Govt rolls out new measures to empower consumers

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal on Friday launched a number of initiatives, including an official website for seamless redressal of violations of consumers' rights and an Integrated Price Monitoring Dashboard aimed at empowering consumers.

The initiatives taken by the Centre's Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) were rolled out at an event organised here to mark the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day.

The various initiatives launched on the occasion are:

* Launch of CCPA website for seamless redressal of violations of consumers rights as a class.

The website will enable swift and hassle-free filing of complaints by consumers on a class action basis, while also allowing them to choose the nature of the case, description of the complaint, upload relevant documents/ videos and track the progress of their complaint online, in the comfort of their own homes.

Further, the website serves as a unified platform to access several advisories, guidelines and orders passed by CCPA.

* Integrated Price Monitoring Dashboard to provide data visualisation and analytics along with monitoring the daily retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities through 550 price monitoring centers set up in 34 states/ Union Territory.

The dashboard is built as multiple pages with each page serving a specific purpose.

* Video Conferencing Facility in the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to enhance Consumer Protection Act 2019's e-filing provisions.

The e-jagriti portal facilitates easy e-filing of consumer complaints for speedy and hassle-free resolution.

Video conferencing (Hybrid mode) is currently operational in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi.

* Dissemination of Indian Standard Time through NTP to enable all mobile service providers to synchronise with Indian Standard Time (IST).

This will also aid in synchronising real-time applications in strategic sectors for national security.

* A state-of-the-art Integrated Power Transmission Line Equipment Testing Facility.

* Grant of the first certificate by India as an OIML certification agency.

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Goyal said these initiatives will not only empower consumers but will also secure their interests and safeguard their rights.

He said that this year's theme for World Consumer Rights Day, which is 'Fair and Responsible AI for Consumers' is very apt and opined that if Artificial Intelligence is used in the right spirit, then it may bring about good changes in various works and lives of people.

However, AI is a sword that cuts both ways, he added.

He further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always held consumers' interest as paramount in policy-making.

Consumers' satisfaction should be the prime motive of every business, industry or trade.