The present investigation was carried out to know the awareness of rural women regarding labels on packed food and textile items, quality assurance marks and consumer protection rights. The study was conducted on 120 rural women from four villages of Ludhiana district. Purposive sampling technique was used for sample selection and data were collected through an interview schedule. The results indicated that majority of the respondents had no knowledge about care symbols on textile goods, nearly 1/3 rd of respondents looked for Maximum Retail Price (MRP), manufacturing date and expiry date while purchasing packed food items. Almost all the respondents never looked for other details on labels. More than 90.00 per cent of respondents were unaware of Agmark, FPO, ISO and ECO mark, whereas more than 80.00 per cent of women were aware of ISI and Woolmark, but all of them were unable to distinguish between original clone ISI mark. Upto or less than five per cent of respondents had knowledge about Consumer Protection Rights and Act. So, there is a strong need to create consumer awareness among rural women through extension training programmes, consumer clubs and electronic media to avoid exploitation of rural consumers.

:Sixteen nettle units established in Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts of Uttarakhand by Uttarakhand Bamboo Fibre Development Board were surveyed to document the production processes of nettle textiles. There were five fibre processing units and three spinning units with total strength of 310 workers. Nettle plants were collected from hilly areas by workers without paying any cost to the land owners. Nettle stalks were subjected to running water retting, beating and washing, bleaching with kaoline paste followed by carding and spinning. From one kilogram of nettle bark 400 g fibres could be extracted. Ultimately 300 g nettle yarn could be obtained from one kilogram nettle bark. Opening of nettle enterprise holts a promising opportunity for the economic upliftment of rural people.

:For this study, a total of 30 respondents (college girls) were selected through random sampling technique. Consumer acceptance of the prepared one piece dresses was studied. The dresses were evaluated on the basis of drape, design, decorative features and overall appearance. Profit margin of the prepared dresses was also calculated. The data collected revealed that majority of the respondents preferred dress G5 on the basis of drape. Dress G15 was given first rank on the basis of design, decorative features and overall appearance. It was easy to earn 30 per cent profit on all the dresses and consumers found the quoted price as adequate.

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:For this study, a total of 90 respondents (college girls) were selected through purposive random sampling technique. Preferences of college gilrs for fabrics, colours, designs, length, flare and other designing features in one piece dresses were taken. The data collected revealed that majority of the respondents preferred georgette and satin fabric of off white colour for one piece dresses. Medium length of one piece dresses was preferred by maximum number of the respondents. It was observed that embroidery was preferred as surface embellishments by the respondents. For flare in one piece dresses pleats were given first rank by respondents.