It is not known to many consumers that the ubiquitous Pan Masala available throughout India is very dangerous to their health. It is further not known that a form of Pan Masalas called ‘Gutkas’ is a far greater health hazard than filtered cigarettes as the concentration of tobacco is 24% to 30% higher. The threats to consumers health are many.

With summer, power cuts have become the norm in most cities in India. Power bills have also become dearer. The growing Indian middle class and a westernised lifestyle has resulted in the increased use of energy to run new-age machines and electrical gadgets. It is estimated that electronic gadgets on a standby mode in Delhi itself costs consumers over rupees 600 crores annually. Consumers by taking efective steps can not only reduce the excessive reliance of energy but could also reduce their monthly energy bills.

The recent proposed decision of the Finance Minister to bring down the excise duty on ready-to-eat packaged food from 16 per cent to eight per cent has been meant to give a fillip to the Food Processing industry as well as to encourage consumption of packaged food. The Government has also recently amended the laws for medicinal products. What are the laws protecting consumers in these two very important sectors? Read more..

The recent spate of demolitions of residential and commercial structures in cities like Delhi and Mumbai has dented the confidence of innocent purchasers of property who had invested their life savings in property only to find that it was illegal or that it could not be used for the purpose it was purchased for. There are certain safeguards which need to be looked at by consumers

India has a huge middle class population with rising income levels and growing aspirations that look forward to the Budget every year to make a crucial purchase decision. In this newsletter we focus on what is in the fine print which may be of value to the ultimate consumer.

A recent survey conducted across eight cities and 120 jewelers by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), revealed that a whopping 88% of the jewellery sold in the eight cities under survey were sub-standard – even indicating shocking high levels of adulteration (12.56%) in a country having perhaps the highest consumption of gold in the world. In fact, it is common to find consumers receive shockingly low prices for jewelry, which they were led to believe, was of superior caratage. The consumer needs to assert his/rights against being defrauded by unscrupulous jewelers.

The stock market is on a roll. The sensex has touched the magic figure of 10,000 for the first time. This has meant that more and more consumers have their fortunes riding on their investments in the stock markets. However, history has shown that for every rise there is a fall. This fortnight we have compiled a set of practices which you should read follow before investing. Reading these guides and following the practices would be the first step in investor protection.

The lack of regulatory compliances by the manufacturers of "traditional medicines" has come up in a high profile case recently. Manufacturers of Ayurvedic, homeopathic, Siddha or Unani drugs are also required to follow the law, which is designed to protect consumers .

On a petition of consumers, the Delhi High Court last week has given a clean chit to e-meters or Electronic Meters. While upholding the right of private power-distribution companies to replace existing electro-mechanical meters with e-meters, the Court blamed Distcoms for not educating consumers about faulty internal wiring. The Court said that if distcoms come across faulty wiring they'll have to give a week's notice to consumers to get it checked. This weeks issue deals with the various issues behind why consumer gets inflated electricity bills.

It is now nearly 2 years since the government formulated the notification bringing into force the conditional access system (CAS) whereby viewers had to purchase set top boxes to view satellite cable channels. Due to opposition from consumer organisations, the system was scrapped. But the woes of consumers against the ubiquitous cable-wallah still remain. Read More...

On 28 September the world celebrated the International Right To Know Day. This year the day was significant to bureaucracy and the civil society since, the Right To Information Act, 2005 is likely to come into force on 12 October 2005. This is 120 days from the 21 June 2005, the day the President APJ Abdul Kalam gave his assent to the Right to Information Bill 2005 which had previously been passed with amendments by the Lok Sabha (11 May) and the Rajya Sabha (12 May). Since consumer organizations are one of the most important stakeholders in the successful implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005 the newsletter for this fortnight focuses on the Right to Information Act. See More...

The annual World Water Week in Stockholm, August 21-27 was preceded by the unprecedented floods in Mumbai which brought the city to a complete halt for nearly a week and the flooding caused by the hurricane Katrina which ripped across the United States Gulf Coast on August 29th 2005. Water and floods debilitated and crippled the two important cities of Mumbai in India and New Orleans in United States equally. Ironically, the biggest health worry after the floods in both cities was clean drinking and potable water. Read more.

The recent directive by the Third Party Adminstrators (TPA’s) of major private and public Medical Insurance Companies to blacklist hospitals not agreeing to restrict their costs of treatment for specified medical treatment or procedures violates the rights of consumers of health insurance plans like ‘mediclaim policies’, ‘health shields’ or on ‘health plans’. Premium paying consumers have become unwitting victims in the crossfire between insurance companies and hospitals to maximize their profits. Are insurance companies justified in forcing hospitals to cut corners while treating patients merely in order to cut their claim costs? Read More…

In a major ruling on August 5, 2005 the Supreme Court directed law enforcement agencies not to proceed against doctors accused of rash or negligent act or omission without obtaining an independent and competent medical opinion to support the charges. Noting that cases of doctors being subjected to criminal prosecution were on an increase, the Supreme Court held that a private complaint alleging negligence against a doctor, should not be entertained unless the complainant produces before the court a credible opinion by another competent doctor supporting the charge. See More...

Have India’s electricity regulators at the central and state levels been successful in combating the systemic woes that have been plaguing the power sector since independence? Find out more….

With GM technology making it possible to cross the species boundaries that have existed over millions of years, what are the dangers to consumers from this new untested technology? Do we know all we need to know… Find out more!!

On the 7th of February 2005 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to 12 respondents, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed at the apex court to stop the menace of unsolicited marketing calls that are becoming an increasingly common problem for all cell phone users and consumers.

With an alarming number of Counterfeit, Adulterated and Spurious products available in the market today - what is its impact on consumers and what can be done to stop this menace??? - Find out more...

With increased number of medical negligence cases the doctors are increasingly becoming apprehensive and overcautious resulting in escalating cost of health services. Do they also require protection....

Should Access Deficit Charge be levied by TRAI in lieu of USO charges already being levied?

With bribery existing at every level of the society, is it possible to say no and how?

Incharge of the overall administration of the country, Civil Services are increasingly being plagued with the menace of corruption..find out more!!

Water - the most basic of our requirements, but gradually becoming the most unaccessible - what needs to be done??

Know more about the Conditional Access System, which has been introduced in certain parts of the metro cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and the entire Chennai. Find out how far is the Conditional Access System consumer friendly?

Recently the Government of India announced a ban on one of the e-group on yahoo on Sept'2003. The ban was under the notification no. G.S.R. 181(E) dated 27.02.2003 and notification no. G.S.R. 529(E) dated 7.7.2003 under the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000. The two notifications designate the Computer Emergency Response Team - India (CERT-In) as the authority for blocking of websites and further prescribed the procedure for blocking of the websites and the grounds under which it could be done. Due to application of the order of banning by various ISP's certain ISP’s banned the complete yahoo domain.

However the Information Technology Act does not provide for means of blocking information for which purpose the two notifications have been enacted. The powers manifested in the Computer Emergency Response Team - India through the two notifications exceed the ambit of the powers conferred by the legislature on the executive. These powers curtail the online consumers' right to information guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The consumers all over the country were affected by the said ban.

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