On 18-03-2015, two new initiatives were launched by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in order to enhance consumer awareness and strengthen support services to consumers in the country. These include a dedicated portal to register Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) and Grahak Suvidha Kendras.
Portal for Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA)
Considering that consumers are today exposed to large number of misleading advertisements which are dubious or unverified and that till date there is no single platform or agency to serve as a central registry for complaints against misleading advertisements, the Department of Consumer Affairs took an initiative to establish a dedicated portal to enable consumers to register their Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA), which provides as follows:
- any consumer in any part of the country can register on this site and can lodge a complaint against misleading advertisements.
- ensures that the complaints are taken up with the relevant authorities in the State or the Central Government concerned and appropriate action is taken.
- enables the consumer to be informed of the action taken by the authorities with respect to their complaint.
- the portal will be linked to all state authorities concerned, select voluntary consumer organizations in the country and the sector regulators in the Government of India.
Grahak Suvidha Kendra
It is a one stop center that will provide a host of services to consumers under one roof, which includes information dissemination, consumer awareness, mediation, grievance redress, assistance in filing complaints before the relevant consumer forum and counseling. The Kendras will be launched in six locations: Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi.