The World Opinion

Tag: Consumer Affairs

  • Govt Addresses Surge In Fake Online Reviews With E-Commerce Giants— Check Details |

    New Delhi: As consumer complaints related to e-commerce platforms surge in the country, the Department of Consumer Affairs on Wednesday held a stakeholder consultation on the protection of consumer interest from online fake reviews.

    Consumer complaints relating to e-commerce platforms on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) surged from 95,270 in 2018 (22 per cent of total grievances) to 4,44,034 in 2023 (43 per cent of total grievances). “The presence of fake reviews online jeopardizes the trustworthiness and credibility of shopping platforms and can cause consumers to make wrong purchase decisions,” said the Department, which comes under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. (Also Read: Getting Fake Calls Threatening To Disconnect Your Mobile On Behalf Of DoT/TRAI? Report At THESE Numbers)

    Nidhi Khare, Secretary, of Consumer Affairs, chaired the meeting, attended by representatives from major online platforms such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Flipkart, industry bodies and voluntary consumer associations, among others. During the meeting, the Department of Consumer Affairs emphasized the growth in online shopping over recent times and the rising number of consumer grievances registered in the e-commerce sector on the NCH.

    The discussion on moving towards a “quality control order for IS 19000:2022” was welcomed by stakeholders and a general consensus was reached among them that the issue of fake reviews is important to protect consumer interest while shopping online, and requires to be closely monitored. . (Also Read: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Joins LinkedIn, Offers Glimpse Of Google I/O 2024)

    The draft quality control order (QCO) will be placed for public consultation for submitting comments within a prescribed time frame. The essential requirements provided under the draft QCO include that the processes for collecting, moderating and publishing online consumer reviews would be done in a manner ensuring that the “reviews that are genuine get published”, the Department said.

  • Government Permits Export Of 99,150 Metric Tonnes Of Onions To 6 Countries | Economy News

    New Delhi: The government has allowed the export of 99,150 metric tonnes of onion to six countries — Bangladesh, UAE, Bhutan, Bahrain, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said on Saturday.

    A ban has been imposed on onion export to ensure adequate domestic availability and keep prices in check as the output of both the Kharif and Rabi crops in 2023-24 are estimated to be lower as compared to the previous year and demand has increased in the international market. (Also Read: Meet Jayaram Banan Who Started His Journey From Dishwasher And Now Owns Company Valued At Rs 300 Crore)

    The National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), the agency for export of onion to these countries, sourced the domestic onions to be exported through e-platform at L1 prices and supplied to the agencies nominated by the government of the destination country at the negotiated rate on 100 per cent advance payment basis, according to the Food Ministry statement. (Also Read: MDH Dismisses Pesticides Allegations From Food Regulators, Assures Product Safety)

    The offer rate of NCEL to the buyers takes into account the prevailing prices in the destination market and also international and domestic markets. The quotas allocated for export to the six countries are being supplied as per the requisition made.

    As the largest producer of onion in the country, Maharashtra is the major supplier of onions sourced by NCEL for export. The government had also allowed the export of 2,000 metric tonnes (MT) of white onion cultivated especially for export markets in Middle-East and some European countries.

    Being purely export-oriented, the production cost of the white onion is higher than other onions due to higher seed cost, adoption of good agricultural practice (GAP) and compliance to strict maximum residue limits (MRL) requirements.

    The procurement target for onion buffer out of Rabi-2024 under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) of the Department of Consumer Affairs has been fixed at 5 lakh tonnes this year. The Central Agencies, viz., NCCF and NAFED are tying up local agencies such as FPOs/FPCs/PACs to support the procurement, storage and farmers registration to begin the procurement of any store-worthy onion.

    A high-level team of the Department of Consumer Affairs, NCCF and NAFED had visited Nashik and Ahmednagar Districts of Maharashtra during April 11-13, 2024 to create awareness among the farmers, FPOs/FPCs and PACs about the procurement of 5 LMT of onion for PSF buffer.

    In order to reduce the storage loss of onions, the Department of Consumer Affairs decided to enhance the quantum of stocks to be irradiated and cold stored from 1,200 MT last year to over 5,000 MT this year, with technical support from BARC, Mumbai. The pilot of onion irradiation and cold storage taken up last year has been found to have resulted in the reduction of storage loss to less than 10 per cent.