CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL,2015-MAJOR CHANGES IN CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986

THE NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL,2015 WILL REPLACE THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986.THE NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN PARLIAMENT FOR APPROVAL.

MAJOR CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986 AS IT WAS FELT THAT IN THE CURRENT DYNAMIC MARKET AND A FAST CHANGING ENVIRONMENT THE OLDER PROVISIONS OF THE ACT WILL NOT SERVE THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTING THE CONSUMERS AGAINST THE UNFAIR AND EXPLOITATIVE TRADE PRACTICES.

THE NEW BILL IS A MORE COMPREHENSIVE ONE AND ONE OF THE IMPORTANT PROVISION OF IT IS THAT IT PROVIDES FOR THE TIME  LIMIT IN WHICH THE CASE MUST BE DISPOSED OF BY THE FORUM.FURTHER NEW PROVISIONS ARE MORE CONSUMER FRIENDLY AND PROVIDES MORE POWER TO THE INNOCENT CONSUMERS.

THE IMPORTANT CHANGES IN THE NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL,2015 ARE AS FOLLOWS:-

1. A new provision has been added which covers 'unfair contract'  that leads to loss to consumers.it is important because many times consumer are placed in unequal bargaining capacity by the service providers.Now a consumer can file complaint in consumer forum on the basis of unfair contract' provision.

2. An explanation has been added to clarify that the e-commerce transaction are covered within the consumer protection act.Further the provisions regarding e-commerce are very much comprehensive to include each and every unfair trade practice.

3. A provision of the new bill covers cases where a manufacturer or service providers deliberately withholds information that leads to loss  or damage to consumers.

4. It also provides for the online filing of cases.

5. The scope of product liability has been widened.

6.the definition of the manufacturer has been broadened in context of the provisions on product liability being added.

7.mediation provision-the forum will firstly try to mediate between the parties through a mediator so as to reach an acceptable settlement which will ensure faster and inexpensive justice to consumers.

8.if a seller refuses to give bill to the consumer,it will regarded as unfair practice as well.

9. A 'central consumer protection authority' would be created to protect the rights of consumers and to prevent exploitation of consumers.further regional offices of central authority would be created so that a consumer can approach the authority through these offices.the officers after receiving a complaint from a consumer needs to dispose of the complaint within a month.in case of delay action against the officer have also been proposed.

10. The jurisdiction of district forum and state forum have been widened.District forum can now entertain cases where the bill value of goods and services is upto 50 lacs.

11. The consumer can file complaint in district forum where he resides irrespective of the fact that the good or services were bought in other area.

12. The complainant or the opposite party will not be able to hire an advocate to fight their case until the value of goods and services exceeds rupees 2 lacs.However the complainant can hire an expert if the complaint requires technical expertise.This provision will benefit the complainant a lot as he/she will get inexpensive justice.The big companies or manufacturers will not be able to hire lawyers for smaller cases involving amount less than 2 lacs.

13. Time limit has been provided for the dispose of complaints by the commission to ensure speedy justice.The commission is required to dispose of complaint within 3 months and within 5 months if the case involves testing or analysis.

14.The district and state forum have been given the power to review their order if their was an error.

15. The state forum can entertain complaints on suo motu as well.

CAN Electronic Voting Machines BE HACKED OR TAMRED?

from time to time  questions on evms have been raised wheather it was in year 1982 when it was first used in elections or in 2017 assembly elections.leaders from all political parties have raised questions about the credibility of evms.

but with the recent assembly elections questions on the credibility of evms have come into limelight.

EVM has become a trending topic in the country and everyone wants to know can evms be really hacked or tampered or it is just a myth.

lets take a look at it-

--- one of the allegation on the evms is about  its functioning.because it is electronic,it can be easily hacked as there is nothing in the digital world which is 100%full proof against hacking.many countries in the world like netherlands,germany,italy have banned the use of evms because of above reason.

however in reply election commission of india maintains that evms in developed countries were used online and therefore were vulnerable of  getting hacked.in india evms operate differently and are not used online.

the indian evms consist of a "control unit" and a "balloting unit".the control unit is under the control of polling officer and he everytime clears the previous deck on the control unit so as to make sure that every vote is registered.the balloting unit is where a voter punches to cast his vote.


--- another allegation on evms is that the computer chips which controls the evms can be easily programmed to do manipulations.this allegation was made by satinath choudhary who is a retried professor of computer science and filed a PIL as well to block the use of evms.

the election commission is of the view that the program or software is burnt into masked chip or One Time Programmable so that it cannot be altered with.

also the evms is not networked by any wired or wireless system so there is no possibility of data corruption.

--- some people while questioning the credibility of evms argue that there can be procedural manipulations.

election commission rejects this claim on the basis of strong security system.

1. Every EVM has a corresponding identity number. This ID is cross-checked against the EC’s database when its being transported to and from the polling booth. They are guarded at all times by Central Forces.

2. From first level checks by engineers to the manufacturers in the presence of political parties’ representatives, to mock polls where at least 100 votes are cast by representatives of political parties on 5% of the EVMs randomly selected by them.

3. On the day of polling, such mock polls are repeated by casting 50 votes at every polling station, again, in the presence of political party representatives.

4. After polling is concluded, candidates and their representatives are allowed to put their own seals in the strong room. They are also allowed to keep a round the clock watch on the strong room.

IN 2010 A PIL WAS FILED IN SUPREME COURT  TO BLOCK THE USE OF EVMS ON THE BASIS THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO TAMPER EVMS.

ON THIS SUPREME COURT ASKED THE EC TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY TO INTRODUCE VOTER VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAILS.

ELECTION COMMISSION IS PLANNING TO ROLL OUT  VVPAT IN EVERY BOOTH BY 2019 SO AS TO MAINTAIN THE CREDIBILITY OF EVMS.

FROM THE ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE VIEWS,ONE MAY THINK THAT EVMS ARE SECURED ENOUGH TO PROVIDE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS.

BUT THE REALITY IS- IN THE TODAY'S DIGITAL WORLD  NOTHING IS SECURED AND  THEREFORE WE CANT  FULLY  TRUST EVMS AND THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS A HEALTHY DEBATE ON REINTRODUCING PAPER BALLOT  SYSTEM.

IF FULL PROOF EVMS COULD HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED THEN THE MOST  DEVELOPED NATION i.e THE U.S.A HAVE DEVELOPED IT ALREADY. BUT ITSELF USES PAPER BALLOT SYSTEM FOR COUNTING OF VOTES AND PARTIALLY USES EVMS.

TODAY WE TALK OF CYBER WARFARE AND EVEN THE HIGHLY SECURED CONFIDENTIAL FILES AND  SECURITY SYSTEMS OF EVERY COUNTRY IS  PRONE TO HACKING AND THEREFORE TO PROVIDE A 100%FULL PROOF EVM IS NOT POSSIBLE.

FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IS THE BASE OF DEMOCRACY AND AS SUCH EVERYTHING RELATED TO FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NEEDS TO BE HIGHLY DEBATED AND DISCUSSED SO THAT THE PURITY OF DEMOCRACY CAN BE MAINTAINED AND SUSTAINED.