12

Chapter

Consumer Education
and Protection

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter the learner will be able to —
zz understand the importance and role of Consumer Education and
Protection
zz explain the basic concepts related to Consumer Education and
Protection
zz analyse the knowledge and skills needed for a career in this field
zz understand the scope and career options.

Introduction
All of us purchase a variety of goods and services to satisfy our needs and
desires. Hence, every human is a natural consumer. Have you, your parents
or friend experienced any problem where, even after paying for the goods,
you found that the quality was not as per your expectations for the price
paid or the quantity supplied was less than what was promised? Did you
pay for some services which appeared attractive in the advertisement but
in reality fell far short of the image portrayed? Under such circumstances
what was your reaction? Did you feel frustrated and cheated? What did you
222
do? Did you take any action, draw attention of the manufacturer/service

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 provider to the problem you experienced? Did they give you a hearing and
take any kind of corrective measures? Were you satisfied? If not, did you
feel that the situation could have been better if you had some support? Let
us try to find answers to these questions.

Unit V - Resource Management

You have already learnt in Class XI about family finance management
incorporating money income, its management, savings and investment,
credit and also realised how important it is to get maximum satisfaction
on spending each penny that you earn. Consumer education teaches you
to be an efficient and alert consumer.

Significance of Consumer Education

and Protection
Look around and you will find that the number of products being
manufactured and sold is steadily increasing in both urban and rural
markets. We are all aware that manufacturers are responsible for supplying
good quality products and if there is a problem, consumers have the right
to redressal. Manufacturers can no longer take consumers/customers for
granted. With increasing number of consumers and volume of consumption
of goods and services, manufacturers/suppliers/service providers have
begun to realise that it is important to respect and satisfy the ‘consumer’,
since the reputation of the company and its profits are determined by
consumer opinion. India has been transforming from an underdeveloped to
a developing economy. Much of this can be attributed to industrialisation
and globalisation. These economic changes have improved the standard of
living along with increased buying power. We are living in a ‘global village’
and facing the challenges of global markets. The march towards ‘global
economy’ necessitates a global outlook on the part of consumers who
cannot sit back and watch. They have to emerge as a progressive force to
ensure their welfare. They have to understand the economic system and
inter relationships of individuals with each other, with business and with
government. It is necessary for today’s consumer to be careful, alert and
be well informed. Consumer education and protection have thus become
important.
Further, the Indian government has become liberal and opened the
doors to foreign companies. Thus we can see a variety of products, made
by multinationals that have established their manufacturing/assembly
units in India or imported items, on the shelves of many stores. This
has advantages but, at the same time, there are disadvantages. On the
positive side the Indian consumer has much to choose from and can look
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 for better products with competitive pricing. The disadvantage of having
a large array of products is that choosing the right product is now more
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

difficult since one has to understand new technology, new products and
new features. One has to compare the price and quality, in order to be
able to make an informed decision, especially because consumers face
problems such as malpractices, exploitation by unscrupulous sellers,
misleading advertisements, making it important for each one of us to be
wise consumers.

Basic Concepts
Let us first briefly examine the word ‘consumer’. We can define Consumers
as the final buyers of goods and services, for the satisfaction of their
personal needs and wants, ranging from products of nature to products
and/or services from the market. Consumers are the primary component
of a socio-economic system since every human being who is a consumer
to a smaller to larger extent would like to have a good standard of living.
Hence as purchasing power increases, people tend to purchase products
that will give comfort, satisfaction and as a symbol of prestige, contributing
to increasing number of ‘consumer footfalls’. The more people buy,
more money comes into the market/system and thus contributes to the
development and growth of the country’s economy.
Let us acquaint ourselves with a few other relevant terms:
Consumer product: The term means any article, produced or distributed
for sale to a consumer for personal or family use in one’s home or in
an institution e.g., school, hospital, college, office, etc., or for business
purposes.
Consumer behaviour: It is a process through which the buyer makes
decisions about purchasing.
Consumer forum: A place/organisation where consumers can discuss
consumer products/services and their advantages and disadvantages.
Some forums work as advocacy groups that seek to protect consumers
and help them address problems faced vis-a-vis consumer products.
Consumer footfalls: This means the number of customers/consumers
who visit any given space such as a store or a mall. Thus with increasing
consumption in a country, consumer footfalls are higher. Fig. 20.1
summarises what a customer expects when s/he buys either a product or
service.

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 Reasonable Appropriate/Adequate
price information

Unit V - Resource Management

Correct weights Genuine goods,
and measures articles/services
Consumer
Expects

Ethics in Sales and

Quality products
Promotion

Purity of products

Fig. 20.1: Consumers’ expectations while purchasing goods

However, many a times consumers face problems because the

manufacturers/service providers may be unable to fulfill all expectations,
some of them may cheat and many consumers do not take manufacturers/
retailers to task for shoddy products, high prices, adulteration, faulty
weights and measures and/or are unaware of various protection measures.
It is important to know about these problems so that one can ensure that
one is not cheated. It is universally recognised that the level of consumer
awareness and protection is an indicator of a country’s development
and progress. Let us now look at some of the major problems faced by
consumers.
1. Substandard/poor quality goods: Various manufacturers can make
the same product such as large multinational corporations, local
Indian manufacturers and some may be imported from other
countries. However, the material used may be different and the
product quality may also vary, making it difficult for a consumer to
identify a poor quality product. Many consumers are ignorant about
quality standards.
2. Adulteration: Adulteration may be intentional or unintentional. A
substance is said to be adulterated when some substances are either
added to or removed from a product. Consequently the composition,
nature or quality is altered. Adulteration is a serious problem not
only because it is exploitative but because it can cause harm to
health and safety of the consumer. 225

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 3. High Prices: Every consumer expects that s/he will be charged a
fair price for a product. However, we must bear in mind that prices
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

are influenced by government policy, availability, quality, delivery

system, market location, method of distribution, costs of promotion,
method of purchase and consumer’s desire for convenience. Despite
this, some consumers tend to relate price to quality of an item,
though it is not necessary. Prices of same quality goods may
vary because of high/low cost of production, overhead expenses,
advertising etc. Some suppliers may overcharge when they find that
the customer is not well informed and lacks knowledge.
4. Lack of Consumer Information: Most consumers are unaware of their
rights and responsibilities and do not know the various legislative
provisions that have been made to protect them.
5. Inadequate or Erroneous Information given by Manufacturer: This
includes:
zz Labels of most products are not factually correct, some are
deceptive and misleading. Most labels fail to give complete
essential information and often use terminologies which a
common consumer is unable to understand.
zz Advertisements are not informative and are limited in their ability
to answer many essential questions about qualities or uses of
the product. Seldom advertisements do focus on features, care
and maintenance, after sales service, etc.
zz There is a lack of buying guides on consumer durables and non-
durables to aid the consumer in decision-making.
zz Packaging is being used as a potent marketing tool. Attractive
packages persuade consumers to make impulsive purchases.
At times the container used for packing products is larger than
the contents. Many a times several layers of expensive packing
material is used. Manufacturers repackage existing products
into attractive looking and novel shapes of packs and advertise
the product to be “in a new pack”, although the product quality is
the same. However, the consumer is enticed by the new packing.
6. Incorrect Weights and Measures: The consumer sometimes ends up
getting less quantity than what he pays for due to incorrect weights
and measures. This is because either the weights and scales are
altered by the retailers or correct measures are incorrectly used.
Measures are often deceptive and exploit consumers of their money.
Weights and measures without seal or verification stamp are not
genuine.
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 7. Spurious /Duplicate/ Imitation Products: Consumers are confused
and cheated by spurious and substandard products, duplicates of
well known brands, some having similar packaging, colour scheme
and similar sounding brand names. Often such imitations are of
poor quality and may be injurious and unsafe to use.

Unit V - Resource Management

8. Sales Promotion Schemes to Entice the Consumer: Indian market is
flooded with a plethora of products. Companies, national as well
as multinational, are competing with one another to capture larger
market share. To do so, they come out with several sales promotion
schemes like exchange offers, bonus, lucky draws etc. Such means
of sales promotion are not always genuine and deceive the consumer.
Consumers tend to get swayed by these enticing sales promotion
gimmicks and fall prey to them.
9. Consumer Problems with regards to services: Consumers face
problems not only with regards to consumption of products of daily
use but they also face grievances when they use a wide variety of
services. This includes services provided by public utilities such
as MCD, water, electricity, banks, Insurance and other financial
institutions. There are poor after sales services provided to the
consumers. The provider of the services do not deliver what they
promise under the sales contract.

Activity 1
Interview five people in your locality and find out the consumer
problems faced by them. Find out what actions they took to solve
those problems. Make a list of problems faced and actions taken,
and discuss in the class.

Eco-friendly Production and Green Consumption Sustainability is

the buzz word these days. It is essentially related to the production and
consumption system. Green marketing provides consumers with products
that are more in tune with nature, which creates less waste products, uses
few raw materials and saves other resources.
In order to effectively deal with the onslaught of clever and deceptive
market interests, marketing strategies and other problems, consumers
need to be aware and educated about their rights, responsibilities and
protection mechanisms. Consumer Education and Protection are thus
tools which empower and equip consumers to protect themselves from
adverse market forces. In addition, they help the consumers understand
legislation and policy matters which would directly have a bearing on their
rights and choices as consumers. 227

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 The Government of India
has accepted, established and
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

enshrined six consumer rights

under the Consumer Protection
Act (CPA)1986. There are four
basic rights— (i) right to safety,
(ii) right to be informed, (iii) right
to choose and (iv) right to be
heard. Two additional rights are-
right to redressal and right to
education. Fig. 20.2: Consumer Protection

The Consumer Protection Act is a landmark legislation in the interest

of the consumer. The main function of this Act is to protect consumers
from fraudulent trade practices prevalent in the market place and provide
redressal to them for their grievances. It is based on the principle of self
help and protects consumer against all kinds of exploitation and unfair
dealing. It intends to provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal
to consumers for their grievances. The Act has two implications: First,
it gives the consumer the right to complain to an authority about his/
her grievances and seek speedy redressal. Secondly, consumer can
claim compensation for any loss or injury suffered on account of the
negligence of the manufacturer. It applies to all goods and services unless
otherwise expressly notified by the central government. The Act has made
the consumer movement powerful, broad based, effective and people
oriented.
The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 2019 has recently replaced the three
decade old CPA 1986. The new act proposed some measures and tightens
the existing rules to further safeguard consumer rights. Introduction of
a central regulator, strict penalties for misleading advertisements and
guidelines for e-commerce and electronic service providers are some of the
key highlights. Students can take detailed information on the revised CPA
from the website.
Consumer rights are those rights, which are or should be provided legally
to protect consumer interests. In other words, these are rights designed
to ensure that all consumers obtain goods and services of reasonable
quality, at fair prices. Let us briefly examine what the six rights under the
Consumer Protection Act cover:
1. Right to Safety: This refers to the right to be protected against
hazardous effect that may be caused to the health/life of a consumer.
This right specifies that the consumer has the right to be protected
against products, production processes and services which are
228 hazardous to health or life.

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 2. Right to be Informed: This means the right to be informed about the
quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods and
services, so as to protect the consumers against unfair trade practices.
3. Right to Choose: This implies that every buyer has the right to have

Unit V - Resource Management

access to products of varying quality and quantities, prices, size and
design, at competitive prices, and to choose according to his needs
and wants.
4. Right to be heard: The right to be heard means that consumers’
interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums. It also
includes the right to be represented in various forums that are working
to ensure consumer welfare. To enable consumers to exercise this
right, both the state and voluntary agencies are expected to provide
such forums.
5. Right to seek redressal: Every consumer has the right to seek redressal
against unfair trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation. It also
includes the right to fair settlement of genuine grievances. It involves
the right to receive compensation for faulty goods and services.
6. Right to Consumer Education: This refers to every person’s right to
acquire knowledge and skill to be an informed consumer, so that s/he
will be able to make wise decisions while purchasing goods and hiring
services. This right implies that the consumer should be educated
enough to be able to solve the problem himself.

Activity 2
Divide the class into two groups. Group A will deal with consumer
rights and Group B with consumer responsibilities.
Group A: Talk to three people in your locality and find out the extent
of their knowledge about consumer rights.
Group B: Talk to three people in your locality and find out awareness
about consumer responsibilities among them.
Discuss your findings in the class and suggest what can be done to
increase awareness about consumer rights.

Another mechanism of consumer protection is through standardisation

marks. Consumers must purchase products with standardisation mark to
ensure the quality/purity of the product. It is important for the consumer
to know about different standard marks and the products covered under
them. Standardisation is a prime requisite for attaining quality. Let us
229
learn more about these standard marks.

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 ISI Mark: This is the certification mark of Bureau
of Indian Standards (BIS), earlier called the Indian
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

Standards Institution (ISI). Under this scheme, licences

are issued to manufacturers whose goods meet the
relevant standards. Indian standards cover food items
such as vegetables, fruits and meat products, spices
and condiments, processed foods, cereal and soya
Fig. 20.3: ISI mark
products, candies and beverages etc. Other products
covered by with the BIS standards include electrical goods, soaps,
detergents, paints, paper etc. Among the various items covered under the
scheme, some are under mandatory certification.
AGMARK and fruit Product Order (FPO): These standards have been
promulgated by the Government of India. These certificates specifically
pertain to food products. A consumer should look for AGMARK seal before
purchasing any agricultural product as it ensures product reliability. FPO
lays down statuary minimum standards in respect of quality of various
fruits and vegetable products, and processing facilities. FPO also lays limits
on metallic contaminants and preservatives for different fruit products.

          
FPO mark Agmark Silk mark Woolmark

Fig. 20.4: Standardisation marks

Wool-mark: Wool-mark is the standard mark of quality of the International

Wool Secretariat for wool or woolen garments. It indicates that the
wool is pure and the marked garment is not made of other fibers but only
pure wool.
The Silk Mark: is a quality assurance label for the assurance of pure silk
and in addition serves as a brand for generic promotion of pure silk. Silk
Mark ensures ‘100% natural silk’.
Hallmark: It indicates that the precious metals
such as platinum, silver and gold articles have
been evaluated and tested at an official Assaying
and Hallmarking Centre and they have certified
that the metal used conforms to the national/
international standard of fineness/purity. Fig. 20.5: BSI Hallmark

Ecomark Scheme: BIS operates the Ecomark scheme for labeling of

230 household consumer products such as soaps and detergents, paper,
packaging material, plastic products, etc. The logo for Ecomark scheme

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 is an earthern pot which signifies that this product
is environment friendly and does not produce any
hazardous waste, is biodegradable and can be
recycled. Fig. 20.6: Ecomark
FSSAI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority

Unit V - Resource Management

of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food
Safety and Standards Act 2006. This lays down
science based standards for articles of food and to
regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution Fig. 20.7: FSSAI mark
and sale to ensure the availability of same for human consumption.
Apart from statutory, semi-government and non-government bodies
looking after consumer interests like Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and
Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI), Government of India, there
are Protection Councils set up by the government at central and state levels.
Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s)/voluntary consumer
organisations play an important role in consumer education and protection
due to their non-partisan interests. They also disseminate information
through their magazines, booklets, newsletters, buying guides, audio visual
material and research reports. Many consumer organisations are engaged
in comparative testing of products, creating consumer awareness about
harmful and unsafe products, product recalls, disseminating information
about new legislative provisions for consumers, legal advice and advocacy,
handling consumer grievances and complaints and acting as vigilance
groups. They hold public meetings and have libraries and documentation
centres, and play an important role in consumer awareness, empowerment
and consumer movement. In India we have several consumer organisations
bringing out publications in the interest of the consumer. VOICE, a Delhi
based consumer organisation, brings out ’Consumer Voice’, CERC, an
Ahmedabad based consumer organisation, brings out ‘Insight’. Similarly,
the Consumers Union in the US brings out ‘Consumer Reports’; Consumer
Association in UK brings out ‘Which’ and the Australian Consumers
Association brings out ‘Choice’.
Every human being has not only rights but also responsibilities. You
may have heard some people speak of ‘rights and responsibilities’, clearly
indicating that both go hand in hand. Thus in order to be able to exercise
one’s right it is necessary to be aware of one’s duty. As consumers therefore,
we need to be aware of our responsibilities. Consumer responsibilities are:
1. Consumers should have responsibility towards regularly updating
their knowledge of various laws and legislative provisions made by
the government.
2. Consumers should be honest in all their dealings and must pay for 231
all their purchases.

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 3. Before making a purchase, consumers should do a market survey
to find out the different brands, features etc. of items available in
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

different shops and different markets and should compare the prices.
This will help them make a wise choice.
4. Consumers should feel free to choose from the variety available as
per their needs and requirements.
5. While making a purchase, s/he should read all the information given
on the label/ brochure.
6. To be assured of quality he should buy products with standardisation
marks.
7. Consumer should keep receipts and other relevant documents
of purchase. These may be needed as proof of purchase for filing
complaints in case of problems/defective/malfunctioning products.
8. In case of purchase of services like insurance, credit cards, bank
deposits etc., s/he should read and understand all terms and
conditions, liabilities, service charges etc. and make an effort to get
the representative to clarify points that are not clearly written.
9. S/he must have increasing awareness about various national and
international consumer organisations in terms of their activities,
work and understand the benefits of becoming a member of such
organisations.

Skills Required for Career in Consumer Studies Field

To be successful in the field of consumer studies you need knowledge
about consumer protection mechanisms and redressal agencies but
you also need soft skills like good communication and interpersonal
skills, empathetic and understanding attitude, being a good listener,
being creative in developing programmes, advertisements, talks
etc. for consumer awareness. You should have writing skills for
developing educational material for consumer education, reporting
consumer tests of consumer products and a willingness to help
fellow consumers and public at large.

A person desirous of entering this field as a professional must have

thorough knowledge about quality standards of various kinds of products,
adulteration and detection of adulterants as well as consumer protection
laws, consumer rights and responsibilities.
Several career options in the area of consumer education and
232 protection will be open to you after pursuing courses at the under

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 graduate and post-graduate levels. These programmes aim at creating
an overall awareness and training on Consumer Affairs with special
emphasis on Consumer Protection.
One has the option of doing a degree course in B.Sc. Home Science/

Unit V - Resource Management

B.A. Home Science, B.Sc. Family Resource Management/B.Sc. Home
Management/B.Sc. Resource Management/Bachelor of Business
Adminstration (B.B.A.)/Bachelor of Business studies (B.B.S.), etc. In
different institutions the subject may be called Consumer Studies,
Consumer Education, Consumer Behaviour, Consumer in the Market.

Scope
Having taken training in the area of consumer education and protection
you could develop your career in the following areas:
zz Work in government organisations like Bureau of Indian Standards,
Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Consumer Affairs
in various decision making managerial and technical positions.
zz Work in voluntary consumer organisations for product testing,
creating consumer awareness, consumer education or empowerment,
publication of their magazine, etc.
zz Work in the Consumer division of corporate houses which deal with
consumer complaints and consumer suggestions or in customer
relationship management and customer facilitation division looking
into creating customer data bases and dealing with them on a one to
one personal basis.
zz Work with market research organisations in areas of consumer
behaviour, product reach, consumer acceptance of new products,
consumer feedback and suggestions.
zz Start your own consumer organisation dealing with the issues
discussed in the chapter.
zz Work in National Consumer Helpline for doing consumer counselling,
helping people in getting redressal to their complaints.
zz Work as consultants to consumer clubs being run by schools and
colleges such as managing and planning their educative and outreach
activities, taking up teaching assignments in schools and colleges in
the area of consumer studies. You can also function as a freelance
consultant for redressal guidance through consumer courts and
other alternative redressal mechanisms.
zz Work with the Department of Audio-visual Publicity as content
233
developer for their advertisements dealing with consumer awareness
and education in the print and electronic media.

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 zz Work as an analyst in consumer testing laboratories for comparative
evaluation of products.
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

zz Some persons may also become consumer activists, and with legal
training can plead cases in Consumer Protection Courts.
zz Those who have excellent writing skills may take up journalism
related to consumer affairs.
Besides all of the above, with some additional training, those interested
can work at junior level to assist individuals in financial management.
With further training and experience, one can move into careers related to
insurance, shares and financial portfolio management.

Key Terms
Consumer, Consumer Rights, Consumer Protection Act, Consumer Rights
and Responsibility, Standardisation Marks.

Review Questions
1. Explain the following terms in 2–3 lines:
a. Consumer
b. Consumer rights
c. Consumer responsibilities
d. Consumer Protection Act
e. Consumer problems
2. List the following:
a. Any three consumer rights
b. Any three consumer responsibilities
c. Any five consumer problems
d. Any three standardisation marks
3. State true or false:
a. ISI mark is given by BIS.
b. Agmark is meant for agricultural products.
c. Right to safety is not a consumer right.
d. VOICE is the name of a consumer organisation.
234 4. Discuss in brief the basics concepts of consumer education and
protection.

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 PRACTICAL 1
Theme: Develop leaflet/pamphlet for Consumer Education and
Protection
Tasks:

Unit V - Resource Management

1. Collecting relevant information on the topic
2. Learn to compile the topic in limited space in a leaflet or
pamphlet form
3. Putting the concepts in simple way which is understood by
the target group
4. Each write up should have a crisp introduction, body and
conclusion or application to enable the reader to be a wise
consumer.

Purpose

1. Students will understand the art of preparing leaflet/

pamphlet for awareness camp.
2. It will enable the students to collect information on the
given topic and use simple language to express the content
by giving the heading, sub-heading and salient features.
3. Creating Awareness on Consumer Education.

Conducting the Practical

1. Class can be divided into five groups.

2. Each group can work on one topic — Consumer
Protection, Consumer Rights, Consumer Responsibilities,
Standardisation Marks, Consumer Rederessal.
3. Each group can collect information on the given topic with
introduction, body and conclusion to be compiled in simple
words or local language.
4. Get the same approved by the teacher in-charge.
5. Then place the content in the leaflet or pamphlet form along
with the names of school and group members.
6. Present the information to other class mates.
7. Get the same printed or photocopied to use it for awareness
camps in the local community/area.
235

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 Instructions for the teachers
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

A leaflet may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both

sides and folded in various ways. The most common types of single-sheet
leaflets are the bi-fold (a single sheet printed on both sides and folded
into halves) and the tri-fold (the same, but folded into thirds). A bi-fold
brochure results in four panels (two panels on each side), while a tri-fold
results in six panels (three panels on each side). Important points to be
kept in mind while designing a leaflet:
zz Heading: The leaflet heading is normally the most important part of
the leaflet because it is the part that first catches the eye. The heading
must be brief, summarising the theme by using short, forceful words.
zz Subheading: Leaflet subheadings are used when it is impossible to
summarise the text in the main heading and further explanation is
needed. They may also be used to introduce separate paragraphs in
the body of the text and to bridge gaps between headline and text.
zz Text: To gain the interest of a target audience within the first few words,
the first or two sentences of the text should contain the substance
of the message, with the facts and details following. The text should
be simple and to the point, presenting the message to the target
audience without confusing them. The leaflet normally presents only
one theme. A leaflet which presents two or more unrelated or vaguely
related themes confuses the target audience.
zz Pictures: When pictures, preferably photographs, are used, the picture
and the text must complement each other, convey the same idea to
the target audience, each expanding the ideas of the other.
The leaflet/pamphlet for Consumer Education can be on any one of the
following topics:
a. Consumer Protection Act
b. Consumer Rights
c. Consumer responsibilities
d. Standardisation marks
e. Consumer problems/redressal

Additional Activities

Activity No. 4
Read newspaper regularly and keep a cutting of news article on any case
236 reported under the Consumer Protection Act for purposes of redressal.
Discuss it in the class.

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 Activity No.5
Collect labels/packages of any ten commodities of daily use (like spices,
biscuits, bulbs, sugar, sauce, jam, etc.) and see which standardisation
marks are found on them. Discuss these in the class.

Unit V - Resource Management

Activity No.6
Visit the websites of your state university and other major Indian
universities and find out the subjects on offer at the under graduate
degree, diploma and certificate programmes. Make a detailed listing of the
same and discuss in the class.
At the post-graduate level- PG Diploma in Consumer Education,
PG Diploma in Management of Voluntary organisations, PG Diploma in
Consumer services are on offer by several universities. Post graduate degree
courses like M.Sc. Home Science, M.Sc. Resource Management and Design
Application, Family Resource Management, MBA with specialisation in
marketing would deal with consumer issues in terms of empowerment,
protection and consumer behaviour.
Activity No.7
Visit the websites of your state university and other major Indian
Universities and find out post-graduate diploma and degree courses in the
area of Consumer Studies. In addition look at courses offering this as one
of the subjects and the eligibility for the same. Make notes and discuss in
the class.

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 References For Further Reading
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

Agrawal, A. 1989. Problems of Consumer in Modern India. Discovery

Publishing House. Delhi.
Agrawal, A.D. 1989. A Practice Handbook for Consumers. India Book &
Course. Bombay.
Agarwal, A. and M. Agarwal, Careers in Hotel Management. Vision Books
Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.
Andrews, S. 1982. Hotel Front Office – Training Manual. Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing Co. Ltd. New Delhi.
Basotia, G.R. 1999. Human Resource Management. Mangaldeep Publication.
Jaipur.
Bhatt, P. 2001. Foundation of Art and Design. Jagruti Printing Press.
Mumbai.
Gaur, S.S. and S.V. Saggere. 2001. Event Marketing and Managemen.
Frank Bros. & Co.
Gill, R. W. 2003. Rendering With Pen And Ink. Thames and Hudson Ltd.
London.
Gulshan, S.S. 1994. Consumer Protection and Satisfaction. Wiley Eastern
Ltd. Mumbai.
Gupta, C.B. and R. Nair, 2001. Marketing Management (6th ed.). Sultan
Chand & Sons. New Delhi.
Himachalan, D. 1998. Consumer Protection and Law. APH Publishing
Corporation. New Delhi.
Jones, U. 1986. Catering: Housekeeping and Front Office: Companion
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Kasu, A. A. 2004. Introduction to Art, Craft, Technique, Science and Profession
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Kumar, N. 1999. Consumer Protection in India. Himalaya Publishing House.
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Mathe, J.M. 2006. Hospitality Marketing and Management. Avishkar
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Mehta, K. 1987. Easy Housekeeping. Tarang Publications. New Delhi.
Pareek, U. and V. Rao 1997. Designing and Managing Human Resource
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 Rao, P.S. 1995. Human Aspects of Management. Himalaya Publishing
House. Mumbai.
Sharma, A.M. 1999. Personnel and Human Resource Management. Himalaya
Publishing House. Mumbai

Unit V - Resource Management

Shah, M.G., G.M. Kale. and S.Y. Patki, 1993. Building Drawings with an
Integrated Approach to Built Environment. Tata McGraw Hill Publication
Company Ltd. New Delhi.
Shahi, R.V. 2001. Human Resource and Management for The New Millennium.
Himalaya Publishing House.
Son, H. 1987. India: Decoration, Interior, Design. Watson Guptill. New York.
Walker, J R. 2005. Introduction to Hospitality Management. Pearson
Education Pvt. Ltd. Delhi.

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 Notes
Human Ecology and Family Sciences – Part 2

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