Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution today launched two new initiatives of the Department of
Consumer Affairs aimed at enhancing consumer awareness and strengthening
support services to consumers in the country. These include a dedicated
portal to register Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) and
Grahak Suvidha Kendras – one stop consumer centers at Ahmedabad, Bangalore,
Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi. Both the initiatives launched during a
National Conference on Consumer Rights, organized by the Department of Consumer
Affairs here today, will strengthen consumer
protection further.
Inaugurating the national conference before the launch
of the initiatives, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan reiterated the commitment of the Government
to Consumer Protection. He pointed out that Government alone, regardless of the
sector it deals with or the domain it regulates, cannot adequately address
several of these challenges whether from the perspective of the market or that
of the consumer. There is a need, he emphasised, for all stakeholders – the
Central Government, State Governments, Voluntary Consumer Organizations and
elected representatives to work together to achieve this. He urged that a
consumer advocacy strategy should be adopted uniformly across sectors and
geographies and must include: consumer empowerment through awareness and
education programs; enhancing the quality or type of information provided for
products and services and standardizing contracts to ensure that they are not
unfair to the consumer. Mandating ethical firm behavior by enforcing codes of
conduct; extending a simple, speedy and affordable grievance redress window and
using the institutional framework extant to reach out to the targeted consumer
populations, especially in the rural areas should also be part of the strategy,
he said.
In his welcome address Shri Keshav Desiraju, Secretary, Department
of Consumer Affairs, noted that the challenges that we confront would require
policy coherence; coordinated program implementation, harmonization of
regulatory action and an institutional mechanism by which the interventions of
government produce optimal results. It will also require harmonization of the
legislative framework and the regulatory apparatus. Towards this end, he said,
the Department of Consumer Affairs has undertaken the task of modernizing the
legislative framework that governs Consumer Advocacy. Comprehensive amendments
to the Consumer Protection Act as well as the Bureau of Indian Standards Act
have been finalized to ensure timely executive interventions to ensure quality
and safety of goods and services, prevention of unfair trade practices, address
the problem of misleading advertisements, provide for speedy, simple and
affordable consumer grievance redressal to enhance consumer protection.
On the occasion, Justice D.K.Jain, the President of the National
Consumer Disputes Resolution Commission (NCDRC) noted that India enjoys a
unique position in the consumer advocacy movement with a dedicated three tier
Quasi - Judicial Consumer Dispute Redress Mechanism established at the
District, State and National levels under the law. He emphasized the need for Governments
at the Centre and the States and the consumer courts to work closely together
to provide effective and timely grievance redressal to consumers.
Two technical sessions of the conference, one on
the ‘Consumers’ Right to Safe and Healthy food’ and the second on the
‘Performance of Consumer Courts’ saw experts and regulators drawing attention
to an actionable plan to prevent consumer detriment and enhance access to safe
products and services on the one hand and an effective and timely dispute
resolution mechanism on the other.
The
conference noted that Consumer markets
for goods and services have undergone profound transformation since the
enactment of the Consumer Protection Act in 1986. The modern marketplace
contains a plethora of increasingly complex products and services. The
emergence of global supply chains, rise in international trade and the rapid
development of e-commerce have led to new delivery systems for goods and
services and have provided new opportunities for consumers. Equally, this has
rendered the consumer vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical
business practices.
Over 500 participants comprising Voluntary Consumer
Organizations, Consumer Activists, Presidents of the State Consumer
Commissions, sector Regulators, Academicians, and diverse other stakeholders from
across the country attended the conference.
On the occasion, Shri
Paswan also released a Consumer Handbook which provides information about
consumer grievances redressal procedure besides launching an E-Book of Bureau
of Indian Standards. The e-Book provides a synopsis of the history of BIS since
its inception in 1947 and role being played by BIS in guaranteeing quality
standards to consumers.
.
Portal forGrievances
Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA)
The
explosive growth of multi-media marketing and the virtual market has seriously
challenged the concept of ‘Consumer Sovereignty’. Increasingly subliminal
advertising and peer pressure are influencing consumer behavior. Consumers are
today exposed to large number of misleading advertisements often making claims
that are dubious or unverified. Till date there is no single platform or
agency to serve as a central registry for complaints against misleading
advertisements. The Department of Consumer Affairs has taken the initiative to
establish a dedicated portal to enable consumers to register their Grievances
Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA). Any consumer in any part of the
country can register on this site and can lodge a complaint against misleading
advertisements. A well-defined protocol then ensures that the complaints are
taken up with the relevant authorities in the state or the central government
concerned and appropriate action taken. The portal also enables the consumer to
be informed of the action taken. The portal will be linked to all state
authorities concerned, select voluntary consumer organizations in the country
and the sector regulators in the Government of India.
Grahak Suvidha Kendra
The
Department of Consumer Affairs has already set up and is supporting the
National Consumer Helpline where consumers can lodge telephonic complaints
regarding their grievances. Similarly the Department has assisted 22 States to
set up and run state help lines by which services are provided in regional
language to aggrieved consumers. Building on the success of these initiatives
the Department has now conceptualized and launched the Grahak Suvidha Kendra –
a one stop center that will provide a host of services to consumers under one
roof. Select Voluntary Consumer Organizations with funding support from
Government will run the Kendras. The services envisaged include information
dissemination, consumer awareness, mediation, grievance redress, assistance in
filing complaints before the relevant consumer forum and counseling. The
Kendras are being launched on a pilot basis in six locations: Ahmadabad,
Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi. Based on the performance of these
pilot centers a decision to extend the scheme to other parts of the country
will be explored.
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NCJ/NN