Question : Consumer Awareness

(a) the details of consumer awareness programmes sanctioned and those pending with the Government during the last three years, State-wise;
(b) the funds provided for the said programmes during the said period, Statewise;
(c) whether the consumer awareness programme has achieved the desired results, especially in rural and other inaccessible areas, and if not, the reasons therefor;
(d) whether any mechanism is available for assessing/monitoring the implementation of the said programmes; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to improve the functioning of the programmes?

THE MINISTER OF
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI RAM VILAS PASWAN)

(a) to (e) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*224 FOR 02.08.2016 REGARDING CONSUMER AWARENESS.
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(a) & (b) : The Government carries out a multi-media “Jago Grahak Jago” campaign on pan India basis. Under this, grants-in-aid are also released to States/UTs for creating consumer awareness in the respective States/UTs at local level in their regional languages. Details of funds released to States/UTs for consumer awareness activities during the last three years are at Annexure-I.

This apart, Grant is also given from Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF) to the states/UTs for setting up of Corpus Fund of Rs. 10.00 crores for undertaking Consumer Awareness/Welfare activities. The ratio of Centre: State share in the Corpus Fund is 75:25. In case of special category States/UTs, the ratio is 90:10. So far, Corpus Fund has been set up in 11 States/UTs viz. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bangal, Bihar, Nagaland, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana. Details of grants released to various States/UTs from CWF during the last 3 years are at Annexure-II.

On two proposals received from Jharkhand and Telangana, clarifications have been sought from the State Governments.

(c) to (e) : Impact assessment and monitoring is an on-going process. A study which was carried out on the consumer awareness campaign in 14 States and 1 Union Territory covering 60 districts, revealed that 90.9% of the sample respondents (both urban and rural) are aware of the campaign. Further, Indian Institute of Mass Communication has been tasked to carry out an impact assessment of Jago Grahak Jago campaign carried out from 2012 onwards and to suggest suitable strategies for making the campaign more effective in terms of content and outreach.

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