareness about their rights and duties.
e) Consumer awareness about the certified products like ISI, Agmark, ISO-2000

1.4. Forms of Consumer Exploitation

Consumer exploitation is a type of exploitation in which the consumers are exploited or
cheated by the business community in terms of poor quality of product, underweight,
under-measurement, duplicate articles etc
Some of the common ways by which the consumers are exploited by the business
community are as follows:
1. Underweight and under-measurement
2. Sub-standard quality
3. High prices
4. Duplicate articles
5. Adulteration and impurity
6. Lack of safety devices
7. Artificial scarcity
8. False and incomplete information
9. Unsatisfactory after sale services

10. Rough behavior

1.5. Factors causing exploitation of the Consumers

The following are the factors that cause exploitation of consumers:
1. Limited information
2. Limited supply
3. Limited competition
4. Low literacy