15th March: World Consumer Rights Day

The World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is celebrated every year on March 15 to pay solidarity with the international consumer movement and give more attention to promote basic rights of consumers. This year the theme promoted is “Making Digital Marketplaces Fairer”.

Significance of Day

• It provides opportunity to promote the basic rights of all consumers
• Demand those rights that must be respected and protected for those protesting against the market abuses and social injustices.
• ‎It gives chance to protest against the market abuses and social injustices which undermine those rights.

Background

The World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) commemorates the historic address given by the then US President John F Kennedy to the US congress on this day in 1962. In his historic address he had outlined the definition of consumer rights for the first time. He was the first world leader to formally define ‘consumer rights’. The first WCRD was observed on 15 March 1983 and has since become an important occasion for mobilizing citizen action. In 2017, WCRD was observed with the theme “Building a Digital World Consumers can Trust”.
Note: In India, 24th December is observed as National Consumer Day. On this day in 1986, Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the President. Moreover, Government (Ministry of Consumer Affairs) runs Jago Grahak Jago” one of the strongest campaigns for addressal and protection of consumer rights in India. It literally translates into, “wake up consumers”!

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2018