Essay Competition on Consumer Law and Policy | Commemorating National Consumer Day 2024

The Chair on Consumer Law and Practice at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru is organising an essay competition during October-November 2024 to commemorate National Consumer Day 2024 (24th December). This essay competition aims to stimulate interest and foster growth amongst students to explore and engage with contemporary and seminal issues in the field of consumer law and policy.

Important Dates

• Submissions open: October 6, 2024
• Deadline for submissions: November 24, 2024
• Announcement of results: December 24, 2024 (National Consumer Rights Day)

Themes

• Sustainability (Sustainable Development Goals) and Consumer Protection
• Consumer Safety in Digital World
• Inclusion under Consumer Protection: Ensuring Rights of Vulnerable Groups
• Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behaviour and Protection
• Insights for Indian Consumer Law from International Consumer Law
• Cross-border E-commerce and Consumer Protection
• Greenwashing and Consumer Misinformation
• Evaluation of Grievance Redressal Mechanism in India

The above themes are only indicative and the participants are free to choose any other topic under the broad theme of consumer protection.

Eligibility

To ensure wider reach and opportunity, the competition will be open to all – including students, academics, professionals, government officials, members of consumer fora, Voluntary Consumer Organizations (VCOs)/ NGOs etc.

Submission Guidelines

• The essay must be written in English and submitted in Microsoft Word document format (.doc/.docx).
• Co-authorship up to a maximum of one author is permitted.
• Only one submission is allowed per author/team. Submissions, both as co-author and single, will be treated as multiple submissions and will be disqualified as an entry to the competition.
• The following formatting specifications need to be strictly adhered to:
  Main Body: Font – Times New Roman, Font Size – 12, and Line Spacing – 1.5;
  Footnotes: Font – Times New Roman, Font Size – 10, and Line Spacing – 1.0;
  Margins should be 1 inch or 2.54 cm on all sides.
• The word limit is 3000-3500 words excluding footnotes. Footnotes must follow the Bluebook system of citation (Harvard, 20th edition).
• The essay must contain an abstract, not exceeding 250 words (which would not be counted in the word limit for the essay). It must indicate the theme/topic.
• The Board reserves the right to summarily reject or return the submission to the author/authors without feedback for non-compliance with these guidelines. In case of any dispute, the decision of the Board shall be final and binding.
• The opinion/thoughts/ideas or any view of the author expressed and published on the essay are respective views of the authors. The Chair or the Board shall not be held responsible or accountable for the opinion expressed by the author on the essay.
• The Chair reserves the right to cancel the competition without notice, in case suitable/quality entries are not received in the competition or in case of any other event outside our reasonable control.

How do I submit?

All submissions should be made through this Google Form by November 24, 2024, 11:59 pm.
Incomplete or plagiarized submissions shall be summarily rejected. The similarity limit is 15% (excluding footnotes).

Prizes & Certificates of Merit

• First Rank: Rs. 4000 & Certificate of Merit
• Second Rank: Rs. 3000 & Certificate of Merit
• Third Rank: Rs. 2000 & Certificate of Merit

The best entries may be considered for publication in the next issues of the Newsletter of the Chair on Consumer Law.

Contact Us 

For any queries, please write to consumerlaw@nls.ac.in