Tatto 2013

To move forward, economy needs money. And, money comes in form of FDI, FII, World Bank, IMF and UN developmental programs. Despite getting truck loads of money from these prestigious organisations, consumers are yet facing the quality and service crunch. With mounting corruption and scams, government has embark themselves into trust deficit. Under these circumstances, do you think an autonomous body working towards the developmental of the masses should be formed in every state?   

With number of hair oils, hair gel and hair creams doing round in the market, claiming the best for consumers. Do you think too much of hair related products confuse the consumers, and spoils the hair?

 Attention! all Tea lovers.. Enjoy!   By Christopher Shay One Glass, Seven Layers of Tea Mr. Gour and his layered tea. Bangladeshis will travel hours to the sleepy town of Srimongol, in Bangladesh’s northeast, just for a cup of Romesh Ram Gour’s famous tea. In a country of avid tea drinkers, Mr. Gour is the inventor behind a seven-layer tea which, he claims, no one else has been able to replicate. Copycats in the region have succeeded in creating five-layer teas, but none have been able to unlock the secret to Mr. Gour’s rainbow brew. Mr. Gour invented his colorful layered teas 10 years ago, when he was selling tea from a bamboo shack. He says he realized that teas from different leaves have slightly different densities. It took a year of experimenting before he could sell teas with more than two layers. Over the years, he learned to expand to seven. The kind of layer tea Mr. Gour makes is unique to the Srimongol area. An iced three-layer tea has become popular in the Mal...

Consumers are very important for any business to flourish. The advent of new technology and high demand with the blend of globalization has open the door for various goods and services. These goods & services are increasingly day by day. They have succeeded in catching the demand of the consumers that leads to high consumption. However, every glitter is not a gold and gold comes with a heavy price tag. With the rising demand of goods & services, there have been cases of fraudulent and cheats on consumers. Although consumer courts are there to safeguard the consumers, but the slow process of the court proceedings allows mongers to have a safe passage. A consumer awareness campaign launched by consumer VOICE is a treat for consumers. We help consumers to sort out their grievances and provide them satisfactory solution. Therefore,  we, therefore, request all the consumers to encourage us in keeping up the work by providing the...

Now, Social Media to Fight Ragging Be the revolt in Egypt to overturn a dictatorial regime or Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have played a pivotal role in bringing    people together. As a powerful administration tries to block and hide information, social media becomes an uncensored and virally spreading information agent for the protestors. What is more, people can form public groups on these social sites and do a strong protest campaign , without having to be physically present at the location. Now, it is time for fighting ragging through Facebook. CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education has come up with a novel concept of having a Facebook page on ragging:  www.facebook.com/noragging/  The page is a one-stop destination for all information on ragging: it features India’s first song and video on ragging, latest statistics, myths and research information associated with ragging. The Wall is regularly...

Education is important!  Consumers have a right to consumer education! Consumer VOICE invites all its members to reconnect to their student life on the occasion of Teacher's Day in September. Share  some interesting, life changing recollection about a teacher, from either your school or college days with us, and we will further share it with our members ONLINE and in print to celebrate the Day! Please restrict your narrative to maximum  200 words . Send it to us Online by going into our BLOG :

By Smriti Das We are privileged that we are living in an independent democratic country. We are independent citizens who have right to information, right to act, right to say, right to express etc. etc. etc... but is that really so???? Do we really have right or freedom of expression?   India's current stance is little confusing to understand. On one hand, people are using slangs in songs and dialogues of movies without a beep, on the other hand people have to face strong protest if they say that their origin resembles to that of a political leader... But why is it like so...Nobody is there to stop corrupt people from taking bribes, to make them realise what they are doing is purely unethical, nobody is eying on what the so-called news channels telling us is really true or those are just their own biased opinions. If nobody is bothered about those serious issues, why everyone is making a fuss by jumping on the totally personal comments of an individual? Why are the khap panchayats ...

The popularity of online media has witnessed a rising demand over the years. The online media is seen as a threat to traditional print media. Do you think online media will kill the market of print media in future?

To make or renew a passport has become a headache, people are frustrated as the delay goes up to 4 -5 months. Government has completely failed to handle this department. Do you think passport office should become privatized for smooth functioning ?  

Consumer VOICE brings you an open letter to the TRAI Chairman . Ajoy  Eric  Lal is Friend /advisor of Consumer VOICE. He helps us articulate consumer angst concerning some vital issues.  This is first of the series. We invite one and all to come forth and join the protest and create enough noise to get attention to resolve these issues.   Ajoy Eric Lal :     Open letter to Dr. J. S. Sarma, IAS Chairman TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road) New Delhi - 110002 India Dear Dr. Sarma, Greetings! As a consumer and professional who has helped TRAI where he could, I am very disappointed at experiencing the current, abysmal situation in the Indian telecom sector. No action has been taken at all against offenders, especially the "repeat offenders" on the UCC (Unsolicited Commercial Communication) front. The frequency of UCCs has again increased. Every consumer gets these disturbing spam SMS ...

Government has deprived it's citizens of UPC ( Under Postal Certificate ) facility.Just because there has been fraud with the connivance of some postal authority personnel and to avoid such frauds, Govt has abolished this services. Instead of taking strong monitoring measures, govt. has adopted easiest way by depriving citizens this facility . There have been number of scams and irregularities in almost all deptt. of govt, means govt should close down all these deptt. For example, some fake currency notes have been found in circulation, then why not govt. banning currency notes  ????? Either way it is the common man who suffers in this country. We are being governed by impotent people   sitting at the helm of affairs and that too at our hard earned money ( Tax we pay ). Dont you think we should raise our voice against all these inefficiencies ????

Should government ban the practice of private builders constructing houses/flats? With  home-buyers   in  Greater Noida  took to the streets on Sunday, asking the Supreme Court and government to ensure that builders refund their deposits, do you think privatization of the construction of the houses/flats should be banned to safeguard the home-buyers interest?

An International survey says Delhi and Mumbai are the cheapest places in the world. Would you agree : yes/No Comment : If not - why? If Yes - why ?

An astrology and gemstones are considered as fortune changer. With expensive stones, people are expecting to have miracle after wearing gemstones. Do you think wearing gemstones are really effective ?

Do you think it is high time that India should establish a minimum hourly wage system like in western countries ?

One of Consumer VOICE subscribers sent us this when she learnt that most of our senior members love their computers. She herself is an octogenarian.  The computer swallowed grandma. Yes, honestly its true! She pressed 'control' and 'enter' And disappeared from view. It devoured her completely, The thought just makes me squirm. She must have caught a virus Or been eaten by a worm. I've searched through the recycle bin And files of every kind; I've even used the Internet, But nothing did I find. In desperation, I asked Google My searches to refine. The reply from him was negative, Not a thing was found 'online.' So, if inside your 'In-box,' My Grandma you should see, Please 'Copy,' 'Scan' and 'Paste' her And send her back to me. This is a tribute to all the Grandmas who have been fearless and learned to use the Computer........

New Delhi, June 23: The Central government admitted before the Kerala High Court that highly carcinogenic elements such as Iridium and Ruthenium were being freely added to gold ornaments in India.      This alarming revelation was made in a counter affidavit submitted by Director of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) before the Kerala High Court. A division bench comprising Justice A.K. Basheer and Justice P.Q. Barkath Ali had suo moto initiated proceedings based on a letter received from Mr N. Shankaran Narayanan, a UN official, complaining of the presence of such elements in gold jewellery. Expressing concern at the disclosure, the HC said, “Strangely the BIS director pointed out that no action can be taken under the current BIS Act unless appropriate amendment is brought into the Schedule of Industries (Development and Regulations) Act 1951.” The BIS director informed the court that the differences of opinion between the ministry of commerce and industries and the mi...