Consumers

Many of us may have bought a beautiful apartment or villa by investing most of our savings or even on a mortgage/home loan. After a few months of living in your new home, you realise that there are a lot of issues. For example, you may find water oozing from the floor tiles, or your wooden flooring has been laid in an uneven manner, door frames are not finished to the level they should be, electrical fixtures are malfunctioning, and water pressure drops. All these are niggling problems that will not only take your time but also more of your…

With the growth of online marketplaces, and India’s growth as a consumer economy, the government brought into law a new Consumer Protection Bill, 2019, replacing the earlier Consumer Protection Act, 1986. This Bill has been passed by both the Houses of the Parliament and received the President’s assent on August 9, 2019. However, it is to be noted that the said law will come into effect on the date which will be notified by the Central Government. Such notification is yet to be issued and for practical purposes, Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is still in force till a notification enforcing…

In an age where everything happens online — from speed dating to matrimonial alliances — instances of unsuspecting individuals being cheated while looking for a life partner are a cause of great concern. One has recently heard of cases where women are made to deposit money into certain accounts after being promised alliances, or men being cheated and blackmailed by women they meet online in connivance with an organised gang. These are just a few among many such that raise red flags about matrimonial sites flourishing in the country. They underline the fact that these can be, and are being,…

In the spirit of what Benjamin Franklin once said – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) released a draft notification on June 27 2019 seeking to place a mandate on packaged food companies to label high fat, high sugar and high salt content on the front of the package, using a traffic light signalling system. The overall objective is to let consumers make an informed choice. One of the most notable points in the draft rules relates to the Front-of-Pack (FoP) labelling; in particular, a ‘red-coloured’…

It all started when a Facebook user Sandhya was browsing multiple online gifting sites for Rakshabandhan this year, and came across a website that sold ‘combo’ gift items for siblings. All that was fine, of course, except that there were some products designed and marketed in a way that specifically addressed one of the siblings as an adopted child, and in a manner that many found to be derogatory.  At a time when the concept of adoption is still not very well accepted in our society, the last thing we need is people making fun of an issue that has…

Multi-storied apartments are everywhere, dotting the skyline in our cities. Ground plus 19 is the norm rather than the exception. As apartment dwellers everywhere are finding out this summer, water is a major challenge to manage, with the city running scarce to supply this resource. If you are a new buyer, it would be wise to ask the following questions from the builder before you make that investment of a crore or more. This is a simple checklist: What are the sources of water for the flat especially in summer? Bore wells are simply unable to supply water when densities…

“We want policies and schemes that are people centric, not nominal ones that our elected representatives decide,” say volunteers of Chittoor People’s Action Committee (CPAC). CPAC is a pro-active citizen movement and the voice of the people in Chittoor, a city crying out for basic amenities and infrastructure.   CPAC has interacted with more than 5000 citizens from Chittoor, Gangadhara Nellore and Puthalapattu constituencies, to deliver a data-centric, in-depth citizens' manifesto.  The manifesto is the end product of various surveys and workshops such as Nenu Bharath Aithe (inspired from a political drama movie starring Mahesh Babu). The volunteers of CPAC…

In what seems to be a milestone in legislation towards addressing grievances of the Indian consumers, the Lok Sabha recently passed the Consumer Protection Bill (CPB), 2018. The bill, tabled first in 2015 and passed by the Lok Sabha on December 20, 2018 seeks to replace the three-decade-old Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The latter was amended thrice but failed to tackle challenges posed by online transactions and digital marketing. According to the Corporate Affairs Ministry, the objective of the Bill is ‘‘to provide for the protection of the interests of consumers and for the said purpose, to establish authorities for timely…

Following the complete digitization of the cable TV network, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulatory body for broadcasting notified a regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable TV services in March 2017. The framework is applicable to services provided through Direct to Home (DTH) Systems, Cable TV Systems provided through Digital Addressable Systems (DAS), Head-end in the Sky (HITS) and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). These regulations are aimed at addressing various issues related to the sector. This regulatory framework included the following. Uniform Tariff for DTH & Cable TV Services: The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order.…

Today is observed as National Consumers Day. If you are reading this, you are a literate, educated citizen with internet connection for accessing  information via Google. But does ‘educated’ always mean ‘aware’? Check this. In Bengaluru, there are several medical shops and pharmacies that offer a discount for senior citizens. A comprehensive list of such shops, clinics and hospitals around the city, listed area-wise, is available at Nightingales Elders Enrichment Centre (NEEC) in Malleswaram, Bengaluru. Many elders know about this centre, they even attend regular events there, but some don’t know that there exists such a list of discounts available.…