Ajita Gupta
Research Scholar
Department of Home Science
Faculty of Arts
Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University)
Agra – 282005 (U.P.)
Seema Kashyap
Assistant Professor
Department of Home Science
Faculty of Arts
Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University)
Agra – 282005 (U.P.)
Abstract
This study was designed to assess the awareness of rural consumers regarding the legal provisions of consumer interest. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to collect the data from rural consumers residing in the four villages of Jaswant Nagar block of Etawah District, Uttar Pradesh. Data had been collected from 132 respondents through self- constructed questionnaire. The questionnaire was comprised of 41 questions about consumer rights and responsibilities, Quality assurance Marks, Information displayed on the products, Guarantee & Warranty, Consumer Protection Act 1986 and means of Redressal on rural infrastructure level. To analyze the awareness of rural consumers; the statistical techniques of Mean, Standard Deviation and student t-test had been used. Results indicate that the level of consumer awareness is limited in rural people. In today’s changing market scenario, it is necessary to protect the rural consumers by educating about their rights and empowering them to make decisions based on information about the goods and services. Therefore, awareness has to be created among rural consumers to protect them from exploitations and unfair trade practices as well as to educate them about legal provisions which are available to protect their consumer interest.
Keywords: Rural Consumer, Consumer Protection Act 1986, Redressal, Legal Provisions, Consumer Interest.
