Consumers, Consumerism and Consumer Protection : Indian Context
Contents: Foreword. Preface. List of contributors. Acronyms used. 1. Consumer, consumerism and consumer protection: an introduction/K.N. Bhatt, Suresh Misra and Sapna Chadah. I. Consumer rights and responsibilities: 2. Consumer protection in India in a regime of consumption: some unresolved issues/Lalit Joshi. 3. Towards a self-reliant Indian consumer: problems in perspective/T. Ravidhandran. 4. Consumerism and the liability rules: economics perspective/P.M. Prasad. 5. Consumerism a way of life/Phillip D. II. Consumer Protection Act and Role of Adjudicatory Bodies: 6. Dimensions of consumer protection in India/S.S. Singh. 7. Consumer protection in India: an overview/Rais Ahmad, Mohd. Awais and Madhav Goel. 8. Consumer protection in the banking sector/Sheetal Kapoor. 9. Regulating competition in India/Savita Hanspal. III. Service Sector and the Consumer: 10. Consumerism and consumer behaviour in service economy: the changing face of the Indian consumer/Umashankar Venkatesh. 11. Consumer is the loser: random examples analyzed/Shamim Ahmad. 12. Food safety and consumer protection in India: a policy analysis/Jabir Ali and Tribhuvan Nath. 13. Role of FICCI Alliance for Consumer Care (FACC) in protection of consumers/Amit Chatterjee. IV. Medical negligence and the consumer: 14. Medical Negligence and Consumer Protection Act, 1986/Sapna Chadah. 15. Medical negligence -- the changing scenario, under Indian law/Rakesh Khanna. 16. Medical negligence: role of patient consent in operating procedures/Kavita Sripat Agarwal and Rahul Sripat. 17. Denying obstetrics health care services to pregnant women: is this medical negligence?/Surya Bali. 18. The law of medical negligence in England: lessons for India/V.P. Tiwari. Index.
“Consumerism has become an all pervasive term meaning people’s search for getting better value for their money. In the era of globalisation the service sector is expanding and the products are becoming more complicated and the sellers are evolving into large entities. In a situation like this the consumers are unable to protect themselves. This has led to universal emphasis on consumer protection and consumer welfare. No doubt there are laws to protect the consumers yet an alert consumer, aware of his rights and responsibilities, can not only protect himself but can also make consumer sovereignty a reality.
The present volume is a collection of theme papers of a National Seminar on “Consumer Protection in India: Problems and Prospects” organized by Centre for Consumer Studies, IIPA and G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. Based on specific themes, the book is divided into four sections. The papers are written by well known academicians, researchers and consumers activists. The papers review the present status and draw lessons for developing a strategy for strengthening the consumer movement in the country.
The book will prove useful to academicians, researchers, policy makers and all those who are interested in strengthening the consumer movement.” (jacket)
