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Investor Awareness Program at River side club MayurVihar-1 extn, NEW Delhi

New Delhi, April 22, 2017: For hundreds of middle class apartment residents attending a workshop on safe investment in the financial market was a pleasant surprise. The half day long workshop was organized by the Citizens Awareness Group, in collaboration with SEBI and supported by the NGO Centre for Social Change. Investor Awareness Program was held under the aegis of Securities Market Awareness Campaign by SEBI in the River side Club Delhi.

It is felt that awareness pertaining to the stock market is lacking among investors. A lot of people cannot invest or hesitate to do so and many tend to make wrong decisions due to lack of information and much information. Advising people not to invest in a business they do not understand, investors were asked to look for companies with a sound management.

Mr. Surinder Verma, Chairman, Citizens Awareness Group, said “You would not buy a colour TV before visiting a few dealers and taking advice from some friends. But a rumor might induce you to buy stocks worth two lakh rupees. So most of the losses occurred in the stock market are a result of hasty decisions, greed and fear.” He also exemplified how even educated and high income group investors fail to follow the safeguards while investing in the stock market.

Senor Scribe and Journalist Union leader, Mr Vipin Dhulia  said that the presence of market regulator like SEBI and due to safe regulation adopted by various stock exchanges, the market has become far safer for small and medium investors. If investor enters in the market equipped with fundamental knowledge about the company they intend to invest in, they have fairly good chances of making a steady profit. He dwelt upon numerous aspect of the capital market like duties of investors, investor protection guidelines, trading and risk management etc.

Another senior Journalist and Member of Press Council of India said that objective of the program was to educate the citizens about the investment opportunities available in the securities market and apprise them about their rights and obligations while dealing in the financial market. He also highlighted how SEBI came to the rescue of lakhs of small and innocent investors by cracking whip first on  Satyama scam and now Sahara case.

Mr Suresh Sharma, Advisor of Consumer Co-ordination Council (CCC) welcomed the guests and Mrs Reeta Rani Nayak, President of SSC delivered vote of thanks.

The program was attended by more than 60general investors despite the leisurely Saturday morning.Queries put forward by them were answered by the Panellists.

CONSUMER VOICE ANDCONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS URGE UNION FINANCE MINISTER TO TAX ALL TOBACCO PRODUCTS INCLUDING BIDIS AT 28% UNDER THE GST REGIME

23.7% Population Of Haryana Consume Tobacco By Adults Out Of Which 39.6% Of Males And 5.6% Of Females

New Delhi, February 16th, 2017: Ahead of a crucial GST Council meeting to be held on February 18, 2016, Consumer VOICE, a leading national consumer organization have reached out to the union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley and his key advisers, urging them to ensure that ALL tobacco products especially bidis, are placed in the demerit good category at the 28% GST rate with an additional levy of the highest possible rate of cess. Citizen Awareness Group, a Haryana based partner organization of Consumer Voice is actively supporting and working on Tobacco Control Intervention from the state of Haryana. These Consumer Organizations have also strongly recommended that tobacco products including bidis should be taxed at uniformly high rates under the new indirect tax framework expected to kick in from July 1. The move is significant as it comes just days ahead of the GST council meet which is expected to discuss the rate slabs for different goods and services under the GST mechanism.

According to Dr. Rijo John, Assistant Professor, IIT Jodhpur, “As against a normally expected 10%-15% increase in taxes on tobacco products, a mere increase of 6% announced in the budget is a boon to the tobacco industry. Unless corrective measures are taken in the impending GST by bringing all tobacco products under the highest demerit rate of 28% + the highest possible cess, it would be a severe blow to the public health in India.”

Bidis are the most commonly used tobacco product in India, accounting for 64% of all tobacco consumption and are disproportionately consumed by the poor.  Bidis contribute to the majority of the 10 lakh deaths attributable to tobacco as well as the staggering economic burden caused by tobacco use. Classifying different tobacco products in lower rate GST slabs will be a distortion and will send a wrong message and promote the use of products like bidis.

“Tobacco consumption has reached a dangerous level for consumers which needs immediate attention by the law makers since it is making consumers poorer and leaving their entire family vulnerable to cancers of the mouth, lung, larynx, to name just a few tobacco related illnesses”says Ashim Sanyal, COO, Consumer Voice.“It is a proven simple economics that demand falls with a rise in price. Hence we need to raise taxes on tobacco, especially on bidis to a higher level, to discourage its consumption and saving millions of lives.” adds Mr. Sanyal.

With the total tax burden currently at 53%, 19.5% and 56% for cigarettes, bidis and smokeless, tobacco respectively, taxation in India is much lower than the level recommended by the WHO, according to which the tax burden should represent at least 75% of the retail price. The union budget 2017-18 also did not address this anomaly with an effective tax increase of 6%, lower than atleast the 10% increase witnessed in previous budgets.

“With nearly one fourth of Haryana’s population consuming tobacco, it makes for a stronger reason to discourage its consumption. Current low tax levels serve as an incentive for tobacco user rather than deterrent” says Shri Surender Verma, Chairman, Citizen awareness Group, Haryana”

With 10 lakh tobacco triggered deaths every year, public health advocates believe that the government’s taxation policies in the tobacco sector have left public health concerns unaddressed. Taxation is clearly the best way to tackle the tobacco threat as reiterated by research all over the world including in India. It is critical that the total tax burden on tobacco under the GST regime, does not fall below the current tax burden in order to achieve revenue neutrality and maintain the current progress on public health.

About Citizen Awareness Group:

About Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE)

Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) is working for the last 34 years on consumer empowerment through Consumer Education, Advocacy and Research under the Jago Grahak Jago umbrella. It is in the forefront in participating in many consumer centric projects like food safety, road & car safety, product safety, financial literacy, digital literacy, tobacco control, food fortification etc.

 

World Consumer Day:Experts Stress for More Awareness on World Consumer Day

By 121 News

Chandigarh 15th March:-   Consumer is the driving force behind any business but it is often seen consumer is the most vulnerable part of the chain. Exploitation of consumers because of non-awareness of his rights is common; hence there is a need for consumer movement. This was stated by Pawan Kumar Bansal, former Union Minister while speaking at a seminar on ‘Consumer Awareness on Quality and Services’ held at Chandigarh Press Club, Sector 27 here today on the occasion of World Consumer Day.

Pawan Bansal said that when the Consumer Protection Act came into being in 1985 and many organizations came together to generate awareness. After so many awareness levels have gone up but people still need to know about their rights, and there should be awareness sessions in schools and colleges and they must be made aware of how legal action can be taken by a consumer without much formalities involved.

 Justice K.C. Gupta (Retd.) Punjab & Haryana High Court was a special speaker on the subject and Sashi Rekha, Director, NABCB was the key note speaker who apprised participants with the importance of certification of quality boards.

While speaking on the occasion, Sashi Rekha said that we have an obligation to generate consumer awareness because this country needs such awareness programs. They need to be made aware of certifications, what is quality standard, what is technical regulation, and what are the benefits of accreditation etc. The consumers need to understand their rights as an informed and educated consumer is always powerful. In the technical session Sashi Rekha in detail spoke about voluntary standard and regulation and also told about the complaints handling system.

The inaugural session ended with the vote of thanks by Deepak Dhingra, Vice Chairman, Citizen Awareness Group.

Rajesh Maheshwari, NABCB highlighted Accreditation as well as product Certification. Representative from BIS also made a speech on system product certification by BIS.

Prof. Vandana Kumar from the Law Department, Panjab University, spoke on the need of quality goods and services. The protection and promotion of consumer rights is important function of the government and awareness is a necessity.

The event ended by vote of thanks made by Surinder Verma, Secretary, CCC.

CAG PLANS TO LAUNCH SUMMER CONSUMER SELLING AWARENESS – HOME APPLIANCES

CAG PLANS TO SPREAD AWARENESS THROUGH THIS BLOG ABOUT SUMMER PROMOTIONS OF VARIOUS COMPANIES IN ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONAL TRAP.

STAR RATINGS ARE KEY TO CHOOSE

WATTAGE IS TO OBSERVE LOW ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTIONS

WARRANTY TERMS TO BE FOLLOWED AS MAJOR FACTOR

LIFESTYLE FEEL IS THE TRAP

FALSE FEATURE AND BUNDLE OFFERS ARE MISC

SUPER STAR INFLUENCE ADVERTISEMENTS TO BE IGNORED

car safety – organised separately by NGOs at University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University, Chandigarh on 20.07,2016.

Strong passwords, 2-step verification emphasized at Google Internet Safety Workshop

Chandigarh, July 20, 2016 : Need to have a strong and unique  password and use of 2-step verification and security key were among the host of measures emphasized at a Internet Safety Workshop organized by New Delhi based Consumer VOICE in partnership with Google and Citizens Awareness Group at University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University, on Wednesday. The workshop was part of a series of state workshops being organized across India.

Highlighting the best internet security practices in a Security Café conducted on behalf of Consumer VOICE and Google, Ms Rinki Sharma, said passwords being the first line of defense against cyber criminals, it is important that these be strong and unique  and be changed frequently.

She said with 2–step verification and security key, consumers can protect their account with both password and phone. Talking about protecting your device, she said tools such as Android Device Manager help you locate your device. So, if you’ve lost a device, you can use Android Device Manager to find its approximate location on a map and when it was last used.

She advised the audience to always remember to download apps from trusted sources. Your screens should also be kept locked using passwords, patterns, fingerprints, pin or through face recognition, she added.

 

Rinki cautioned internet users to beware of various scams that entice you into sharing your personal sensitive information with unknown sources. Checkout for authentic domain names before you give out your personal information, she said.

Dwelling on safe and secure shopping online, she said it was necessary to ensure that the websites from which you make your purchases is reputed. Make sure you have researched sufficiently about the product. It is good to look for secure checkout process while making your payments. In short, be safe – be secure

Citizen Awareness Group chairman Surinder Verma said no doubt internet is a very strong medium of communication and information, but measures should constantly be upgraded to safeguard the users from cheating, fraud and malicious propaganda.

Mr.Rakesh Tuli, senior research advisor,Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), UIET, Panjab University, and Ms. Inderdeep Kaur Aulakh, coordinator, department of IT, UIET, also graced the occasion.