CONSUMERS TODAY: WHERE THEY STAND

ROTARY SADAN, KOLKATA

JUNE 21, 2004

Though India is quite rich in laws and is very good at framing them, the implementation is sadly lacking. Therefore, it is the consumer who has to play the most important role in protecting his/her own interest. This was the view that emerged at the discussion organised jointly by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) and Consumer Affairs Department, Govt. of West Bengal at Rotary Sadan on June 21.

Mr. Nazeeb Arif, Secretary General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, in his address stressed that consumer protection is very crucial especially in the era of globalisation where consumers are offered a large number of products. He pointed out that the businesses are concerned with “brand loyalty,” as they do not operate in a sellers market and would therefore try to maintain quality.

Mr. P. Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary, Consumer Affairs Dept., GoWB, informed the participants that West Bengal is the only state to have a Consumer Affairs Department and a directorate with over 500 officers spread out in all districts and some important subdivisions to spread consumer awareness and fair business practices. He mentioned that consumer grievance redressal is currently being offered through their website and till date the department has resolved 352 complaints without going to Court.

Sri Naren De, Minister-in-charge, Consumer Affairs Department, GoWB, the Guest-of-honour of the programme, mentioned about the different activities undertaken by the department to raise consumer awareness. He informed the participants about the diploma course introduced by the Netaji Subash Open University to educate consumer organisations about consumer protection issues. He stressed on the fact that consumer awareness is necessary to protect consumers from unfair trade practices.

Mr. Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS made a presentation on a seminal CUTS’ study “State of the Indian Consumer” where he compared a set of guidelines given by the UN to assist governments to frame consumer policies, against the ground realities as experienced by the Indian consumers. He spoke on basically eight consumer rights i.e. right to basic needs, right to safety, right to choice, right to information, right to consumer education, right to redressal, right to representation, and right to a healthy environment. His talk clearly brought out the state of the tardy implementation of various laws.

The moderator of the session, Mr. Prabhat K. Rohatgi, an eminent Consumer Activist, concluded the session by saying that the very informative talk was a “capsule course on consumer activism” and added that this talk could well form the basis of the course being introduced by the Netaji Subhas Open University on Consumer Affairs.

Ms. Soumi Home Roy, Research Assistant, CUTS made a presentation on her book “Is It Really Safe?” where she informed the participants about various safety aspects related to milk, edible oil, mosquito repellents, toys, emergency services and pesticides. The aim of the book is to make consumers aware about their safety related rights so that they could push for improved legislations and their implementation

The moderator of the session, Dr. Indira Chakravarty, Director Professor and Dean, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health made some valuable remarks on the issue of consumer safety.

The event drew about 125 participants from different government departments, consumer clubs in schools, chamber of commerce, academia, consumer organisations, different trade associations and media.