Thanks to the communication revolution and the Internet, today, sitting in the comfort of one’s office or home, one can access the websites of regulators, get to know what they are doing to protect the rights of consumers and also bring to their notice violations of consumers’ rights by service providers.

Consider the insurance sector. Now, if you access the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s (IRDA) website ? www.irdaindia.org.in ? you will get a lot of information about the insurance sector, but more importantly, the regulations that the IRDA has formulated for the protection of policy holders. If you have a problem with an insurance company and want to know how to file a complaint with the regulator, just click on “grievance cell”. It opens up three options: “cell for redressal of grievances of policy holders”, “contact information” and the third is “complaint registration form”.

The “contact information”, for example, gives you the names of officers dealing with complaints, their telephone numbers and other relevant information. So for complaints you can call: 040-55820964 or send an e-mail to: nonlifecomplaints @ irdaonline.org or: lifecomplaints@irdaonline.org. IRDA basically analyses the complaint and forwards it to the insurance company for redress.

You can also complain to the insurance ombudsman. Here again, the IRDA website gives you the address and the telephone numbers of the ombudsmen, the simple and quick procedure involved in redress of complaints filed before the ombudsmen and also the complaint form.

The Telecom Regulatory and Development Authority of India (TRAI) website does not lead you to an ombudsman (hopefully the industry will provide such a mechanism soon) but it gives you the address and telephone numbers of nodal officers of various telecom companies, who are responsible for redressing consumer complaints. You can also send in your complaints to TRAI. But most importantly, the TRAI website gives you valuable information, particularly on the various regulations drawn up by the regulator to protect consumer interest. Their website address is: www.trai.gov.in

Similarly, the Reserve Bank of India website gives you a wealth of information. Go to the site and click on “for bank customers”. You get information on the banking ombudsman, how he functions, his address, and of course the complaint form. It also gives you information on what kind of complaints can be filed before the ombudsman, the procedure involved, etc. So go ahead and check out these sites. Be an alert consumer.