Everyone in Bengaluru city is a consumer of goods or services. Goods are purchased and services sought on an ongoing basis. The common man is however not always aware of his / her right as a consumer and ends up living with substandard or poor service.

This programme is organised by Co Media Lab (a joint initiative Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz & Citizen Matters initiative) in association with Consumer Care Society, Bengaluru.

Where: Radio Active, 1/1-1, Atria Towers, next to Raddison Blu (earlier Atria), Palace Road

When: Saturday 4th November 2017, 9:30 am to 1pm

Register here: comedialab.in/consumer-workshop-1415

This workshop is open for all and free.

It is meant for all citizens and media interested in understanding a little about rights and duties of consumers, with focus on Mobile TV and Cable, Health insurance, and e-Commerce.

Do check our Facebook page www.facebook.com/events/183899122185246 for more information.

About the facilitators

Sri Ravindranath Guru

Mr. Ravindranath Guru had worked as a scientist in department of information technology, Government of India. He is managing trustee of KRIA Katte (Karnataka Right to Information Activists Forum) and has filed more than 900 RTI applications. He is also one of the coordinators for Coalition Against Corruption.

He is associated with Consumer Care Society for 22 years and at present the President of CCS. He was instrumental in organising Consumer Educations programs through the consumer clubs in 20 schools in Bangalore. He has participated in various advisory committee and panel discussions on consumer issues.

Sri Gopal Ratnam

Mr. Gopal Ratnam is CEO of Gmantra, a management consultancy firm. An Engineer with a master’s in management, he had worked in corporate sector in varied capacities. He was an entrepreneur in an earlier avatar.

Presently in addition to consultancy, he is involved in corporate training and entrepreneurship coaching. He takes an avid interest in professional and business ethics.  A member of Consumer Care Society from 1998, he is currently its Secretary.

Dr. Pratima Narayan

Dr. Pratima Narayan is a Legal Consultant and mediator. She has extensively worked in the areas of Information Technology Law, Intellectual Property Rights and Consumer law. She is Governing Council member of Consumer Care Society. She has also served the legal academia for over 15 years and has taught at various leading law schools and business schools.

Dr. Pratima holds a Doctorate in law from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.

Dr.M.A.Azeez

Dr. Azeez retired recently as Deputy General Manager,United India Insurance Company Limited. He has 31 years of experience in non-life insurance in various cadres of his company. He has handled operations at all the four levels of Branch, Division, Region and Corporate. He has worked in four different states of the country.The Bengaluru Region which he headed as DGM is the largest region in non life industry first time crossing 1000 crores premium out of which 500 crores is health premium.

He is a Post Graduate in veterinary science and Fellow of Indian Insurance Institute.

Sri M L Ashok

Sri Ashok, an Electrical Engineer from UVCE, first taught in R V College of Engineering, Bangalore, for 4 years. He then spent almost 3 decades with the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd, a Public Sector Company involved with the Design and Operations of Thermal and Hydro Power Stations. He worked for a few years with International consultants in Muscat. Later he was with Korus Energy Solutions, Bangalore, a Consulting Company, as their Chief Engineer and was responsible for setting up Captive Power Plants in Steel and Cement Industries. From 2014, he has been fully involved with Consumer affairs in association with the Consumer Care Society.

About Co Media Lab

The Community Media Lab serves as a newsroom and resource centre for citizen contributors and student journalists, and a space for dialogues and discussions for community / citizen contributors.

We encourage, support and train community journalists/producers as well as support young journalists by providing student internships/training for a live newsroom experience.

The Lab is a project of Radio Active CR 90.4MHz and Citizen Matters community newsmagazine, supported by Jain University and Oorvani Foundation. The lab explores convergence of media across genre – digital stories, podcasts, radio episodes, video explainers, performances, photography, face to face conversation and discussion.

Among its other activities, the Lab conducted separate workshops on Water Quality in Bengaluru, and Air Pollution during Oct 2016 and March 2017 respectively in association with KSPCB and other organizations. More information about the Lab can be found here: www.comedialab.in

About Consumer Care Society

CONSUMER CARE SOCIETY (CCS) is a volunteer-based not-for-profit organization involved in Consumer activities. Established as a registered society in the year 1994, CCS has for the past 3 decades functioned as the voice of consumer in many forums in Bangalore and Karnataka. CCS is registered with many governmental agencies and regulators like TRAI, BIS, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, DOT,  Dept of Post  at the Central Government levels and with almost all service providers at the State Level like  KERC BWSSB, BESCOM, BDA, BBMP, etc.

CCS is on the Advisory committees to the Appellate Authorities of  all Mobile and Broadband Service Providers (Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL etc) for solving consumer grievances. It is an registered  Consumer Advocacy group with  Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) for the consumer education programs across the state of Karnataka.

CCS was responsible for the establishment and functioning of consumer clubs in 20 High Schools in Bangalore.