Consumers’ Safety
The year 2003 was very significant for the Indian consumer. The consumer safety movement which had already started in several countries, including the USA, has now come to stay in India also.
During the whole of the year 2003, consumer safety issues came to the fore. It appeared that the Indian consumers had, at last, shed their apathy and reacted to an issue concerning their safety.
The first important bombshell in this regard was thrown by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) when its test results on bottled water brought to the public notice, particularly the notice of the media, the presence of pesticide residues. An even more important fact that surfaced was the lacuna in the mandatory quality standard that permitted such residues. The media pressure forced the government to upgrade the standards and bring them on a par with the European Union (EU) norms for bottled drinking water. It was established because the centre observed that the companies concerned were supplying their products of different standards in India from those supplied in European countries.
 In any case, the Indian consumers’ awareness became evident when they boycotted the colas on a mass scale perhaps for the first time in the history of India.
The consumer courts in different States and at different levels continued giving their judgement, protecting the rights and interests of the consumers.
There was another issue which generated a lot of heat and debate. It was the Conditional Access System (CAS).The consumers protested in the chorus against the introduction of CM in its present form without there being no provision for a regulator and a mechanism to redress the complaints of the consumers.
One important issue which surfaced was the problem of fake medicines. The government was forced to come up with a proposal to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and provide for the death penalty to those found guilty of manufacturing and selling spurious medicines.
The consumer courts were also advised by the National Consumer Commission to give up the practice of miserly computation of compensation and exercise the jurisdiction vested in them by law.
