How many times have you given up the idea of filing a complaint at the Consumer Forum just because of the hassles it involves? Well, now you can sit back and relax. With several consumer bodies having taken strong initiatives, there’s been a growing consumer awareness. And, as a happy consequence, quite a few online endeavours are being made to educate Indian consumers and guide them through the maze of pertinent consumer issues.

Anand M., a Chennai-based senior software architect, has started a new non-technical blog (Google) called Indian Consumer. The blog focuses on Indian consumer issues and consumer activism. Anand started this blog, hoping to provide a platform to Indian consumers to voice their grievances, and also to highlight resources available for consumer activism.

He elaborates, “Neither am I a lawyer nor am I a consumer rights evangelist. I am a consumer, looking for ways to express dissatisfaction or happiness based on my experience of using a product available in the market. The problem is that most of us do not even know what our rights are as consumers.”

Pritha Sathpati, a Calcutta-based sales executive, agrees. Sathpati feels that Indian society lacks an information-sharing approach when it comes to consumer issues. “Unless I know the kind of problems other people are facing, how do I educate myself and perceive situations, or equip myself with defence modes?”

This is another area that Anand is trying to look into. One of his objectives is information sharing, so that people who log on to his blog and share their problems can create pressure points to make companies sit up and take note.

Indian Consumer apart, online magazine Consumer VOICE deals with issues that affect common people. It was started to prevent the consumer from being short-changed by a lack of information from the government and industry. Empowering the consumer to demand and seek information is the key objective of the website.

The best part is, anyone can be a member of this online magazine for an annual subscription of Rs 150. Its institutionalised approach to consumer awareness and protection, the establishment of a national resource centre and provisions for an online complaint registration and redressal mechanism have benefited many a harried individual.

Bejon Misra, chairman of the Consumer Coordination Council and CEO of Consumer VOICE, New Delhi, points out, “India’s consumer laws are lacking in the area of effective implementation mechanisms. The system should be such that a common consumer can look for redressal without approaching the judicial system and incurring further cost to seek relief. The law should provide a consumer-friendly mechanism for prompt and fair justice at an affordable cost that’s accessible to all without any discrimination.” As to whether such online websites help one approach consumer fora faster, Misra says that the consumer is assured of prompt advice and counselling so that he or she can decide on the course of action at the earliest.

Watchoutinvestors.com, aided and sponsored by the Investor Education and Protection Fund, ministry of company affairs, government of India, is another free site that virtually helps out the common man in matters of finance. It works on the premise that investors have lost confidence in the market where unscrupulousness and fraud have become the order of the day.

The site lists all kinds of indictments by a regulator against any company or person and is useful if you want to do a background check before you invest in a specific company. It also attempts to equip investors with a self-defence tool against unscrupulous promoters and companies.

The website is now a national web-based registry and helps investors do a quick search on both entities or persons before making any new investments. The search results are provided in a simple tabular format.

For each entry, the reason for the action and the action taken by the regulatory body is provided in a summary form and the source document is attached, wherever available, for authenticity and details. Decisions of the higher appellate authorities are also provided. As a mission, watchoutinvestors.com aspires to build public confidence in India’s financial system, enabling the flow of public investment through proper channels.

Only time will tell whether such websites can be of real help to the common man. But Anand believes that as more and more people log on to his blog, an online network of consumers will gradually be formed and they will share information and fight out consumer issues.

Misra agrees and adds optimistically, “Every village should have a web centre made functional by the government with the help of the local youth to encourage youth employment and community involvement. We need not have computers in every home but they should be made accessible to all through community sharing and participation.”

log on to

Consumer Voice

www.consumer-voice.org and www.core.nic.in

Membership: Rs 2,200 a year for non- members; Rs 1,000 for member organisations.

Contact: consumeralert@eth.net Mailing address: W 018, Regency Park II, DLF Phase IV, Gurgaon 122002

Indian Consumer

www.indianconsumers.net

Membership: Free

Contact: anandm@mvps.org

Site for investors

www.watchoutinvestors.com

Membership: Free

Contact: contactus@watchoutinvestors.com