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National Seminar on

‘Consumer Justice, Market and Globalization’

in Collaboration with Department of Public Administration, Utkal University

(13 - 14 Feb., 2016)

The National Seminar on “Consumer Justice, Market and Globalization”

was organised by the Centre for Consumer Studies, IIPA in collaboration with the

Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Odisha on

February 13- 14, 2016 in the P.G. Council Hall, Utkal University. The Seminar was

sponsored by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India.

Researchers from different parts of India, members from Non-Governmental

Organizations, media persons, legal professionals and students of Public

Administration and other streams participated in the Seminar. Altogether 151

participants were present.

Prof. Ranjan Bal, Chairman, P.G.Council of Utkal University presided over

the inaugural session. Professor Niranjan Pani extended a hearty welcome to the

guests and participants of the seminar. Introducing the guests Dr. S Tripathy, Head

of the Department said, keeping in view the volatile condition of consumers in a

globalized market economy we need to sensitize them with a proper perspective.

Dignitaries on the Dias

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The chief Guest, Prof. Sri

Krishnadeva Rao, Vice Chancellor,

National Law Institute University, Odisha

highlighted on proper implementation of

the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The

Guest of Honour, Sri Suresh Misra, Chair

Professor, Consumer Affairs, IIPA, New

Delhi strongly said all stakeholders need to

play a proactive role in protecting the

rights of the consumers. Sri Bipin Bihari

Mishra, Chairman, IIPA, Odisha Chapter,

argued for a proactive state for the sake of

the protection of the consumers. Around

30 research papers were presented in six

technical sessions of the Seminar.

Technical Session – I Theme: Globalisation, Market and the Consumer

The first technical session was chaired by Prof. Anup Kumar Das, Prof. in

Sociology. The main resource person for this session was Prof. S.N. Mishra, an

Economist. The session primarily discussed the theoretical construct on consumer

justice conception and its intersection with market driven globalisation. Six papers

Release of book by dignitaries in the Seminar

Prof. Sri Krishnadeva Rao, Vice Chancellor, National Law Institute University, Odisha

addressing the participants

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were enlisted for presentation. The entire discussion focused on three main issues.

First one dealt with the historical roots of Consumer justice in India. It pointed out

how the shape of consumer justice evolved in Indian traditions and its relationship

with ethics and accountability. In this regard the paper presented by Jasneet Kaur

was found to be relevant. She discussed that an attempt to protect consumer

protection measures such as laws, acts and schemes are not recent phenomena.

Instead it has its deep roots in ancient Indian civilization which dates back to 3200

B.C. At that age emphasis was given to ethical trade practices and welfare of

consumers.

The second dimension examined the limitations associated with emancipatory

conception like justice and its relationship with consumer. Such an attempt was

conceptually explored by Jyotirmayee Tudu. She argued that the conceptualisation

of consumer justice needs to be viewed more than legality. In this market driven

society it is believed that consumer is solely responsible for his or her activities but

this limits the broader scope of justice. Rather there is a need for an exploration

towards diverse and group based interpretations of justice. In this direction two other

papers were supplemented with an empirical enquiry. The paper presented by Aditya

Misra focused on how globalisation of market affected markets of indigenous tribal

communities. He even emphasised on the fact that new sellers are also exploited by

rich consumers. He made an empirical study of local haat of tribals in Koraput district

of Odisha. Further Bjijaylaxmi Mohanty presented how growing consumerist culture

has emerged as a growing concern for gender justice.

Participant presenting a paper on Globalisation, Market and the Consumer

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The third dimension represented the vulnerability concern of consumer

especially in India. In this regard some of the paper presenters Debleena Biswas,

S.N.Misra, Ravi Bhatia, Seema Mallick shared that how market driven globalisation

created concern for consumers in India. They made an attempt to trace the genesis

of globalization & its impact from different perspectives on a developing country like

India, evolution of consumer protection movement & acts and their impact. The

efficacy of the present bill will be examined to protect consumer vulnerability. Some

discussions were also made on the role of government initiated consumer

awareness and programmes.

The above presentations finally came to an agreement that there is a broader

role of the state in streamlining the consumer justice awareness and to facilitate civil

society activism to ensure the same.

Technical Session –II Theme: Consumer Law and Policy

Technical Session –II on Consumer Law and Policy was a post-lunch

session. Sri Satya Sundar Tripathi Chaired the session and Prof. Leon Miller was

the Co-Chairperson of the session. In his key note address, Sri Tripathi gave

emphasis on dynamics of Consumer Law and Policy. The main resource person for

this session as Justice Hrudaya Ballav Dash.

One of the speakers, Hon’ble Retd. Judge Hrudaya Ballav Dash was of the

opinion that landscape of Consumer Law and Policy is extremely complex. Duped

depositors are unable to get relief from the consumer fora due to the avoidable

technicalities. Three tier quasi judicial machineries of Consumer Protection Act

hardly come to the rescue. Less emphasis should be made on procedural laws like

C.P.C., Cr.P.C and Indian Evidence Act. Rather emphasis should be on good

conscience. The Hon’ble High Courts play pivotal role in ensuring consumer justice.

Prof. Leon Miller made an informative presentation laying great emphasis on

the spirit of critical enquiry in the consumer movement. In his article, he explained

the social and economic significance of the convergence between social marketing

and public administration. To him, convergence has created a social marketing

strategy for democratizing value creation. In his view, the aforesaid step empowers

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public administrators who may integrate public resources in order to maximize

benefits to all. Application of the concept empowers public administrators for

integrating the concepts of social value and economic value to increase social

capital and overall human wellbeing. Ph.D Scholar from IIT Madras, Sandhya

Narayanan had discussed about the mobile application (APP) usage in India at

length. To her, companies use apps to harness and amass vast quantities of

customer data for their respective brisk business. Her study aimed at addressing the

gap in customer knowledge for a more personal and secure use of mobile apps.

Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak highlighted on the need of greater awareness of the

consumers about their rights. In his opinion, ignorance on the part of the consumers

has given birth to exploitation. And the harassment continues because of the fact

that ignorant consumer fails to use the consumer protection Act as a weapon to fight

out exploitation perpetrated by unholy traders, manufactures and sellers as well as

service providers. He is sure that the prevailing consumer protection Act would help

to strengthen the hands of the consumers for better justice.

According to Advocate Purusottam Chuli, the prevailing Consumer Protection

Act as well as the well –known adage that ‘consumer is the king’ appears to be a

myth in today’s cyber age. Hence, there is an urgent need for the Consumer Act

needs to be updated. Secondary ticketing, lettings, provision of alternative dispute

resolution, detailed provision for e-commerce transaction should be introduced in the

Act. Everyone is a consumer in one way or another. Hence, there should be

universalization of the consumer movement rather than its compartmentalization.

Technical session- III Theme: Service Sector & the Consumer

The third technical session of the Conference related to the subject “Service

Sector and the Consumer”. A total of five speakers presented their research articles.

At first, Prof. Pratip Kumar Mishra from Khordha presented his paper, talking about

the “Smart Consumer” and the protection available for the consumer through the

legislation of The Consumer Act of India. He threw light on the knowledge and skills

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to be required by the consumer for protecting themselves by using the Act as their

weapon.

The second speaker was Sri Debashis Nanda who spoke on the topic ‘E-

Consumers and E-Consumerism with reference to India’. He elaborated on the topic

as how E-Consumers take the path of E-Consumerism to protect their rights through

his model to reflect E-Consumer needs. He also informed about the websites where

complaints can be registered by E-Consumers regarding online sites and different

online transactions.

Third speaker was from Kolkata Ms. Aditi Bhowmick from IGNOU ,an expert

on Media and Consumer. Her topic was “Media’s commitment to Consumer

interests” and she focused on the role of media to educate the consumer and how a

consumer can use media as the ‘Watch-dog” to protect the consumer from

manipulative practices by companies. Dr Biswapriya Jena enlightened the audience

with the benefits availed by the consumer on the evolution of e-commerce

mechanism. Prof Dr. Ved Pal Singh Deswal from Rohtak, Haryana spoke on Food

and its purity, standardisation and quality. He emphasised that the State should

ensure appropriate measures to control, regulate, check the companies selling food

and they should be brought under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

One of the participants presenting paper in third technical session

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The session ended with the Chairperson Prof. Richa Agarwal summing up all

the facts discussed during this technical session.

Day Two: Feb 14, 2016 Technical Session-IV Theme: Problem of Rural Consumers

The session commenced with the inaugural address of Prof. Gitanjali Dash

who spoke about “Globalisation and Rural Women Consumers”. She highlighted the

plight of the Women consumers in rural areas and the urgency to educate the rural

women so that they would not be exploited and cheated by the

retailers/shopkeepers. The paper “The Rural Consumer and the Dynmics of

Consumerism” by Dr. Moushumi Pattnaik, Lecturer, P.G. Department of Political

Science, Shailabala Women’s College, Cuttack, gave special emphasis on the

causes of the exploitation of the rural consumers and suggested that to bring rapid

awareness among the rural consumers, about their consumers’ right, government

should involve the Gram Panchayat functionaries, NGOs and Civil Society.

Presenting his paper entitled “Growing Consumerism Impacting Rural

Consumer Behaviour in the era of Globalisation” Mr. Pramod Kumar Roy, Lecturer,

Department of Political Science of L.B. College, Angalo, Jajpur, briefed about the

current conflicting relations between the rural consumers and the globalised market

dynamics and in long run how it has induced rural consumers in facing different

Prof. Gitanjali Dash addressing the session on Globalisation and Rural Women Consumer

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types of market threat and exploitation. He also meticulously analysed the different

problems of the consumers and suggested that the Government must review the

existing consumer’s protection policy measures and should devise an effective

consumer protection mechanism through a multi-stake holder approach involving,

the government machinery, local governing institutions, civil society organisations,

market agents and the people who are at the receiving end.

While presenting his paper entitled “Problems of Rural Consumers”, Mr.

Shashank Shekhar Panigrahi explained in detail about the exploitation of the

Corporate Sector over the rural consumers and he also explained the different

provision of the Consumer Protection Act. 1986 and the subsequent amendment of

2002 and its impact over the consumers. Ms. Rashmi Rekha Das, Junior Research

Fellow, Department of Public Administaration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar,

presented a paper on “Problem of Rural Consumers and their Empowerment in

Odisha” where Ms. Das made an in-depth study of the problem faced by the rural

consumers in particular reference to the province of Odisha and also provided

certain remedial measures to overcome these difficulties.

In his paper, entitled “Globalisation and Challenges before Rural Consumers”

Dr. Suresh Prasad Sarangi, Lecturer in Political Science, of P.S. Degree College,

Deogaon , Bolangir discussed about the different challenges faced by the rural

consumers after globalisation and also analysed a number of specific measures to

be taken for the protection of the interest of the consumers. Presenting on “A Study

on Issues and Challenges faced by Rural Consumers with Special Reference to

Keonjhar District” Ms. Vijayeta Priyadarshini, Lecturer in Home Science, Government

Women’s College, Keonjhar, highlighted the different dimensions of purchasing

patterns of rural consumers and she also revealed the various problems faced by the

rural consumers in the remote areas of Keonjhar district with some remedial

measures.

The last paper was presented by Dr. Sabita Harichandan, Reader in Political

Science, of BJB (Autonomous) College, Bhubaneswar, and her paper dealt with the

various short-comings of the present Consumer Act. She also stressed on the fact

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that to coup with the present situation and to safeguard the interest of the consumers

the old laws should be replaced with a fresh new amendment.

Finally, the session came to an end with the remarks of the Co-Chairman

Prof. Navneeta Rath, Department of Sociology, Utkal University, who spoke about

the real issues behind the rural consumers and the major factors responsible for the

failure of the consumer movement particularly in rural India.

Technical Session-V Theme: Consumer Education and the Role of Media

In the beginning of the session Prof. S. N Mishra, Retd, Professor,

Department of Pol. Science, Utkal University, highlighted on the significance of the

sub-theme Consumer Education and the Role of Media and pointed out that

Media is the fourth estate of democracy which play a pioneering role in safeguarding

citizen’s interest in democracy. Media, both Print and Electronics, is an effective

means of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) for sensitization of

customer about market fraud and deception and consumer rights. It is a forum,

where discussion about prevailing market situation and prices of product, both

consumable and durable are discussed, where common consumer along with

experts express their view.

The Co-Chairperson, Sri Nilambar Rath in his deliberation emphasized on

Role of Media in Protection of Consumer Rights. He pointed out that the key

objectives of media are to inform, educate and entertain the masses. New and social

media give a new dimension to the field of media. He opined that we need to

highlight on target audience, extent of outreach, audience engagement, amount of

time spent by the audience and impact of media on target audience. He also

emphatically expressed that consumer awareness is not the sole and whole role of

media.

Dr. Aliva Mohanty, faculty, SWS, Utkal University in her paper “Portrayal of

Women on Television: An Assessment by the Television Viewers of Odisha”

highlighted that the media scenario in India is both dynamic and vibrant. The most

important media in the diffusion and reinforcement of cultural values and norms in

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India is the audio-visual media. The media have played pluralistic role in the image

construction of woman. Woman has entered into media into several ways through (a)

advertisements, (b) serials, (c) articles, (d) fiction, and (e) news reporting. Yet, her

presentation, directly or indirectly, is dominantly through her looks, body and its

management. The contemporary media reveal not merely projection of what is going

on in the society but have created role models for the emerging woman. Absence of

more women than men in decision making positions in media organizations has led

to an illusion of the true role of women in the society.

The 2nd paper presenter was Mr.

Abakash Sahoo, Research Associate, ICSSR

Major Research Project, Political Science, Utkal

University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In his paper

“Media Sensitization for Consumer protection”

he pointed out that Media highlights and

exposes brand and product that does not

comply to certain trade practice ethos and rules.

Besides, awareness, sensitization and

consumer education, Consumers also get

opportunity to ventilate their problems and view

point through special discussion in electronic

media and through letter to editor in print media.

He also emphasized on the fact that media alone

facilitates a more accountable and responsible

consumer friendly culture.

The 3rd paper presenter was Pradyot Ranjan Rout, Research Scholar in the

P.G. Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In

his paper “Consumers’ safety in India changing financial state of affairs” he focused

on the fact that the consumer is considered to be the king of the market. Customers

in India are ready to buy any product offered to them by Indian companies but they

have also learnt to question the quality of goods. Consumer Protection Act provides

better safety to the consumers and it also provides a three-tier redressal mechanism

One of the paper presenters

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for quick settlement of grievances of consumers. And lastly he emphasized on the

role of state in the awareness and safety of consumers.

The 4th paper presenter Magadha Maithyeli Jena, Research Scholar in the

P.G.Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in

her paper “Protection of Consumer rights : Role of Government and Media” pointed

out that the protection of consumer rights is a priority of the government. She also

threw some light on certain aspects of Consumer Protection Act. She considers

media as a platform of public to input their problems. She discussed about the State

government focusing on the largest consumer generation scheme.

it can be concluded that through the machinery of media, the information

regarding various policies of consumer rights has reached from urban to rural and

the entire world scenario.

Technical Session-VI Theme: Consumer Movement and Role of NGOs

The session started with the chairperson introducing the theme in a lucid

manner stating the urgency of consumer movement with the active involvement of

CBOs and NGOs. Jagabandhu Sahu in his paper "Consumer Movement in India:

Issues and Challenges”, gave a historical account of consumer movements in India

and stressed on the need to convert consumer movements into a social movement

for asserting the rights of the consumer. The role of consumer organisations is vital

in this regard. Kshirod Kumar Moharana's paper on "Role of Voluntary Organisations

in Ensuring Consumer Justice" reflected critically on VCOs mentoring consumers to

seek justice . He harped on consumer education to form a part of the curriculum in

schools and colleges.

Subhalaxmi Sahani discussed at length the various publications of consumer

organisations aimed at enlightening the consumer in her paper “The role of NGOs in

Consumer Movements in India”. She was vociferous about the role of consumer

councils and VCOs to check pilferage in fair price shops and that multidimensional

research covering consumer subjects would be an essential step in generating

consumer awareness. Prabhat Ku Das focussed on developing consumerism with

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the joint effort of both state and non-state actors. NGOs form a vital link between

corporates and citizens. They educate consumers about exploitation by big

companies and the need to redress their grievances and thus forge consumer

activism. Finally the co-chair Prof Sachidananda Mishra summed up by invoking the

utilitarian premise of greatest good of the greatest number with regard to the

consumers in the contemporary transnational market system.

Valedictory Session

The National Seminar came to an end with the valedictory session on 14th

February afternoon. The session was chaired by Justice Hrudaya Ballav Dash. In

this session rapporteurs of different technical session presented their report. The

chief Guest for the Valedictory Session was Mrs. SashiPrava Bindhani, State

Information Commissioner Mrs. Bindhani, emphasized on Right to Information of

the consumers in globalized economy and urged the consumers to exercise their

power in getting vital information. She spoke emphatically that consumers should

realize their fundamental right to information while buying a product. The key-note

Speaker of the session Prof. Brahmananda Satpathy highlighted on the volatile

condition of the ignorant masses in a market society. Prof. Suresh Mishra

emphatically put forward the need of consumer education and the responsibilities of

the members of civil society to sensitize the ignorant masses. The Session came to

an end with vote of thanks by the Head of the Department Prof. Swarnamayee

Tripathy.

Mrs. SashiPrava Bindhani, State Information Commissioner

delivering the Valedictory Session

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The recommendations of the seminar are as follows; 1. Consumer protection is an area that needs to be promoted in the institutions of

higher education and new areas of research should to be explored. UGC and ICSSR should funds such studies.

2. As part of action research universities and colleges should organise awareness and educational programmes to empower the consumers in their area.

3. In Orissa the level of awareness on consumer rights is very low and therefore such seminars/workshops should be organised in various colleges to educate the consumers

4. The rural consumer needs protection; the enforcement agencies should ensure that spurious and fake products are not flooded in the market.

5. The government should play a more proactive role in consumer empowerment

6. There is a need to strengthen the redressal mechanism particularly THE District Forums.

(Suresh Misra) Programme Coordinator