Thursday, July 28, 2011


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?   

Monday, July 25, 2011



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?

Friday, July 22, 2011

 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 Malaysian state of Sarawak, but those drinks include one type of tea and are typically layered with palm sugar on the bottom, evaporated milk in the middle and tea on the top. What makes Srimongol’s special are the discrete layers of tea blends.
Mr. Gour mixes different types of locally grown tea—three black teas and one green tea— from four types of bushes, with milk and various spices. Each mixture has a distinct color and taste, and he pours one on top of another to create seven distinct bands. Customers sip each layer slowly:  Trying to figure out what’s in each one is a fun act of gustatory detective work. The top layer of the seven-layer tea has hints of cinnamon; the layer below has a slight citrus flavor to it. Mr. Gour says the fourth layer from the top and bottom layer get the most reaction from his customers. The fourth layer is a black tea mixed with condensed milk, while the bottom layer is a sweet, syrupy green tea with cloves, cinnamon and “secret spices.” (Customers can choose to have one to seven layers of tea in their drink.)
In a country that consumes more than 55 million kilograms of tea leaves a year, Mr. Gour’s layered tea has turned him into something of a celebrity. He has shared a cup of his tea with many of Bangladesh’s top politicians, including members of Parliament and the governor of Bangladesh Bank. Bangladeshi newspaper clippings about his tea cover one wall of his open-air shop. In January, he opened a second tea cabin, just down the street from his first one.
A seven-layer drink costs 70 taka, or about one U.S. dollar. It may not sound like much, but most cups of tea in the area cost about seven U.S. cents.
Just how, exactly, Mr. Gour layers the tea is a closely guarded secret. Mr. Gour heads to a back room so he can make his concoction away from prying eyes. He has trusted the recipe to his three sons and brother who work at the shops—only the five them are allowed into the tea-preparation room.
Though imitators have popped up around town, offering their own layered teas, Mr. Gour is leading the competition with most layers. He says after years of practice, he will release a 10-layer tea later this year.
So, is the tea worth the trip?
With its varied flavors, tea connoisseurs are bound to find at least a layer or two they like. The fourth layer from the top stood out with its strong spices, likely some mixture of ginger and cinnamon in a black tea, while the popular bottom layer was a bit on the sweet side (though would have tasted great as a syrup on ice cream). Mr. Gour claims the flavors “will live with you a lifetime,” but there’s no one tea flavor that makes that memorable of a mark. It’s more about the experience – and drink — as a whole: the mystery of the ingredients, the rows of tea bushes just outside the shops and the chance to drink from the hands of a Bangladeshi tea master.
Nilkantha Tea Cabins are on Kalighat Road just a few kilometers outside of the town of Srimongol in Sylhet division, Bangladesh.

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 information about goods & services.

Thursday, July 21, 2011


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 updated with the latest ragging news, ragging facts and invites people to post their views and complaints about ragging.
“We want to reach out to both the fresher and senior students. Today students spend majority of their time on Facebook. We want to talk to students directly across India and communicate to them the ills of ragging. We believe that students are very sensible and once made aware will stop indulging in this insensitive act”, says Mohit Garg, CURE co-founder. The page invites students to become CURE Ambassadors and spread the message of stopping ragging to all their friends and local community.
CURE founders believe that laws are enough and one needs to find creative ways of taking the message to the youth. “We have a very creative page. The idea is not to lecture people. We usinnovative images, quotes and videos to introduce students to the psychology of ragging and why it is not ‘cool’ to rag. A lot of parents between the age of 35 years to 50 years are also on Facebook. We want to reach out to them as well.”, says Varun Aggarwal, CURE. He feels that this page will become the Mecca for protests and advocacy against ragging.
Till now students and parents and students approach CURE through their website, www.noragging.com. “There have been multiple occasions in the past where students have approached us for a platform where they could share their experiences and learn more about ragging. The Facebook page addresses this gap.”, recalled Harh Agarwal, CURE. “Not only that, CURE’s Facebook page will be an excellent interactive forum for teachers, principals, parents and media to exchange their views, share their anti-ragging initiatives and also develop better understanding of this issue” adds Harsh.
 If you feel strongly about ragging, you do not need to go to Jantar Mantar to protest, just logon to www.facebook.com/noragging/. Your voice will reach far and wide.


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 so bothered about the love between a boy and a girl, why they don't let them do what they want to do. In our country, love is considered as a sin, but murder, rape, unethical marketing ploys which are used to fool consumers,  are considered nothing but part and parcel of modern India... I just want to ask where is India going...to a new level where everything is going to be perfect or to a place where only the unethical things exist...      

Monday, July 18, 2011

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 ?  

Friday, July 15, 2011

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 even at night time.

The TATAs continue to rule the roost (~72% of bulk SMS/ INR 330+ crore) and even Government owned companies such as BSNL continue to flout the few rules that exist (NDNC register).

The proposed, new laws (partly flawed because they are utterly dependant upon a consumer complaint) have not been implemented yet and no date has been fixed either (it would be a joke anyways -- fact is that the term "deadline" has been re-invented by TRAI to mean "no action necessary"!)

It's a 'Free For All' situation, like in the 'Wild West', where the 'Guns and Goondas' ruled.

UCCs continue unabated and the situation is getting much worse. The 4 postponements (Implementation of new rules/ guidelines) by TRAI have not made things any easier but have, instead, made things much worse.

TRAI has lost face and our trust!

I have some examples, as you must already be aware of in detail. The subsequent NDNC registered numbers have registered the following complaints thus far:

1.  99101-00077 = 101 UCCs
2.  99101-62289 = 457 UCCs
3.  99101-67077 = 695 UCCs

That makes it 1,253 complaints from just 3 numbers to date... isn't that enough evidence of your failed policies?!

These tantamount to torture for us consumers and these are and continue to be a major intrusion into our privacy.

Given the above scenarios, who today can take your "Regulatory Authority" seriously? Their is no regulation and neither is there a show [and proof] of authority.

Sir, with due respect to you as an individual, I proclaim that TRAI has failed! The earned grade isn't just an "F", its worse.

Whether on the MOBILE SERVICES front (UCCs, ridiculously low GPRS bandwidth, call drops, never any reimbursements for the customer, incorrect bills, no smooth MNP, numerous fluctuating Pre-Paid issues, etc.)

OR
whether its on the BROADBAND SERVICES front (abysmally low bandwidths, no laws for true quality in place, no importance given to upload speeds, PING, Line Attenuation, SNR margins, Jitter, etc.)

OR
whether its about a SINGLE NATIONAL POLICE NUMBER (distress helpline) (such as a 911 in the U.S.A., 999 in the U.K. or 112 in Europe & China, etc.)

ALL fundamental issues remain unresolved!
ALL are your to-dos!!

Sir, your organization needs to get these sorted out. These issues concern the whole nation -- every individual, every citizen!

Sir, TRAI needs to shift gears and get real, get forceful and win back lost trust immediately... after all, a regulatory authority needs to be strong and not as weak and ineffective as it is today.

Sincerely
Ajoy

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

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 ????

Sunday, July 10, 2011


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?

Friday, July 8, 2011

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 ?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011


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

Friday, July 1, 2011



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 ministry of consumer affairs had kept the amendment in a limbo. Further, the BIS director contended that BIS hallmarking scheme for gold was voluntary in nature and therefore the department does not have any say in it.