Savings Schemes for Consumers

Most of the private sector and public sector employees are paying a huge amount of money as income tax. This is because they don’t know much about the ways of acquiring tax exemptions. It is a common comment from most of the employees that they are fed up of paying income tax and are not able to save much. This is happening because of the poor knowledge about the taxation structure of government of India. There are a number of plans offered by various financial institutions and banks with guaranteed return, better interest rate and tax saving under Indian Income Tax Act. These plans offer better growth rate for money with assured financial security.
Banks offer fixed deposit scheme in which a certain amount of money can be deposited for a specific period with a fixed interest rate. This is an ideal scheme for a consumer who looks for a regular income. Loans and over draft facilities are available for fixed deposit and deposits of 5 years or plus are having tax exemption under section 80C. Reserve Bank Of India offer RBI relief bond with a maturity period of 5 years and the interest received at the end is free from TDS. Also in this scheme interest is compounded at every six months. These types of relief bonds also can get tax exemption.
The most easiest way to save tax is to choose one from the various savings schemes offered by Indian Postal Department. There are various plans with different interest rates like post office time deposit, post office monthly income scheme, national saving certificate, kissan vikas patra etc. All these can help to save the tax. LIC and other insurance companies like Bajaj Allianz, ICICI prudential etc also offers various saving schemes and policies with tax exemption under sec 80C.There are other types of savings called infra structure bonds which are available through ICICI and IDBI banks which provides a tax benefit for Rs. 20000/= per annum under sec 80 C. The various expenditure like LIC premium payments, contribution to employees provident fund, national saving certificate, ULIP policies, repayment of housing loans, fixed deposits with banks and post offices, infra structure bonds, tuition fees for children etc are having rebates under Income Tax Act. Under section 80CCC(1) an amount up to 10000 rupees is exempted from tax payment for the pension contribution through LIC or other insurance companies. LIC is offering Jeevan Suraksha plan for pension schemes. Under sec 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD the deduction on income tax is limited to one lakh rupees. Under section 80 D, there is an eligibility of deduction up to Rs.10000 ( in case of senior citizen up to Rs.15000) can be obtained for the premium paid by cheque towards health insurance policy like Mediclaim. Such health insurance premium can include spouse and dependents (parents or children) under sec 80D. There is also conditional exemption for interest paid to bank loans for the purchase or construction of house up to an amount of Rs. 150000. So always it is advisable to get a good idea about how you can save your money.

A Consumer’s Right

As a consumer, we all expect to get the correct measure of whatever we are buying by paying money. If there were no control over this, there are chances that a lot of consumers will be cheated. Many years ago people used to check the weighing balance thoroughly to ensure that the shopkeepers are not cheating them by using false balances. There are many ways followed by the shopkeepers to cheat the consumers in the measurements of the products they buy. One of the tricks is to stick some magnets to the balance so that the actual quantity of the product will be less by few grams. Similarly extra metal pieces are welded to the measuring cups which are used to sell liquids like oil. They even add small pieces of stones, especially in cereals to increase their weight while measuring. But now a days, these practices have reduced a lot after the government started implementing the laws regarding this. Even then these malpractices still exists but not as much as it used to be.
The right of a consumer to get the correct weights and measures is protected through the Weights and Measures Act, 1976. It defines different units to measure different products. No other units should be used for measuring the consumer products. For example, the standard measure for length is metre. This ensures that one shop should not sell a cloth by specifying its measurement in feet. The price of the cloth should also be specified according to this measurement. This allows the consumers to compare prices of different materials and also from different shops. A Weights and Measures License should be with every shop. This is issued after testing and validating the measuring instruments used in that shop.
This act is also applicable to the sales of packaged commodities. According to this act, every packet of item should have information like product name, manufacturing date, expiry date, address of the manufacturer and MRP. The packet should also contain the contact details in case there is any consumer complaint regarding that product. And it is also the responsibility of the manufacturer to respond to these complaints. If it does not happen, the consumers can take legal action.
As a smart consumer, one should ensure that he gets the right quality of the item as mentioned in the packet or as promised by the retailer. A consumer has the right to check a measuring instrument in case he is not satisfied with the measurement or he suspects that he is cheated. He can confirm the measurement by checking it using authorized measuring instruments. The consumers should definitely check the label on the package as this information is given for their benefit only. They should check the manufacturing and expiry dates thoroughly. If they find any flaws with any product or retailer, it is their responsibility to give a complaint to the consumer forum. By doing this there is a big chance that such malpractices are reduced and you can save a lot of other consumers from being cheated.

Shopping Angels – A New Experience to Consumers

Now the consumers do not need to worry about shopping in a metro city which is completely a new place to them. Shopping angels are there to help them. A shopping angel is an agent who can guide you in shopping. They know about the availability of different products, the places where they are available and the price levels. Shopping angels is the latest trend in customer support and is launched by Blue Foot Cultural Consultancy in Bangalore. There are almost hundred shopping angels working either full time or part time in this consultancy who are helping the consumers in shopping. Actually these shopping angels are having close association with most of the malls and shops where they are having a discount for the products. They are charging around 750 to 1500 rupees per day for their assignments at Bangalore and around 4500 rupees for other cities. These shopping angels are familiar with the nook and corner of the city. They will guide you to the locations where you can find your requirements like saris, bags, sandals, electronic items and so on. There are fashion designers, engineers, architects and artists among these shopping angels. If you want to buy oil paintings, the consultancy will arrange an artist to assist you in your shopping. Or if you want to buy saris or kurthis or accessories, you can get the help of a fashion designer.
I met a shopping angel when I was shopping at the Forum mall in Bangalore. She was assisting a family in shopping costumes and accessories for the marriage of their daughter. Initially I thought that the shopping angel is a customer care person of the shop as she was guiding them and at same time interacting with the sales executives at counters. I just asked the angel whether she is from some event management company as shopping angels are a new concept to me. She spent two minutes with me to explain about them. At the end of their shopping, I asked that family about their experience in shopping under the guidance of a shopping expert. They told me that they got a discount of 25000 rupees for their total purchase of 2 lakh rupees. That family told that it is the fourth time they are coming to Bangalore for shopping and by listening to the bluffing of hotel receptionists and taxi drivers, they have wasted a lot of money and time. But by spending around 1200 rupees for that angel, they could complete their shopping within one day and saved a lot as they got better discounts for their purchases. These angels know exactly all the shopping locations where you get items at reasonable rate, whether it is antique items, leather items, interior decoration items etc and are well known about the easiest and less traffic roads to such locations which will help you save a lot of time. After hearing their experience, I decided that if I am going to shop for more than 30000 rupees, definitely I will take the assistance of a shopping angel.

Consumer Awareness: Chennai Auto Rickshaw

It is very hard to believe that the Chennai Auto Rickshaw drivers are making more money than their counterparts anywhere in India. However, those who have been to Chennai may be aware that there are chances for that because they always demand more from the customers even for a short distance journey. Let me explain to you how this works.
Before starting, I wanted to tell you some of the assumption that we have made based on data collected from other valuable sources such as internet, and so on. We have assumed that every auto rickshaw travels around 100 Kms per day. However, some of the auto rickshaw drivers used to travel more than 150 Kms per day. Therefore, we decided to keep the average distance travelled by the auto rickshaw as 100 Kms per day.
In the beginning, the auto rickshaw drivers have to spend a huge amount. However if we consider the amount of profit they are making, it is nothing big. An auto rickshaw will cost around two lakhs rupees, the auto permit and driving license will cost around INR 5500. Therefore, they need to spend hardly around INR 150 per day to pay off this debt.
Most of the auto rickshaws in India give an average mileage up to 35 Kms per litre. However, the minimum average is 22 Kms per litre. Therefore, let us take the average mileage as 22 Kms per litre. The cost of petrol per litre and oil will cost him INR 60. Therefore, to travel 100 Kms the auto need less than 5 litres of petrol. The fuel costs INR 300. Suppose the auto rickshaw driver is spending INR 1000 per month for maintenance. Per day, it will cost him only around INR 33.
The minimum auto rickshaw fare is INR 21 for the first 2 Kms and INR 9 for every additional kilometer. Therefore, let us take the average fare per kilometer as INR 10. Since the auto rickshaw travels 100 Kms per day, they will make INR 1000 per day. However, they will make around INR 2000 or 3000 per day because they will never user the meter and if their customers are traveling for the first time, they will make more money. The auto rickshaw driver has to spend around INR 400 to INR 450 for petrol, maintenance and for paying off the debt. They will be making a good profit even if they charge the consumers based on the meter fare. However, they still charge a very high amount from the customers.
I have no idea why this is continuing for a very long time. Does it show the inefficiency of the government officials or the government itself? We can see many complaints and reports regarding the Chennai auto rickshaw. After seeing all these issues, one of the police officer had the courage to oppose this. That officer was a woman. She was doing her job perfectly and confiscated the auto rickshaws that did not follow the rule. However, she was transferred to another post with promotion. The government gave her a promotion because no one will create any problem regarding the transfer of that officer. This shows that there are many influential persons involved in this business. They are making very good profit and this fact is unknown to most of the customers. To protest against this, a group was formed in some of the social networking sites like facebook to stop using auto for a single day. This protest may have some impacts but nothing big.

Out of reach of consumers

In the past one year the cost of vegetables and other grocery items increased drastically and it is quiet surprising that the common man is adjusting his belly and not resisting the hikes. The cost of vegetables like beans, potatoes, onion etc have risen to such an extent that some middle class families started consuming non vegetarian food regularly as it is a cheaper option. Middle class families have now started to rethink their daily menus. We can see a crowd now a days in the department stores and other government outlets where prices are comparatively lower. The high prices are especially affecting lower middle class families having fixed monthly income. The price hike made families to stick to one vegetable along with food while earlier they were able to consume multiple dishes. I still remember my earlier days at Chennai when the prices of vegetables were less. If I am buying vegetables for 100 rupees, I get enough quantity and it was sufficient for our 3-member family for a couple of weeks. Now a days, 250 rupees is not enough to purchase vegetables for a week. Earlier cereals were very common in our menus, which has become a rare item for us now due to the price hike.
The one major reason which caused the price hike is the heavy rain that happened few months back which has badly affected the crops. But even after the end of rainy season merchants are selling the commodities at a higher rate for their additional benefit even though the farmers are getting a nominal price for their products. The increased transportation charges due to hike in fuel price has also lead to the increase in the cost of consumables. But unfortunately the government has not done any sincere attempts to control the price hike. Even though the government has now started importing vegetables from other countries, the price hike is not under control. Consumers in a state like Kerala which is totally depended on other states for the agricultural products, are severely affected due to the short supply and hence the price hike. There is only one way to control the prices of these commodities. This is by developing new agricultural method and better productivity seeds. Also the consumers can start cultivating vegetables and fruits required for their daily use in their house itself. This does’t requires a huge land area and even it can be done on the terrace or in the available land. The best example is the Union Minister of State for Agriculture Mr. K. V. Thomas who has cultivated lot of vegetables in his official residence and distributed it among his colleagues and even to the Prime Minister. Most of the agricultural research centres are actively behind developing improved seeds, latest cultivation techniques and machineries. In earlier period cultivation was totally depended on manpower and involved a huge labour, but now a days you can see only few people working with the aid of latest technology and making the harvest in a huge area. There is no doubt that there should be a green revolution in order to see all these costlier vegetables in the kitchen of a common man.

A Comfortable Sleep for Consumers

Even though a product like mattress is very common and an unavoidable material in your daily life, there are many factors that should be considered while purchasing it. In fact it should always be kept in mind that a sound sleep is one of the most important things needed for a healthy life. And for sound sleep the comfort is the most important factor. Thus when you are looking for a comfortable and relaxing sleep, it is necessary to have a good mattress. You should always remember that sleeping on a bad quality mattress can even lead to chronic back_ ache.

Though there are lots of retail stores that can sell quality mattresses of different brands, your choice should always be made according to the comfort you need. One of the most important consideration to be made while buying mattresses is the adjustability and the prefect size of the mattress. To have a better understanding of the comfort and adjustment level of the mattress you need to check the side support quality of the items that you have selected. The side support is the thrust of the mattress on the body. It is important because this provides support for the spine and helps the body to maintain comfortable posture while sleeping. In this respect it is essential to note that though the side support can be checked at the shop itself. It is always better to go for a trial to understand the desired side support level.

In case of most good quality mattresses, cotton or damask blended fabrics are used in order to allow good air circulation. This keeps the internal temperature of the mattress normal, and it increases the comfort level of the users. For a standard mattress, the coil spring is one of the important support features that should be noted. In case of a standard mattress the coil spring count is 300 and in case of a king size mattress it is 450. Also in case of a queen size mattress the coil count is 375. Thus it is also a better choice to purchase a mattress with standard equivalent or better than these coil counts for the good life of the mattress and it is also good for the health of the consumers. Other than this, the importance of the price of the mattress is also an important thing. In fact the point is that you should always take care of your budget and choose your mattresses according to your needs. Other than that, there are also some other things that should be kept in mind for the proper choice of the mattresses for a better and comfortable sleep. We had purchased a double coat mattress 8 years back from Coirfed, which is one of the reputed manufacturer of mattresses. They use coir fabrics for better cushioning and we found that it is far better than other brands as it gives a sound sleep and it is comparatively cheaper. Over this period the cushioning effect has not changed. I suggest that everybody should go for such branded products for a healthier life.

A Consumer’s Tip : Online Shopping

Online shopping is very tempting because it offers the lowest price that the consumers cannot find in any of the retails shops for all the branded items. However, there are many problems surrounding this. Therefore, the customers have to be very careful when buying products online. They should never assume that the website’s protection program would protect them from all the frauds because if the company is offering the lowest price, then the probability of getting a good product is very less. There are chances that the product may not be shipped to the customer or if they are damaged while shipping, the company will not replace it. Therefore, the consumer should make purchases only from reputed online shopping websites that offer good policies than complaining in the future.
The customers should make sure that he reads the privacy policy of that website before signing up, because there are chances that their personal information will be passed on to other websites and the customer’s inbox would be bombarded with spam mails. Therefore, it is better to use a separate mail for doing online shopping. They should give more importance to the return policy, i.e. if they are not happy with the product or if it is a faulty product, they need to send it back to the company. For that, the website might charge money from the customers. The company will deduct the shipping expenses from the refund amount. While making purchases online it is better to follow the normal payment options followed by the reputed website. Therefore, the chances of cheating the customers are comparatively low. The customers should periodically check their emails for the offers from the website and make purchases when they have given them some attractive offers.
While making online purchases the consumers should always make sure that, they have some proof for the purchases they made. For that they should take a print out or note down the company’s name, phone number, address, order confirmation page or a page that contains the description of the products that the consumer had purchased. It is better to have a print out of their policies so that the consumer can refer it when he finds time. The consumers should always keep the mails that we have received while making the transaction because it will be useful in the future if the company gave them a faulty product or when they have not received the product that they have ordered.
For the safety of the customers, it is better to use some of the best security software because the number of cyber crimes is increasing daily. The customer should make sure that the security software includes antivirus, antispam, and antispyware. The customers should be aware of the phishing because phishers will fake send mails to the customer’s email address and they will ask the consumer to verify the mail. When they click such links, the phisher will get all the details about the consumer including the credit card number, pin number,etc and the phisher will use the consumer’s credit card for making online purchases.

Be A Smart Consumer.

All of us might have purchased one or other type of packaged items from shops. Have you ever spend time to check the correct value of the product. The price printed on the packet is called maximum retail price ( MRP ) and it is the right of all consumers to get a particular item in the same printed price. As a part of weights and measures act of government of India, the MRP should be printed on every packaged commodity by the manufacturer and the retailer doesn’t have any rights to change the printed value. Even though the retailer can sell the product below the printed MRP, they are not allowed to sell it at a higher price than MRP. In case of any violation, the consumer is having the privilege to approach the court to prosecute the seller. Most of the retailers make advantage of many ignorant consumers by selling their products at a higher rate. In some particular occasions, some of the retailers take advantage of selling the commodity at higher rate and is punishable as per the act. For example, the price of the products in a shop in an isolated area is likely to be higher than MRP and there is no way for the consumers other than paying the amount as there will not be any other shop nearby. Even then the consumer is having all the rights to file consumer case against such shops

Today’s version of MRP was adapted in December 1990. Earlier the manufacturer had the option of printing the price of their commodities in two ways. The first option was that they can print the retail price and the local taxes separately. And according to the second option maximum retail price, inclusive of all taxes is printed on the cover.At that time there were many consumer complaints that merchants were over-charging by adding additional local taxes on product. This led to the new rule regarding MRP in 1990. This rule was made to end the complaints and confusion of over charging for products. The change was made by the Ministry of Civil Supplies and the Department of Legal Metrology.

If a seller is trying to charge more than the MRP, it is the right of the consumers to question it. A consumer should never compromise on hearing any explanation given by the seller regarding this.The consumers should always try to obtain full information regarding quality and price before making any purchases, especially for costly items. Most of the shopkeepers are very tricky and they may try to influence the consumers, and hence one should not blindly believe what a seller says about a product. The consumers should be very careful about false or misleading advertisement. Most of the time cheating happens when you are doing your shopping in a hurry. So it is better to avoid shopping in a hurried manner. The consumers can file a complaint with the District Forum if they feel that they have been over-charged for any packaged product. Since hotels and restaurants are not covered under the MRP act, they can sell a product even at a higher price than MRP.

An Unavoidable Gadget Among Consumers

It has to be admitted that mobile phones became an unavoidable product in our day to day life. Even now it is common that school students are carrying the mobile phones. Now a days mobile phone manufactures and service providers are keen in generating new consumers and are having well defined sales strategies. 10 years back mobile phone was an expensive item and the bill amount of the service providers was also quite high. Incoming calls are totally free now except for roaming calls .Even recharge vouchers for 20 rupees are common in the market which makes many consumers to use the phone. Especially by the flood of cheap Korean made handsets in the market, more and more consumers are attracted to the world of mobile communication. As one among the million consumer of mobile phone, I would like to share my personal views regarding the advantages and disadvantages of this gadget.

Let us look in to the advantages first. The major advantage is that it keeps you always in touch with your friends, relatives and other important people. In emergency cases, it is very helpful to contact others. Even without SIM card SOS message can be send from most of the handsets. You can listen to stored music, FM radios or videos while travelling and during free time. The usage of memory cards makes it easy to view even movies in the handset. It is also having useful functions like calculator, note pad, alarm clock, timer , reminders etc. Most of the mobile phones also have a camera with good resolution to pick the images with quality equivalent to that of a still camera. Mobile phones give an easy access to internet and email. For example my blackberry handset help me to receive and send my mails easily. The facility like USB port helps to take the print out directly without routing the data through a computer.Some of the mobile phones are introduced with torch light and is helpful in emergency.

Even though mobiles phones makes our life easy, we should see the negative part of them also. You should be very careful in choosing a service provider. If you are not conscious, they may empty your pocket. Especially we should choose the cheapest service provider with the best package suitable for us. Now a days most of the people are spending more time with mobiles phones than with their family and friends. It makes people lazy as most of the communications are done by phone calls and it avoids physical presence. Sometimes it is a disturbance during working hours and other activities. Several recent studies reveals that it affects the health of people due to emission of radiation. The biggest disadvantages we are facing is the road accidents happening due to the usage of mobile phones while driving. Now a days most of the car manufactures are coming out with bluetooth enabled speakers which avoids the diversion of concentration while driving. Even most of the state government is treating the usage of phones while driving as a traffic offence and punishable. As per my experience we should carry the handset but the usage should be restricted to limit the disadvantage. Also one should budget the usage as per their capacity and try to use it only in unavoidable situations. It is also highly recommended that we should not use mobile phones phone while driving.

Influence of Media on Consumers

Ever since mass media became a ‘mass media’, companies have naturally used this means of communications to let the customers know about their new products as well as their existing products. Advertising is an artistic way of influencing the customers to buy their company’s new products. Advertisements are made in such a way that the human brain will not be able to recover from their fantasy world and think further about the product. There is nothing wrong with that, as it allows innovative ideas and concepts to be shared with others. However, as the years have progressed, the sophistication of advertising methods and techniques has advanced. They will picture it in such a way that the product is a necessity for the consumers even if it is very expensive.
There are many ways in which both media and advertisers influence the consumers through deceptive means. Their main target is the teenagers and the college students because they spend lots of money to buy products each year. They make their purchasing decisions based on false logic implanted into their brains by the mass media. These advertisements focus purely on business profits.
In this competitive market, companies spend crores of rupees on advertising to win the hearts of the customers and influence them to buy their company’s products. Since a large amount is spend on the advertising, the advertiser should make sure that nothing negative about the company gets reported otherwise they will lose their business and won’t be able to stay alive in this competitive market.
All the consumers give much importance to the advertisement and we have created a weakness for us, which will cause us troubles in the near future. However, we should make sure that we should not be fooled by what the advertisers project to us about the product. These advertisers are people themselves, who realize our weaknesses and prey upon us. They make our national economy weaker as we buy more and more products, which will eventually increase our personal debts. To pay off these debts we try to work extra time. Some may be able to get out of that, while some cannot. They have to get help from somewhere to pay of the debts. Everything happened because deceptive advertising convinced them that they need the new car, home, apparels, jewellery, and so on. The consumer are not aware that they can survive with the bare essentials. They only need the four basic things: food, water, shelter, and clothing. The rest are completely unnecessary and may add burden to the consumer’s life in the future. There is no use in complaining about it later in life.
As a consumer, we should search for the reviews and reports about the product before deciding on which product to buy and also whether we really need it or not as we can survive with the basic needs. In addition, we should make sure that we could afford that luxury, so that it will not make u bankrupt in the future.

Consumer’s Tip

When a consumer decides to buy a new product for their home or office, he/she will be confused on which brand to choose. There are over 1, 00, 000 companies in India, which manufactures different kinds of products for the consumers. Each product they make has an advantage or a disadvantage over the other brands. Most of the advertisements that come on television, newspaper and other media are always tempting and they will exaggerate some of the features. They know it very well that the customers will definitely fall for it, if they do such things. The result is, the consumers will buy it and if it is a faulty product, they have to run behind the company to get it repaired or replaced. Repairing a faulty product is a headache than buying a new product. Therefore, the consumers should be very cautious when they want to buy a new product.
There are ways to avoid these kinds of problems. One of the best ways is to search in the internet. In this era, we can find information about anything on the internet. Now many websites are there to help the consumers to choose the best products. There are some parameters such as company report, product rating, and product reviews, which help the consumers to understand the performance of a company and its products. Company reports help the consumers to know how the company is currently performing in the market. Ratings for company report is based on all its products that are currently in the market. The product review is the opinion of the customers who have used that particular product or on behalf of someone who have used that product. Product rating is the rating given to that product based on the product reviews written by the customers. Like these, there are so many other keywords. Only thing is the name varies but the purpose of use remains the same.
There are some websites, which is dedicated in writing product reviews of all the products that is available in the market. These reviews are written by experts who have years of experience in their fields. In these websites, the consumers can find the full specification, pricing, features of the products. Some website allows the consumer to do comparison between the products of different brands. This is definitely a very big help for the confused consumer.
The consumers should visit only the websites that have a very good reputation and that website should have a very large number of visitors per day. A good example is the Consumerdaddy website. It is India’s largest consumer portal with consumer reports of over 40000 companies and 200000 products. In this website, the consumers can write praises, criticisms or even file a complaint.
You should always try to search in as many websites as possible to get more details about the product that you are going to buy, and come to a conclusion based on the data that you have collected from the internet. Hope this will help some of the confused consumers.

Credit Cards : Boon or Bane for Consumers?

There are different types of features in credit cards available to the customers. Some of the credit cards suit the customer’s financial situation better than others. The hard part is finding the feature that suits a customer and won’t be a burden for him in the future. Some of the features found in the credit cards are Business, Balance Transfer, Cashback, Frequent Flyer, Gold & Platinum, Low Annual Fee, Low Interest, No Annual Fee, Purchases, Rewards, and Student.
Customers who are using credit cards should make sure that they follow the guidelines provided by the banks properly. Some of the things that the customers should make sure while using the credit card balance transfer feature are mentioned here. We should make our payments on time because if we skip or miss the due date we have to pay very heavy fines or high interests. These kinds of accounts will give an introductory low or no rate period which is usually three, six, nine or twelve months. To make better use of these kinds of accounts we have to make sure when the introductory rate ends and should try to pay off majority of our debts during this period. Never use these credit cards for cash advances. These credit cards are really very helpful to pay off large amounts of accumulated debt. These cards are not good for withdrawing cash or making purchases because they always attract a higher rate of interest and it may increase our debts. So always pay attention to what the banks are advertising and do some research online to know more details about the offers. If we use the credit card balance transfers feature properly, it is the best way to reduce our debts.
Now about the No Annual Fee feature, usually there are two types of No Annual Fee credit card, one is the cards that have no annual fees till the expiry date and the second one is the card that offer the first year free as part of an introductory offer. Sometimes we need to pay membership fee for these types of cards because that card may have some add-on privileges. So it is really important to read the documents before applying so that we don’t run into any unexpected problems in the future. Usually the No Annual Fee cards are very basic cards that are not suitable for cash advances, balance transfers, and usually don’t have a rewards programme. They have higher interest rates and are therefore is more suitable for people who pay off their balance each month within the interest free days. If the customers are able to do this, they can avoid paying the credit card companies any fees or interest charges.
Next is the Low Interest, the banks charge a very low interest rates from the customers but there will be some limit on the amount of money they can spend or use for paying debts and so on. These low interest cards will not be having any interesting value added features.
Next one is the Rewards, for the customers that use their credit cards often get some value added feature free of cost like discount while booking train or flight tickets, lower interest rate or lower interest period and so on.

The Silent Consumer

The silent consumer is an irony but nonetheless very much true. This is advocated by the fact that the consumers are silent. Practically, something that is impossible has found its way into the lives of the people. The rates of daily groceries and basic amenities have doubled up in the past 4-5 years. Is this not a cause for concern? The rates of inflation are going up and not one of the fancy ‘Netas’ seems to be putting in any effort towards sorting this mess.This is a country, where in the past the average consumer would have hit the streets in order to protest the rising prices. There have been a number of successful movements in the past which helped fight the price rises and these movements were not choreographed by some political party or a religious group but by the people who consume these goods. The customers of the various products were the people who fought against and spearheaded these movements against price hikes and galloping inflation rates.In the country’s history there was one instance in which a one paisa hike in tram fares was protested by the people. That was an age when there were more farmer strikes and lesser farmer suicides, and better consumer protection. The difference in these facts is evident. The consumers have gone silent. Too chicken hearted to fight for their rights, and this attitude is in no way helpful.The middle class who used to lead these protests now does not care much about spending time and energy into orchestrating strikes and movements; rather they have found another means of taking care of the so called price hikes. The usage of credit cards has gone up considerably; there is only one answer to this. The consumers are resorting to purchasing with credit cards. There is no dearth of money as the credit cards are being used to take care of the situation “for the moment”.Drivers, small time truck owners are the most affected due to the hike in fuel prices. A number of people in the lower strata are bearing the brunt of the rising prices. The so called political leaders seem to be scheming to look for the perfect time to raise the prices so that by providing some kind of reassurance to the people they can gain political mileage. The consumers do not stand a chance in this situation. Fighting with silence is not fighting but asad reminder that the people cannot stand up for their own consumer rights.. The usage of credit cards will eventually catch up with the people and will end up strangling them harder than ever as the interest rates will rise too.Houses, school education, LPG, rice and pulses are among the other commodities whose prices have gone up. The average school fees has also doubled in the past five years. With the salaries of the people remaining standard and the rising prices, there is only one thing left to do before the consumers are fully pushed over the edge, and that is to fight back.

Looking for a house loan then read on….

Consumers are getting more and more frustrated by paying house rents. The rent amount which is demanded is really absurd nowadays and the rent is different in every area. When the popularity of the area increases, the rent also increases simultaneously. Everyone is looking forward to buy their own house to get rid of this problem. They can rather pay the interest instead of paying the rent. When the decision for buying a new home is made, and everyone in the family would be excited. The only problem is to find the money that is needed to get the house. The best option is to apply for a house loan and go along with it, you get tax benefits too.
For starters who do not know anything about loan, here are few tips on how to decide the perfect bank which would suit you and your needs. There are two types of banks which are the private and the government owned bank. The government owned bank generally offers less interest rates but the process is always hectic when compared to the private sectors. The private sectors have a higher rate of interest but the process is simple. There is also difference in the rate of interest; we have the option of getting floating interests and the fixed loan amounts.
The quantum of loan varies from each person’s income and assets. So when looking for the loan, it is very important that you find the particular bank which provides the amount of loan that you expect. Each bank will look into your credit rating, financial security and income. Regarding the factor, each bank will decide on the amount of loan that they sanction.
Interest rate is really important when it comes for getting a loan from any bank. When the interest rates are high, we are stuck with paying that much amount to the bank every month. Consider you have taken a loan for the amount of 10 lakhs and the interest rate is 10 percent then you end up paying ten thousand to the bank every month. So the higher the rate of interest, higher you need to pay every month. But even when you are in a fixed interest rate, then it is subjected to change when there is an overall change in the interest rate.It is better to find out which bank will benefit you and whether they have good customer service and if they are customer oriented or money oriented. All these factors play an important role when you are choosing a bank for housing loan. Ask other people who already have house loan and ask about their experience. Find out if the bank has dropped the interest rate for their existing customers when the rate of interest falls in the particular bank. If the bank is customer oriented then they will extend the service to their existing customers else it means they are money oriented. The banks authorities should be very responsible and mention all the details about the loan before asking you to sign any documents. If they do not do any such thing and pressurize you to sign the document then it is best to avoid such banks.
Prepayment penalty should be feasible in the bank because when you get a lump sum in the near future, then paying off some amount of money for the loan will reduce the monthly payment you make to the bank. There are many customer reviews online where consumers have written about their problems with the bank. Their experience will give you an idea and you can approach the bank which suits your needs.

Mobile Developments

The Department of Telecom is finally gearing up for the auction of 3G spectrum all set to start on the 9th of April 9, 2010 (finally). The department has also ramped up its IT network to ensure that the bidding proceeds smoothly at least this time. There has been a lot of discussion about the 3G spectrum and the auction of its license in the recent past and more often than not, it seemed a distant dream for a large majority of the Indian mobile users to avail this facility. The bidding is to be conducted online and the department of telecom has ensured that there would not be any reason for failure from its side. As a precaution it has set up servers in three cities in the country and an additional server to provide back up in the case of a security breach or a calamity. There are also soft copies being generated at regular intervals, hence in the case of any kind of a mishap the data can be loaded using the soft copies. The online auction would continue till 7.30 PM everyday and the various players are also moving their cards very carefully in order to strike a major deal. The various participating companies are also taking up positions across the country and bidding from three or four locations. They have also made preparations to simultaneously back up the data on their own servers as a precaution. Anyone will be able to view the proceedings of the auction by logging in to the DoT website; it will keep providing updated information about the auction and its proceedings all the time. The extra servers are supposed to take care of the load that it might experience and to take a part of the burden to ensure that the server does not crash due to the heavy traffic.In other developments, the 2G licenses which seemed to have a number of irregularities are to be looked into by the department. It is reported that there has been a loss of around Rs. 26,685 crore to the exchequer. The irregularities were observed when the licenses were issued in 2008. Vodafone has also introduced a new browser for its 2G users. The new opera mini is all set to be launched in India with its mobile handsets for 2G enabled mobiles. The advantage of this new browser is that it is aimed at the low cost mobile which would see a substantial growth in the number of subscribers.TRAI is to seek clarification on the delay of introducing Mobile Number Portability in the country. This service was scheduled to have been introduced in January but has been postponed as many of the telecom operators are yet to upgrade their networks. This service essentially provides a consumer the ability to switch from one network to another without changing the phone number. The TRAI chief is to write to the DoT soon seeking clarification on the subject. The discussion is also likely to involve key network operators.

Banking and Consumers

The evolution of technology in the banking sector is growing fast. In less than ten years, we had the ATM then internet banking and now we have mobile banking. It is really useful for many consumers as they can make all their payments at the comfort of their homes. No need to stand in huge queues and wasting their precious times.
The Reserve Bank of India has increased the limit of mobile banking from 15,000 Rs to a whooping amount of 50,000 Rs which enables consumers to access their debit/credit cards through the fund transfer instruction sent by their mobile phones. Earlier, the daily limit of fund transfer was only 5000 Rs and for the purchase of goods and services, it was 10,000 Rs for all consumers. A lot of consumers had problems with the limit as they were not able to book their flight tickets or make any other expensive transaction through their mobile phones. So, the Reserve Bank of India decided to raise the limit to 50,000 Rs.
This increase was made provided assured security services were given to the transaction made by the consumers through their mobile phones. Two way encryptions of the transaction must be made feasible when money is transferred using mobile banking. But, this would definitely work out expensive and consumers will be given an atrocious amount of service charges for this. So, the Reserve Bank of India decided that the transaction of 1000 Rs of below does not any two way encryption.
If cash is delivered to the recipient then the limit is 5000 Rs per transaction and only 25,000 Rs can be transacted per month. Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India had left that particular decision to the Banks organization. For cash delivery, each bank had set their own limit for consumers who prefer to use mobile banking for their transaction.
It is a great option for consumers to rely on mobile banking and internet banking. They should remember the consequences where, there are millions of hackers waiting to get their hands on any information possible to steal the hard earned money of the consumers. Resort to mobile and internet banking only after you make sure that appropriate safety measures are enforced in that particular banks. Recently, ICICI banks was hacked and a lot of sensitive information about the consumers where leaked to the hackers. It is a really spooky factor to even ponder about. A lot of people have gone bankrupt because, all the money in their account was transferred to an unknown account. If the issue was noticed earlier, then the money can be retrieved easily but if no one notices it then the money is gone forever. Consumers should be very sensible when they use such banking option. Never give any chance for the hackers to get hold of your details.

Nationalized bank fined for losing crucial documents

People take loans for buying houses, cars etc, and the bank claims the ownership of the property till the amount is paid. What happens if the bank loses crucial documents that was submitted at the time of the procurement of the loan? Recently such an incident happened where a nationalized bank lost the sale deed of the apartment of Janardhan B Kotian. Kotian got justice in NCDRC, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, when the state consumer commission refused to hear him out.
Kotian wanted to get a loan for a apartment and he applied in the Bank of Baroda. Since he was an employee there, the bank agreed to give him a housing loan of amount two lakhs and twenty five thousand rupees. In addition to that, he got a loan amount of rupees eighty five thousand in HDFC bank. He had to give the sale deed of the apartment and the original possession letter for him to get the loan; the same policy is applied in other banks too. The Bank of Baroda has given him the receipt for the two vital documents.
In November 2000, Kotian wanted to sell his apartment, he pre-closed his loan by paying the entire loan amount to the bank. When Kotian asked for his document, the bank was unable to trace them. The bank had asked his to go ahead with the sales and no problem would come forth but the potential buyer was not interested in a place with no documents. To pay the advance back to the potential buyer, Kotian had to borrow money from a financier with 2% interest.
Kotian filed a criminal complaint against the bank official claiming physical and mental harassment. He also took the matter to the consumer commission where he was shot down and the bank asked to procure a duplicate copy of the agreement. Kotian took the issue to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) where they were in favor of Kotian. The commission after hearing the case said that the state commission had interpreted the issue in the wrong way.
Kotian had proof that the bank had lost the crucial documents. He had all the necessary documents against the bank. The bank was under a legal obligation to safeguard the documents and by failing to do so, it has to pay compensation. The commission ordered the Bank to pay a sum of 25,000 rupees and the commission also directed the bank to take responsibility for its mistake by issuing a certificate to Kotian. The certificate should state that the documents were misplaced by the bank and the bank will be solely responsible if any artificial documents come up in the future.
These kinds of incidents happen everywhere, banks and other powerful organization use their power to cheat consumers. So take issues in your hand and fight for your justice. It will definitely be worth it.

Fight for what is Yours!

Who are you? Have you ever been asked this question? At least by yourself in the mirror? All of us know who we are, friend to someone, child to someone, parent to someone and so on. Let us look at a slightly bigger picture, the society or neighborhood. Who are we then? An important person, or a well known person, or the next door guy who greets people with a smile. Everyone is someone, and in the biggest picture, everyone is a consumer. How is that?

Do you consume? Anything? Any product? Then you are a consumer. You are a consumer to the economy, to the government, to the billion valued multinationals and to the low income earning vegetable vendor. So as consumers, what is our primary duty? To consume, of course… and what is our secondary duty? It is upholding the consumer rights. Now this is something not many are aware of, or I should say, are ignorant of.

The Indian attitude towards consumer issues is simple; it can be defined in one word. “Adjusting”. You don’t get the paper on time, you adjust, you do not get your milk packet on time, you wait for it. This is advisable if the case is of one day, but is that so? People adjust themselves to adjusting to things, and people include you, me and everyone else. The adjusting doesn’t stop with the milk and newspaper, it can very well go on throughout the day and into the night. The local watchman who goes around collecting money for staying up all night buys a nice stock of liquor for himself and passes out. We are his consumers, and yet we adjust. What are we going to get by adjusting? The answer is NOTHING. Nothing of value can be obtained, rather the things we procure by adjusting lose their value when you pay something more than your money for it.

Why should we argue with the shopkeeper? Why should we argue with the mail man? Neighbors look at you in a weird manner if you stand up for your right, and to avoid standing out in the crowd we ignore the issues for which we should have given importance and nipped in the bud. This simple thing of ignoring to avoid confrontation has snowballed into the lazy consumer attitude today. A shop nearby sells goods at exorbitant rates and another shop a bit far away sells it at the right prices. But the shop nearby gets maximum sales because people tend to ignore questioning the shopkeeper for selling at higher rates.

When the people affected the most (i.e.: consumers) themselves aren’t too bothered about standing up for their rights why should the government bother? The government gets its share from sources that keep it oiled and greased and silent. Then why would it care if you get what you want or not?

When the government and the people both prefer being silent then why should the vendors and manufacturers bother about us? The attitude they have is quality or not, these people will buy. Right from the days of British Colonialism this has been the attitude.” My product did not get sold anywhere in the world, I am going to India”, and we happily take all the crap that is thrown at us and keep mum. Nobody is going to bother about us. It is we who are getting robbed and plundered, it is we who have to stand up against it and fight for what is ours.

An Additional Consumer Panel Bench for Tamil Nadu

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) has decided to have a circuit bench in Madurai and an additional bench in Chennai. This is done to dispose the cases within 90 days as given in the Consumer Protection Act (1987). This is really good for the people of Tamil Nadu. The government is taking consumer issues seriously and is expanding the bench so as to solve the cases quickly.

According to the sources, the state government has issued an order to approve the appointing of two judicial members to the SCRDC. The process of appointment has commenced already. The additional bench in Chennai and the circuit bench in Madurai will be up and running in a month’s time. The sources said that the government is yet to approve appropriate infrastructure for the circuit bench that is being constructed in Madurai. They are yet to decide whether they want to use one or two floors for the hearings.

The circuit bench in Madurai is a permanent feature but the manner of its functionality is yet to be decided. They are deciding on whether they should make it a branch of SCDRC and receive application for day-to-day hearings or have scheduled sittings. The two new judicial members can be in charge of the additional bench in Chennai and also the circuit bench in Madurai. More than 2800 cases are pending and nearly 1200 are from the southern districts.
Consumers are eager for the additional benches as it will lead to speedy disposal of cases and the consumers can save a lot of time and money. There is a common thinking among the consumers that getting justice from consumer court is a long and a tough process. They feel that they will spend a lot of money and energy for no reason. No justice can ever be gained by this. But the steps taken by the state government will be widely appreciated. Consumers know that they are not neglected by the government anymore.

I personally feel that it is good that the government is taking various steps. But appealing to the court alone does not guarantee any justice. People need to fight for it and they rarely win the cases because the company wins as they have the money power to hire good lawyers. The only way for the consumers to be protected is by being informed. Consumers should know where they will get a fair deal and where they will provide good quality products. Prevention is better than cure. So consumers should not be given an option to be cheated. So I request the consumers to be informed. There are a lot of consumer protection websites which provides online information about the various products that are available in the market.

Go see www.indianrail.gov.in…

Have you found the worst website ever? You don’t have to go all the way searching for it. It is just at your finger tips. Just type “www.indianrail.gov.in“.

Recently my friend asked me the train enquiry phone number. I asked him to dial 131. He said it is not working from his cell phone. I understood that there is some other option for this. I thought of taking their websites. I searched google and when I clicked on the first search itself, I got the great Indian Railway’s site. Indian Railway is declared as worlds largest and busiest networks in the world. Why they want a site like this?

More than fifteen minutes I was searching on the site for the contact number. I am not exaggerating; this is a true thing that I came across. As a consumer whom should I contact to get the numbers? Usually we spend very few minutes on sites to search something. If we don’t get it immediately we will leave that site. But here it was a challenge for me to get the number. I simply wasted my time on this useless site.

Do you know which company designed the website for Indian Railway? It is CRIS -Centre for Railways Information System, which is an organization under the Ministry of Railway. No wonder their website is just as bad as the Indian Railways. I don’t know why they want to keep the phone numbers so secretly. As a consumer don’t we have the right to get the number? Moreover it is difficult to find the address for lodging complaints or suggestions. I think consumer complaints have no values for them. Anyway I am thankful to the designers. I think Indian Railways is beyond complaints.

Once I tried for e-ticketing. After filling the details the gateway got hung and when I checked my account details, the amount was reduced. There were no tickets under the category booked tickets. On the attempt for cancellation of the ticket, I couldn’t get it done properly. When I tried on the numbers displayed for cancellation enquiry, no one picked up the phone.

I feel like the responsible ones are simply sitting and enjoying their time. No wonder most consumers are leaving India as soon as they become graduates. India keeps on developing during the past sixty years and when we are going to get a label as developed country?

Retail Outlets near Railway Station- Future Groups Plans

India’s Future Group, operator of the Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar outlets, is planning to expand over the next year by starting outlets near railway stations. I personally feel that, the plan of the Future Group to start outlets near railway stations should be warmly welcomed by consumers.

They are initially targeting busy railway stations as they can catch more consumers. Right now they run two Big Bazaar stores near the Delhi Metro station. They recently inaugurated one near Sealdah railway station, expecting to attract more than 80,000 consumers a week compared to an average of 50,000 consumers at other Big Bazaar outlets. There are more than ten lakh passengers moving through this railway station everyday. Moreover they are planning for community retailing, in which the stores would be customized to meet the specific needs of local community.

I travel by train to my working place. By the time I return from my office, I usually wastes half hour sitting at the railway station. Several times I wished of such an outlet as I had to spend some extra time for my daily purchase of grocery and other stationery items. For that too, I have to visit separate shops for getting each item. If consumers get all the things at a single point they will be really blessed.

I was recently travelling to my native place. I rushed all the way from home to railway station to catch the train. I did not even get enough time to do all my shopping and I had to purchase clothes for my family members. When I reached the railway station I was told that the train will be some forty five minutes late as it is not new a thing with Indian Railways. I thought of going for a shopping. But I was sure that I will definitely get lost in the traffic and I do not want to miss the train too. I couldn’t find a good shopping outlet nearby. I just wasted my time by simply watching the whole mass. I really thought if I could get a good shopping outlet there. As a consumer I definitely want to welcome their plan. I think they would have made the decision before.

A good percentage of people use railways for their transportation, even if the services are not up to the mark. The idea of starting retail outlets definitely helps the consumers to save their valuable time. There are very few shopping outlets nearby railway station, even if we find one; they will not meet our requirements. Intelligently Future Groups have targeted at the right point.

Are Women Safe at Home- Consumer Survey

Are women actually safe at least in her home? This seems to be a big question when you see the surveys that had undergone the recent past. Females have been fighting for centuries to get a rational appeal to her male at least as a partner. All the struggles are in vain only. Finally everything ends in the physical, mental and emotional abuse of women. The real thing that frightens me as this takes place behind the doors of a home. As a consumer don’t we have the right to get protection at least in our homes?
Today even an industrially developed country like US, loses four of its female citizens to domestic violence everyday. The studies are more shocking. Almost four million are physically tortured; half of them need medical aid or hospitalization. That is on an average four women are killed everyday by their husband. Every six minutes, a women is raped somewhere, the surveys are quite shocking. Consumer rights are not given any value in the current scenario. This is an official figure but at least five times of it go unreported.
If this is the condition of women in the most advanced country then how can we expect anything different in economically weaker and socially backward cultures? Traditional societies always blame women and this starts in the womb itself if the tests determine that it is a female over there. In the recent investigation done in Mumbai nursing home it was found that 95.5% of the fetuses were aborted compared to a far smaller percentage of male. Consumers should raise voice against this as it is going to be a serious issue in the future.
The main reason is the far sightedness of the parents. They are actually living in a society where women can be burned to death for not bringing adequate dowry to her married home. In India, an average of five women is killed, usually burnt to death in dowry related violence everyday. If the girl is having a relation to a person other than her caste, then she has to get all the tortures from the society she lives. Even if she is given adequate education there is no guaranty that she will get a secure life in the future. Currently who can provide the basic consumer right of protection to a woman?
According to a study in 2002, almost half of all Indian women are routinely slapped, kicked or beaten, almost fifty percent during their pregnancy. The interesting thing behind this, the reason may be ‘disobedience’. Even if a woman in India knows her consumer rights, rarely she speaks out them in public. The modern crimes laid on her are asking questions, trying to take decisions and refusing to obey blindly. Actually the men cannot accept a woman who isn’t dumb as cattle.
The urban woman in India is rapidly changing. But not the men. The lower income groups reported a 35% sexual violence by men and 61% by the men in highest income groups. This country then has reverse logic, increased consumer education and prosperity has made its men even more barbarous. Nowhere in the history of mankind, have women faced a more dismal situation. Does anyone have any solutions? Please add on.

Consumer Rights

Consumers are people who purchase goods and services to meet their basic needs. Consumers have legal rights to get the product replaced if they find that the product they bought does not meet the quality standards as is mentioned. In the Consumer Protection Act 1986, Consumer Right is defined as the right to be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property. As a consumer you should ensure that all your rights are effectively used.

If you find the goods purchased are not of good quality, the retailer should sort it out for you, not the manufacturer. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 ensures that goods should be of satisfactory quality and fit to do the job intended for. The time you have to check whether goods are faulty depends on what is reasonable for that product. For example, the time needed to check the fault of a kettle and a boat is of great difference. Consumer should lodge a complaint within a week so that you may be entitled to a full refund.

In the case of payment you have more rights on credit cards than debit cards. This consumer right is for those who have no debts. You can also enjoy extra rights such as earning cash back, cheaper spending while abroad, ID fraud protection etc.

If you purchase through internet, the same rights are applicable as if you go and directly purchase from a shop. The Distance Selling Regulations Act also provides consumer protection. That is, if you order something online by phone, fax or mail, you find it undelivered, as a consumer you have the right for a full refund. You should ensure that the delivery dates of the products are clearly mentioned. If it is not mentioned then the maximum allowed time is 30days from the date of purchase. Consumer complaints can be lodged immediately to the necessary authorities.

If you are planning for a holiday, make sure that the days are booked according to the terms and conditions of the hotel. This is where consumers get caught. If you are not provided with the facilities that are mentioned on their brochure, you can ask for a complaint form there itself. If not, as a consumer, you may lose the right to get any compensation.

In any of these cases if you are unsatisfied, then complain to the trader there and then itself. And only pay what you consider to be a reasonable amount. If you are totally unsatisfied, then pay nothing. If you feel forced to pay, then make a claim against them for distress. Take photos, collect evidences as much as you can and pursue a claim at the Court.

All the above specified rights are for consumer protection. These laws are a form of government regulation which protects the interests of consumers. As a consumer we should be aware of our basic rights and the court that deals with these rights.

Consumer rights? Do not get your hopes too high!

Before exploring the question about the status of a consumer in India, it would be apt to examine rights in India. Across the sections of the society, only one section has notably enjoyed any kinds of rights, be it as a citizen, a student, a taxpayer, a traveler, a tourist or a consumer; this section is the rich and the mighty. The fabric of the legal, executive and judicial branches of our government has always been prejudiced to this group. Revolving within such as social realm of injustice, what rights to the common man in India have when it comes to rights as a consumer? Very little, as explored in this article.

The first and fundamental right of a consumer is the right to be protected against products that could endanger them in any manner, otherwise known as the right to safety. This is a very convenient right as anyone can claim its existence and criticisms can only be supported through presentation of evidence that such a right does not exist. In other words, effort is required to disprove in a circumstance where no evidence is provided to prove and only an unsupported claim is made. India has one of the worst safety records when it comes to pharmaceuticals. Several allegations of wrong doings by the pharmaceutical companies surface each year but they all mysteriously disappear after a period. There have been allegations that pharmaceutical companies even distribute their products to the general public in India as a part of their human pilot and drug test programs before they ever market these products in developed nations, in particular the United States. Such allegations have been made against African nations and a few other south and south east Asian nations. The government of India does not officially maintain any figures regarding wrongful deaths and serious impairments that arise in the general public due to the consumption of dubious drugs. This ladies and gentlemen, is not due to lack of machinery for data collection, but a cognizant and convenient strategy to not deal with the problem at all. Over the counter drugs that come for domestic use, seldom have a child proof bottle cap, enabling children to be easy victims of this non-existent right. Another arena is that of food consumption. India is the hub for a multitude of food borne diseases, both packaged and otherwise. Yet what are the origins of these diseases? I would suppose that the government knows or at least has the capability to find out. It can safely be assumed that a large part of these food borne diseases are caused by consumption of below standard, unhygienic and expired foods that the consumer has paid for and purchased. This in fact puts them unprotected against products that could endanger them. Again here the villain is the lack of availability of data; I could be in fact accused of making allegations that I cannot back up. The third arena worth exploring is clinical services. How often do you hear about the person who went into surgery for the left leg and got operated on the right leg? How often do surgeons forget their tools in the stomach of a surgery patient? Any cultured society would be aghast by such happenings but all in all, we Indians as a society have grown callous to such incidents. The fourth area to be examined is that of automotive safety. All major markets in the world including China publish information regarding vehicle safety so that consumers can make an educated choice about the automobile to purchase to keep themselves and their dear ones safe. Yet, in India we have no standardized and efficient mechanism of publishing vehicle safety information to the consumers. Our record of civil aviation safety is the fifth area of concern. Over the past few years the number of hairline incidents or “just miss” incidents have increased exponentially as more and more Indian consumers take to the skies. Resources such as air traffic controls and airport infrastructure are being stretched beyond what is acceptable per safety norms completely compromising protection of the consumers from life threatening dangers. It is only a matter of time where a large and catastrophic accident would get us asking the question of what we could have done to prevent it. The last area worth exploring is our railway system which I am ashamed to say enjoys the worst record of safety perhaps among any mass transport systems in the world. Coming from a logistics background it is amazing that the government has not been able to prevent even the most common safety hazard, collisions, using technologies such as GPS Trackers, proximity monitors or active / semi-active RFID devices. Billions and billions of rupees of the tax payer is wasted every year on this languid mammoth, yet in the area of safety it is perhaps in the 19th century mode when first incepted by the British. If you assess the risk of a passenger dying in a train accident, I am sure no insurance company would willingly insure the Indian railways for a reasonable premium and that perhaps explains why as a consumer you do not enjoy a single paisa of insurance no matter what grade of ticket you purchase. I am sure you have had the anxiety of listening to a major railway derailing all the while hoping that they would announce that it was goods train. Mishaps such as falling of a train are not uncommon either due to the 19th century doors engaged on all the compartments, and the ability of the passenger to climb on top of the train to avoid the crowd within. Railway safety is not just a concern to passengers but also to people living in the periphery of any railway infrastructure, visitors to the railway station and to the railways own employees.

Right to information, an apparently stalwart right is perhaps the most fragile among the overrated Indian consumer rights. As a patient, you visit a doctor for a headache, your chances of being prescribed medicines that don’t even have the remotest chances of curing you can be prescribed to you since no doctor in this country is required to complete any standardized Indian Medical Association (IMA) approved record of therapeutic procedures that he or she recommends. The doctor is absolved of any and all liability the moment his analysis and diagnosis are strictly verbal and undocumented. Most developed nations in the world require medical practitioners to supply a patient with a complete and detailed report of their diagnosis, a detailed report of the recommended therapy and a detailed rationale correlating the diagnosis with the therapy. Right to information is a critical right when it comes to consumable goods and in particular Pharmaceuticals. Almost all modern nations in the world require that over the counter drugs bear clear package labeling indicating the side effects of the drug. Yet, the Indian government has never enforced such a right to the benefit of a consumer. How often have you been frustrated at the absence of a standardized nutrition label on packaged foods? Decisions that consumers strive to make regarding healthy eating choices are completely compromised due to the inability of the governments of India in enforcing display of such information. While buying a car, besides the claims that “honest” salesmen make, is consumer privileged to any standardized information such as mileage or safety ratings of a car, two critical buying decision points on most automobiles. Absence of information is only a tip of the iceberg; misinformation is the more treacherous danger that visages the consumers of our country. How often have you seen that advertisement that says ‘fly on our airline to paradise for just one rupee’ when the airline actually has “other” surcharges that usually run into thousands and thousands of rupees? Who hasn’t fallen into the trap of a credit card company whose terms and conditions change, dramatically and dangerously, when one payment is missed? Ridiculous insurance companies that require consumers to have claims filed by the deceased to process insurance payouts can happily exist in this country along with consumer product companies who can change terms and conditions as and when they like and even make up their own rules as they go along! Absurdities in warranty agreements extend from “warranty that doesn’t cover replacement of parts and cost of labor”, “warranty where the product has to be shipped to manufacturer at own cost” exist nowhere else in the world except in our country. Adverse effects of published misinformation to consumers are magnified when it comes to costly purchases such as jewelry for example. Ornaments in precious metals and precious stones are seldom broken down depicting how the constituents tally up to the total cost. Domestic services sector thrives on misinformation of consumers. How often have you bought that direct to home television service on a lucrative deal only to realize that you are tied down to buying their service for a fixed term regardless of whether or not you find purpose with the service? India has a long way to go managing consumer information; currently at best it lacks basic ethics, reliability, accountability, visibility and transparency that is expected within any cultured information sharing community.

Right to chose being the primary right of every consumer, in India today, most industries operate on virtual monopoly created by the government to promote, support and strengthen the interests of the privileged few. In the sector of energy, we are constantly amused by the petty fights between the Ambani brothers. Analyze as a consumer and you will find that the sibling’s juvenile squabbles are just an inlay for an undisputed leadership in a lucrative energy market that run into lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. We laugh as consumers at their silliness, but we do not realize that we are being laughed at by them for our stupidity as we sign away our ability to choose in tomorrow’s energy intensive life. Right to choose has been made virtual mockery of in every realm of India’s consumer arenas. When the common man wants to travel from Delhi to Calcutta, he has no choice; it is Indian Railways, one of the most notorious violator of consumer rights, or no travel at all. When we want to light up our houses in Kerala, we have to depend on the Kerala State Electricity Board, a highly lethargic, corrupt and sluggish agency. Now let us examine a few of the more seemingly “competitive” markets such as the cell phone Industry. These are again dominated by the likes of the Ambanis, Tatas and Birlas. A common man run company simply cannot compete against these mammoths, not due to the lack of business savvy, but due to the daunting task of greasing the bureaucratic wheels that locomote any industry in India today. If your mistaken that the consumer protection is protected in at least the recent years much better than in the past, you are mistaken beyond your wildest dreams. The direct to home television industry that has sprawled in the Indian consumer arena since 2005, is considered the best example of a new industry being plagued by the oligarchy. The players in this industry again adorn the Tata and the Ambani logos on their caps. So where are we as a consumer in this picture; nothing but a fly on an elephant, hoping for a journey to the honey cove. If an innovative and business savvy entrepreneur is to come out with a product that benefits consumers technologically or monetarily, he / she can be wiped off in a matter of weeks by the giant business conglomerate groups that operate in the country today. The closest analogy I could think of during the developing phase of any major economy would be how the mafia ruled (and some believe still rule) Italy in an autocratic fashion wiping out any rights fellow citizens had in that era. Scary as it maybe, consumers need to realize this danger associate with our capitalistic consumerism and support cottage / small scale consumer industries to the maximum. Lest, your right to choose will remain a dream outside the pages of the Indian constitution and legislative compositions.

Right to be heard is a fourth non-existence right that our politicians want us to believe exists. Supposedly the government conducts frequent polls and focus groups before framing consumer related policies. The consumer protection act requires creation of consumer councils on a district, state and national level. However, the efficiency of the governments in composing and convening efficient consumer councils that are the ears and eyes of consumers have been very dismal. Consumer councils are non-existent in most districts and when they exist they are mostly platforms for the politicians to park the posteriors of their near and dear ones so that they can cheat the taxpayer and obtain some emoluments that they could not otherwise dream of. There are however a few resolute consumer councils in a few districts and states, and they do a wonderful job of hearing out what consumers have to say and providing legislative strategy to the lawmakers and implementation techniques to government executives. Sadly majority of these recommendations get dumped into the bureaucratic red hole never to be seen again. When it comes to being heard we are perhaps the most destitute regulatory structure in the world. I want to share a story with you on the right to be heard when I was living in Springfield, Commonwealth of Virginia of the United States of America in 2004. The condominium I lived in developed a leak that spread on the walls of the master bedroom and the leak was from a sewage line (this was unknown to me at that time). I made 3 requests with the landlord one after the other over the course of week to get this leak fixed and the wall repainted. All the three requests were promptly and cordially ignored by the landlord. Without recourse, I approached the Fairfax county consumer department website with an online complaint against the landlord. My hope of being heard by such an agency was justifiably low as I had emigrated from India where I have had the immense pleasure of dealing with various government agencies from the Panchayat level to the Central Ministry level. The complaint was lodged and exactly 72 hours after the complaint, the landlord approached me with a request to move into a local hotel (at the landlord’s cost of course) so that he could repair the leak and repaint the wall. Amused by the turn of events, I moved to the suggested hotel and spent the next two days there all the time wondering what could have caused such a 180 degree reception of my complaint by the landlord. Once the wall was fixed, I moved back into the apartment and two weeks elapsed. One day I received a large package from the Fairfax county consumer department and it is only then I had remembered about the complaint I filed with them. On opening the package, I found that inspectors from the county department had come to the landlord’s office for an inspection of my apartment and during the inspection it was found that the landlord had violated several building, maintenance and safety regulations in my apartment along with violation of several health codes. Citations amounting to $10000 had already been issued to the landlord and more where on the way! The second part of the package contained a detailed inspection report along with photographs, laboratory analysis reports, copies of the citations and findings to aid me in proceeding legally against the landlord should I decide to do so. Vindicated I promptly visited the landlord’s office and met with the property manager who apologized and pleaded with me not to proceed with a legal complaint. My rent at that time was $750 a month and my yearly rent was $9000. In one swoop, not only had the landlord lost an entire year of rent, but also another one thousand dollars and was at the risk of losing more if he didn’t promptly remove any such violations in the remaining of his property. I decided not to pursue this matter any further as it was not my intention to make quick money of a molehill. Anyway this incident gave me an in-depth insight into what the consumer right to be heard means; it’s the government’s responsibility to keep its eyes and ears open regarding consumer complaints and to enforce any law that is vital to the protection of the consumer. In India, if you observe a packaged food it has a maximum retail price (MRP) and the quantity of packaging. But if this is violated in any manner, do we even know the agency to approach to be heard? Such information is not published or made readily available to the general public; not because the government lacks the resources to do so, but because it fears the number of complaints to such complaint cells will expose the fallacy of the claim of right to be heard being protected in our country. Now, the right to be heard of the consumer is a right that needs to be protected by a consumer product company also. How often do you realize that the enthusiasm a company shows in selling you a product far outweighs the efficiency in which it hears a complaint from the consumer? Most of the consumer product companies have no mechanism to hear out the issues of its consumers. Most of them conduct surveys the data of which is not utilized for any improvement purposes. 99% of the companies either have no customer support numbers or publish ones that are non-working. In July 2009 I had sent a complaint to the Lufthansa customer support email address at the customer relationship management office in New Delhi, India. As a general practice I enable delivery request and read request on all my emails. The email although promptly delivered was never read by anyone till January 2010. In January I got an email response from the email system which can detect whether the email is read or deleted. The response I got was that the email was deleted without being read! I am a senator with Lufthansa, the highest “privileged” customer status that one can hope for unless you decide to live your life on an airplane. As a privileged customer to one of the most supposedly efficient companies in the world, in India this is how my rights to be heard was satisfied. I shudder to think what would be the case if I had no privilege and I was up against a regular mom and pop company who are not most renowned for their efficiency.

Right to redressal, is the pre-final right that the Indian legal system privileges the consumers to. It promises a speedy, just and due process in closing any disputes that the consumers may have when they have been wronged by a merchant through over-promising, under-delivery, defective merchandise. Let me give you a simple statistic. Today in India, less than one percent (1%) of consumer disputes actually reach the consumer court; the reason? Fairly simple. No one has faith in the Indian legal system. I recently had the misfortune to go to a magistrate court in relation to a complaint that I had filed. The court that I went to was very different from the courts I have grown to see in the movies (the only other place where I have seen a court). It was housed in the most denigrated building and it was quite a horrifying situation where I was waiting in its verandah not knowing when the roof was going to collapse on my head. The walls had not been painted for years and the railings and the furniture had an inch lacing of fine dust. There was disgusting smell due to the police horse units being housed in the next compound. In short, the building had not had a single paisa worth of maintenance done to it since the British (who originally constructed the building) left India in 1947. Ironically, what went through my mind while waiting in that dusty disgusting environment was the advertisement I had seen from the Government of India, Ministry of Communications a few days ago titled ‘India Shining’. A magistrate court in a major city in India.. you might have a few concepts about it; I would ask you to wipe out all those concepts and think of a cow shed that has not been cleaned for several years. That was what it was. My immediate concern was how would a magistrate sit in such a premise and serve justice in an efficient manner. As I was engrossed in all these thoughts, there was suddenly a huzz buzz because it was 10:42 AM (the start time of the court is 10:30 AM, by the way) and the magistrate was arriving. I waited patiently and carefully, so as not to be hassled around in the crowd to get a glimpse of the person who was going to serve me justice. My wait for a white colored government car with a red light was in vain, although I didn’t know it at that time. After sometime an auto rickshaw stopped in front of the court building and out came a lady from it. She immediately handed over her ladies bag to the policeman who promptly saluted her and escorted her inside. I stood in shock as these events unfurled in front of me only to be awakened by a small commotion near the auto. Apparently the auto driver had not been paid and he was trying to get his fare. He mumbled something to the police man in a language I couldn’t understand, apparently trying to explain that he had driven a long distance and would like the fair fare to be given. The policeman immediately raised his lathi and told him to zip it up and leave the premises or receive the end of his baton. The look on the auto drivers face was something I had only seen in the movies; one who had gross injustice done to him yet could not do anything about it. This ladies and gentlemen, was the magistrate who I was going to give me justice. I quietly picked up my phone and talked to the senior lawyer to call off my appearance in court and what it would cost me. A few minutes later the junior lawyer who had accompanied me to the court came and told me that a sealed envelope bearing 10 crisp notes of 1000 Rupees each would permit my absence for each session I need to be in court as the witness / plaintiff except on the day I need to be cross examined. I would also have to produce a medical certificate and make the payments to a specific party who would wait outside the court premises. Of course, if I were to pay for my absence for more than one day, then I would get a discount. I paid Rs. 30,000 and walked away promising myself never to go to court if I can afford it. Our government creates and maintains a system that forces people to be corrupt. I don’t think I can blame that judge for being corrupt; how is it possible to live in this city with a salary of Rs. 15000/- and no mode of transportation? This my dear readers is the plight of the legal system in the country today. The chief justice mentioned that it would take another 400 years just to settle the cases currently pending in the courts today. No criminal goes to jail for his crimes within the first year of the crime. It would take 10-20 years of tedious legal struggles before the plaintiff even in a murder case gets justice. The situation of the consumer courts in this country is only worse. If the civil and criminal courts have judges, most of the consumer courts in this country do not even have judges (or presidents are they are called) or buildings or infrastructure to operate. Even if you get your case to such a “redressal forum” imagine if you are up against a multinational company, what are your chances of getting justice in this corrupt decadent system?

The last right of the consumer is the right to consumer education. Education is absorption of knowledge from materials distributed by those who want to educate you in this country. That, my fellow consumers, is not unfortunately education and not most certainly the right that the constructors of the consumer protection act wanted to bequest upon you. For consumer education, read the papers about the plight of consumers today, walk down your streets and see the gross injustice and exploitations that the multinational companies are engaging in, and keep your eyes open; for it takes no longer than a second to have your rights dashed to smithereens in this country of ours…. India is shining of course, but Indians I doubt are!

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