Consumer Dialogue

Vol. 9 No. 1 January—March 2016

IIPA

CCS Sponsored by

Department of Consumer Affairs

Government of India

Editorial Team Prof. Suresh Misra

Dr. Sapna Chadah

Dr. Mamta Pathania

Research and Design Pankaj Kr.Singh

Contact us : Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate New Delhi - 110002 Tel : 011-23468347 23468434, Email : ccs.iipa@gmail.com, Website : www.consumereducation.in

Nutraceuticals no longer a Proprietary Food

Cancelling train tickets to be just a phone call away

Now, you can book only 6 Rail Tickets per Month online

Mobile app ‘Kishan Suvidha’ Launched for Farmers to take the Technology to farm fields

Big win for Net Neutrality: Telecom Regulator Prohibits Discriminatory Tariffs for Data

68% of Milk Adulterated, contains ‘Very Hazardous’ Caustic Soda, White Paint : Govt

Government Bans over 344 Medicines, including 2 popular Cough Syrup

A Quarterly e-Newsletter of Centre for Consumer Studies (CCS)

1

Seminar on Consumer Protection and Consumer Welfare

Rural Awarness Camp in Magh Mela

National Seminar on ‘Empowering Consumers in Globalizing India : Problems, Strategy and Prospects’

National Seminar on ‘Consumer Justice, Market and Globalization’

National Seminar on ‘Consumer Protection: New Age Challenges’

90th OTP for the Presidents and Members of the Districs Consumer Forums

9th Training of Trainers for Heads and Members of VCOs/NGOs in Consumer Protection and Welfare

Workshop on World Consumer Rights Day

Interaction with Industry Associations

Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs visits NCH

The Centre for Consumer Studies, IIPA, New Delhi in

collaboration with Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur, District

Vellore, Tamil Nadu, organised a two day Seminar on ―Consumer

Protection and Consumer Welfare‖ on Jan 7-8, 2016. The

Seminar was inaugurated by Rev. Dr. C. Antonyraj, SDB, Secre-

tary and Rector, Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur, Vellore. The

other dignitaries

present on the occa-

sion were Rev. Dr. D

Maria Antonyraj,

SDB Principal, Sa-

cred Heart College,

Tirupattur and Dr V.

N. Viswanathan,

Principal, Periyar

Government Arts

College, Cuddalore

who delivered the

Keynote Address. Prof. Suresh Misra, Chair Professor and

Coordinator CCS, IIPA delivered the Presidential Address. The

main objectives of the Seminar were to enhance the knowledge

and skill of the participants in the area of Consumer Protection

and Consumer Welfare; understand the need and importance of

Consumer Protection and Welfare and the role of various

stakeholders and discuss the legal dimensions of Consumer

Protection in different service sectors. More than 100 participants

from various parts of Tamil Nadu, including teachers, members

of NGOs and students from different departments of the host

college and other colleges attended the Seminar. The Seminar

was divided into various sessions covering Consumer Protection

& Empowerment, Consumer Protection: Education and

Awareness, Consumer Protection Act, Food Safety and the

Consumers, Media and Consumer, Insurance and Consumer,

Banking and Consumers and Telecom Services and Consumer.

Seminar on Consumer Protection and

Consumer Welfare

Dignitaries during the Inaugural Session of Seminar

Rural Awareness Camp at Magh Mela, Allahabad

The issues of Consumer Protection Act, Misleading

Advertisement, Food Adulteration, Environment

Protection and Buying of electrical and electronic goods

were widely discussed. On this occasion Prof. R.P Misra,

Former VC, Allahabad

University chairing the

session, emphasized on

the need to create

awareness among rural

consumer. He mentioned

that moral values and

ethical dimensions are

important for holistic

e d u c a t i o n . 1 1 5

participants participated

mainly from rural areas

in the camp. During the camp nearly 5000 copies of

pamphlets on consumer awareness were distributed to

the consumers at the Mela.

A three day awareness camp was organized under the aegis of

Centre for Consumer Studies, IIPA on the Holy Ganges Ghat,

Allahabad during the Magh Mela from January 30 to February 1,

2016. The camp was organized with an objective of spreading

awareness. During the camp, a two day workshop on ―Upbhokta

Sanrakshan : Disha Evam Sambhawna‖ was organized.

The Centre in collaboration with the Cordia Group of

Educational Institutes, Sanghol, organized a National

Seminar on ―Empowering Consumers in Globalising

India: Problems, Strategies and Prospects‖ on February 05

-06, 2016. The deliberations during the Seminar centered

around consumer

empowerment and

promotion of con-

sumer rights in the

c o n t e m p o r a r y

times confronted

with the chal-

lenges of globaliz-

ing market, unfair

trade practices and violation of consumer rights. More

than 70 participants which included academicians , busi-

nessmen, and policy-makers attended the seminar. The

Seminar was inaugurated by Shri Alok Nigam, Additional

Chief Secretary, Govt. of Haryana. He emphasised the

need for all stakeholders, academicians, businessmen,

policy makers to play an active role to educate and aware

the consumers about their rights.

Prof. R.P. Mishra, Former VC Allahabad

University addressing to the participants

National Seminar on „Empowering Consumers in

Globalising India: Problems, Strategies and

Prospects‟

Dignitaries during the Inaugural Session of the Seminar

Vol. 9 No. 1 January—March 2016

2

They should work for the protection of consumers. He said

that globalisation has both positive and negative aspects. It has

increased variety and choice for consumers. But at the same

time has posed new unforseen challenges for him which have

made him more vulnerable. In this scenario the consumers

should be vigilant and empowered to fight for their rights.

Various research scholars and academicians participated

in the seminar and presented their papers. Three books written

by Prof. Randeep Singh Dhillon, Prof. Harjinder Singh, Prof.

AmanjotKaur, and Dr. Manjit Kaur were also released during

the Seminar.

National Seminar on „Consumer Justice, Market and

Globalization‟

The Centre in collaboration with National Law University

Delhi organized a two day National Seminar on February 19

-20, 2016. The Seminar was organized with an aim to pro-

vide a platform to generate awareness amongst stakeholders

on various new challenges being posed by globalization and

liberalization, for consumers to face and what is needed for

the redressal agencies to deal with these challenges more

effectively. The seminar was attended by more than 100

participants which included academia, research-scholars,

The 90th Orientation Training Programme for the Presidents

and Members of the District Consumer Forums was organised

by the Centre. Twenty Nine Presidents and Members of the

District Forums from Maharashtra attended the programme.

The objective of the programme was to build the capacity of

the Presidents and

Members of the

District Forums to

enable the redressal

mechanism func-

tion effectively.

The Programme

was inaugurated by

Shri Anil Bahu-

guna, Joint Secre-

tary, Department

of Consumer Affairs. He said that the pupose of Consumer Pro-

tection Act is to provide better protection to the interests of the

consumers. He said that members of the District Forums have

been given a divine duty to help the society especially disad-

vantaged sections of the society. In case the Forums are not

able to fulfill people‘s expectations and achieve the pupose of

the Act; the consumers would loose confidence in the system.

He advised the Members to endeavor to provide time bound

quick redressal to the complainants to make the machinery

effective. He also highlighted the major features of the new

Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 and the initiatives being un-

dertaken by the Department for the welfare of consumers.

There were a number of thematic sessions on various issues of

consumer protection. The programme was interactive and

involved presentations by the participants.

90th OTP for the Presidents and Members of the

District Consumer Forums

National Seminar on “Consumer Protection:

New Age Challenges”

students, legal practitioners, Government officials and members

of VCOs/ NGOs. The programme was inaugurated by Hon‘ble

Justice (Dr.) B.S. Chauhan, Chairman, Cauvery Water Dispute

Tribunal and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India. In his

address, he highlighted the plight of Indian consumers and

how their rights are violated

especially focusing on the

consumers of e-transactions

and real estate sector. He also

referred to the standard form

contracts where the consum-

ers are duped by one sided

unfair terms in contracts. He

emphasized on the need for

the redressal mechanism

to be more efficient to build

consumer confidence. He stressed on need for reducing the

pendency of the cases and time taken by consumer fora in

disposing of the cases. He said that no legislation is successful

without proper implementation and will of enforcement

agencies. During the two days, there were 11 technical sessions

wherein more than 100 participants presented their papers. The

papers highlighted key issues pertaining toe-commerce,

misleading advertisements, role of sectoral regulators, food

safety, the legislative changes & reforms and other related

aspects.

Participants with Dr T. Chatterjee, Director IIPA

The Centre for Consumer Studies in collaboration with P.G.

Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Od-

isha organized a Two Day National Seminar on ―Consumer

Justice, Market and Globalisation‖ on February13-14, 2016.

The Seminar was inaugurated by Prof. Krishna Dev Rao, Vice

-Chancellor, National Law University, Cuttack. Prof. Rao

emphasized the need to organize such seminars in various

educational institutions. He said in a globalized market the

nature of problems faced by the consumers has also changed.

Our laws are not designed to cater to e-commerce and cyber

frauds. About 150 participants consisting of academicians,

students, researchers and professionals participated in the

programme. The Seminar was divided into six thematic

sessions. Papers were presented by the participants which

ended with a lively discussion on the theme. The focus was on

how to give justice to the consumer in a globalized market.

The Valedictory Address was delivered by Ms. Sashi Prava

Bindhani, Member, State Information Commission. Drawing a

comparison between RTI and Consumer Protection Act, she

said that both aim to redress the grievances of the citizens in a

time bound manner. The redressal mechanisms are simple and

transparent. She also highlighted the role of activists in

effective implementation of the Act.

Hon‘ble Justice (Dr.) B.S. Chauhan

delivering the Inaugural Address

Dignitaries during Inaugural Session of Seminar releasing Book

Vol. 9 No. 1 January—March 2016

3

9th Training of Trainers for Heads and Members of

VCOs/NGOs in Consumer Protection and Welfare

The Centre organised 9th Training of Trainers Programme for

the Heads/ Presidents/ Secretaries/ Directors of NGOs /VCOs

on Consumer Protection and Consumer Welfare from March

7-11, 2016 at

IIPA, New

Delhi. The

objectives of

the training

programme

were to:

enhance

their knowl-

edge and

skill in the

area of Consumer Protection and Consumer Welfare; under-

stand the need and importance of Consumer Protection and

Welfare; acquaint with the national and international di-

mensions of Consumer Protection and the role of various

stakeholders; explain the various provisions of the Consumer

Protection Act and other legislations having a bearing on Con-

sumer Protection; discuss the legal dimensions of Consumer

Protection in different service sectors such as, medical, bank-

ing etc and develop training skills. 19 Heads and Members of

consumer organizations, representing different States at-

tended the programme. In the Inaugural session, Shri G N

Sreekumaran, Consultant, SCHKRMP, IIPA, New Delhi and

Former J S, DCA, GoI addressing the participants high-

lighted the initiatives of the DCA for the welfare of consum-

ers. But he stressed that these initiatives would only be useful

if consumer organizations come forward and avail the bene-

fits of these schemes. Prof. Suresh Misra, Chair Professor and

Coordinator, CCS, IIPA while addressing the participants said

that for betterment of the nation, the role of NGOs is quite

instrumental as they serve as an independent source of infor-

mation to the consumers and further inspire confidence in

general consumers that they are there for them if anything

goes wrong.

Participants with Dr T. Chatterjee, Director IIPA

Interaction with Industry Associations

An interaction with Industry Associations was organised to

familiarise the Industry Associations FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM

and PHD Chamber of Com-

merce about the functioning of

National Consumer Helpline

and its convergence pro-

gramme. This was done with a

view that Industry Associa-

tions can facilitate their mem-

bers to enrol in the NCH con-

vergence programme so that

companies can redress com-

plaints that are received at

NCH, under the grievance han-

dling system branded as Con-

vergence. The meeting was chaired by Joint Secretary, Mr. Anil

Bahuguna. There were a total of 23 Participants from Industry

Associations, officials of the Dept. of Consumer Affairs , mem-

bers of CCS, NCH and SCHKRMP of IIPA.

Prof Suresh Misra welcomed all participants and briefly

described the objective of the meeting - to understand the

Convergence process of the NCH and enlist cooperation from

the four Industry Associations to actively encourage their mem-

bers to enrol under the Convergence process, so that the existing

200 partners can go up to 400. Mr. Anil Bahuguna, Joint Secre-

tary started the discussion, referring to the earlier two meetings

and highlighting that one of the major concerns was that Indus-

try Associations should be able to persuade their members to

come forward in assisting NCH, and thereby the DCA, to in-

crease the number of convergence companies as it is in the mu-

tual benefit of corporates, government and consumers.

Participants from Industry organizations understanding the functioning of NCH.

Workshop on World Consumer Rights Day

To commemorate the World Consumer Rights Day, a

Workshop on Consumer Education was organized by the

Centre on 15th March 2016 wherein discussion on two

topics - ―Safe & Healthy Food: Antibiotics off the Menu‖

and ―Consumers & Financial Market: Risk & Returns‖

was organized. The first

session was on “Safe and

Healthy Food: Antibiotics

off the Menu” highlighting the

importance and need for eating

safe and healthy food and how

adulterated food is affecting

our life and health to such an

extent that antibiotics for simple infections may not be

effective on human beings in the years to come. Ms.

Deepika Sur, Project Manager, NCH in her presentation

outlined the rationale for the World Consumer Rights

Day-2016 - “Antibiotics off the Menu” the existing

guidelines – Advisory and voluntary, the Interventions needed to

make this theme effective, the importance of cultivating organic

foods and the recommendations to protect and promote healthy

diets.

The next session was on the theme “Consumer and

Financial Market: Risk and Returns”. In this session Shri

Uttam Agarwal, Executive Vice President & Head-La

Premier-,Bajaj Capital spoke in

detail about Financial Plan-

ning. He remarked that the

financial product guidance is an

Art as well as a Science. How-

ever, it needs to be customized-

keeping in mind the personal

need, resources available and

objectives and goals of the

individual consumer. He also

stressed on a very important

trait of a Financial Advisor, that

one should always be ethical and adopt the right approach. He

also highlighted the consumer grievance redressal mechanism

available to investors in case there is some mis-selling or fraud.

He elaborated the functioning of two regulators of the financial

services Industry – the Reserve Bank of India, which covers all

Banking transactions and the Securities and Exchange Board of

India (SEBI), which regulates the securities market activities.

Shri Uttam Agrwal, Business Head from Bajaj

Capital addressing to the participants

Vol. 9 No. 1 January—March 2016

4

Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs

visits NCH

Shri Anil Bahuguna (CSS-1998) has

been appointed as Joint Secretary,

Department of Consumer Affairs. He

joined the Department in January

2016. To acquaint with the system of

consumer grievance redressal he

visited the National Consumer

Helpline at Indian Institute of Public

Administration New Delhi on February 12, 2016.

Ms. Deepika Sur, Project Manager, National Consumer

Helpline gave a presentation on the NCH functioning, the suc-

cess of the convergence programme till date, and the benefits

it accrues to companies, emphasizing on the various aspects

of the convergence programme. Participants from these indus-

try organizations gave their valuable suggestions and concerns

about enriching the convergence programme. They also

brought out that Associations can create a platform to deliver

the message to corporates, but Govt. needs to make policy

interventions so that this process of partnering is mandatory

for corporate.

Shri Anil Bahuguna, JS, DCA

listening calls at NCH

Nutraceuticals no longer a Proprietary Food

Nutraceuticals, health and dietary supplements such as for-

tified foods and energy drinks will no longer be considered

proprietary food by India's regulator, according to revised

rules, they will have to be approved as a separate category.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

has amended regulations to fix loopholes in the definition

of proprietary food, under which approval had been sought

for several nutraceutical and health supplements as

proprietary foods.

According to the FSSAI's new regulations uploaded on its

website on January 25, proprietary food is now defined as

"...an article of food that has not been standardised under

these (Food Safety and Standards) regulations, but does not

include any novel food, food for special dietary use,

functional food, nutraceutical, health supplement and such

other articles of food which the Central Government may

notify in this behalf." The regulations specify that "the

Food Business Operator shall be fully responsible for the

safety of the proprietary food." Proprietary food shall use only

such additives as specified for the category to which the food

belongs and such category shall be clearly mentioned on the

label along with its name, nature and composition," according to

the regulations known as the Food Safety and Standards (Food

Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment

Regulations, 2016.

Nutraceuticals and food supplements will now have to be

approved under the regulations for nutraceuticals. The food

regulator recently uploaded a list of 8,000 approved additives

after setting new standards for them, the food categories in

which they can be used and their permissible limits. It is also

preparing new standards for product approval.

Cancelling Train Tickets to be Just a Phone Call Away

Cancelling a confirmed train ticket will be only a phone call

away from April. The Railways is set to launch a facility for

passengers who find it hard to reach its counters within the

stipulated time to cancel their confirmed tickets and claim

refund. To access this

service one has to dial

139 giving details of

the confirmed ticket for

cancelling it and the

sender will get a one-

time password (OTP).

The passenger has to

reach the counter the

same day and reveal the OTP to claim refund. After the

change in refund rules, a number of passengers are now

finding it difficult to reach counters to cancel the reserved

tickets within the stipulated time and as a result are losing

money. The tickets which are booked online can be cancelled

on the ticketing websites. The 139 facility is for those who

bought tickets from counters. The software is ready and the

facility is likely to be formally launched in the second week of

April.

Now you can Book Only 6 Rail Tickets Per Month

Consumer can now buy only six online train tickets a month

from one user ID. The decision was taken as it was suspected

that 10 percent users who booked 10 tickets every month — the

current limit — might be in-

volved in touting. "The move

(to limit number of online

tickets) is aimed at deterring

touts and facilitating genu-

ine passengers," a railway

official said. Among other

measures already in force are

debarring of all types of tick-

eting agents from booking

tickets during the first 30 minutes of opening of booking,

i.e. from 8am to 8.30am for general bookings, and from 10am

to 10.30am and 11am to 11.30am for Tatkal booking in AC and

non-AC classes, respectively. Booking is not allowed through e

-wallet and cash cards from 8am to 12 noon and there is only

one booking in one user login session except for return/onward

journey between 8am to 12 noon.

Vol. 9 No. 1 January—March 2016

5

Mobile app „Kishan Suvidha‟ Launched for Farmers

to take the Technology to Farm Fields

Ministry of Agriculture has launched Kisan Suvidha mobile

application for farmers to provide agricultural relevant

basic information quickly. Kisan Suvidha is an omnibus

mobile app that will provide basic information on subjects

such as market prices, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, weather

and agriculture machinery. The app has a simple interface

and the information will be available in Hindi and English.

It will provide information on five critical parameters

weather, market price, input dealers, plant protection and

expert advisories. To begin with, a farmer has to register

the mobile number, choose a language and also must enter

details of the state, district and block or sub-district.

Big Win for Net Neutrality: Telecom Regulator

Prohibits Discriminatory Tariffs for Data

Telecom regulator TRAI has prohibited discriminatory tar-

iffs for data services on the basis of content. The move is a

big blow to Facebook's

highly-controversial

'Free Basics' platform

and Airtel's zero-rated

platform 'Airtel Zero'. In

an order, 'Prohibition of

Discriminatory Tariffs

for Data Services Regu-

lation', TRAI said, "no

service provider shall

offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the

basis of content." The regulator further said that "no service

provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or

contract, by whatever name called, with any person that has

the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being

offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content."

68% of Milk Adulterated, contains „Very

Hazardous‟ Caustic Soda, White Paint : Govt

Government Bans over 344 Medicines, including 2 popular Cough Syrup

Over 68% of milk in the country does not conform to

standards laid down by the food regulator and the most

common adulterant found in it is detergent, caustic soda,

glucose, white paint and refined oil considered "very

hazardous" which could cause serious ailments, the Lok

Sabha was informed on Thursday. Science and Technol-

ogy Minister Harsh Vardhan said during Question Hour

that a new scanner has been developed which can detect

adulteration in milk in 40 seconds and can even pinpoint the

adulterant. Earlier, for every type

of adulteration, a separate chemi-

cal test was required. But now a

single scanner can do the job, he

said. There were murmurs among

members when the minister sug-

gested that these scanners could

be purchased by MPs through

their constituency funds. Though

the scanners are costly as of now, each test costs a mere 10

paisa, he said. Vardhan said in the near future, GPS-based

technology could be used to track the exact location where the

milk supplied in the cold chain has been tampered with. There

are two lakh villages in the country from where milk is col-

lected.

Government of India has banned 344 fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs, including several antibiotics and analgesic (such as codeine-containing cough syrups), as they ‗involve risk to humans‘ and safer alternatives are available. The banned medicines, which combine several active ingredients in a single formulation, are listed in a government gazette notification dated 10 March. The ban came into effect immediately. According to the notification, the govern-ment‘s expert advisory panel found the drugs had ‗no therapeutic justification.‘ The ban is aimed at curbing the misuse of such medicines. India is flooded with hundreds of FDC formulations that con-tain banned, restricted or never-approved drugs. This is due to inconsistent enforcement of laws between state and central regulators. In 2014, India set up a committee to review more than 6000 combinations that had entered the market based only on state regulators' approval. Several manufacturers of affected products, including Pfizer, Abbott, Macleods Pharma and Glenmark Pharmaceuti-cals have appealed to the High Court and received interim order lifting ban on fixed dose combination (FDC) medicines of some pharmaceutical companies, which had got relief, till March 28. however, the appeal is pending with Supreme Court.

Spicejet Asked to Pay Rs. 60,000 for Losing

Passenger‟s Luggage

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

(NCDRC) has asked SpiceJet airline to pay compensation and

penalty of Rs. 60,000 to a Tripura resident for losing his lug-

gage in one of its flights whose one out of five registered

'check-in' baggages was lost during his flight and could not be

found. Both the lower fora had granted compensation

of Rs. 50,000 in favour of Dr Ghosh. Thereafter, the airline

approached the NCDRC against the orders of the fora and

claimed that the amount awarded to Dr Ghosh was on the

higher side. However, NCDRC said that "the compensation

already granted by the fora is on the lower side" and dismissed

the airline' petition with additional costs of Rs. 10,000, to be

given to Dr Ghosh.