Interests of farmers and consumers are high on govt agenda, says Consumer minister
Updated: Jun 01, 2015 05:07:38pm
New Delhi, Jun 1 (KNN) Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan said that interests of farmers and consumers are high on the agenda of the government.
In order to protect farmers’ interests, the government not only relaxed quality norms for procurement but also decided to bear value cut, if imposed for shrivelled and broken grains, so that farmers get full minimum support price for produce, he said while briefing about initiatives taken by his Ministry during last one year here on Monday.
FCI has been asked to work out a plan for procurement of pulses and oil seeds from farmers on MSP and to adopt an aggressive paddy procurement plan in the regions where market price generally rules below the MSP and distress sale is reported, especially in the states of Andhra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Paswan added.
On National Food Security Act, the minister said the Centre has decided to bear 50 per cent expenditure of food grains handling and of dealers’ margin money to ensure implementation of the act more effectively.
The rules for payment of Food Security allowance to the beneficiaries, in the case of food grains is not made available to the beneficiaries, have also been finalize. On pilot basis, the Government is also working on direct transfer of food subsidy to beneficiaries of National Food Security Act, he added.
On Consumer welfare, Paswan said comprehensive amendments have finalised in the Consumer Protection Act to ensure quick, inexpensive and simple redressal of consumer’s grievances, enabling e-filing of cases and not requiring personal appearance till the stage of admission, and time bound admission of cases has been proposed.
A “Central Consumer Protection Authority” also proposed to investigate unfair trade practices; initiate class action, order recall or replacement of defective products. Provision made for product liability to enable consumers to sue for damages caused by defective products/ deficient services.
Besides this a dedicated portal www.gama.gov to enable consumers to register their grievances against misleading advertisements (GAMA) has been launched. Six key sectors namely food and agriculture, heath, education, real estate, transport and financial services have included for this purpose, he said.
On the occasion the Minister also launched a mobile app enabling consumer to register their complaint against consumer products having ISI marks and quarterly newsletter containing best practices of Targeted Public Distribution System. (KNN/ST)
In order to protect farmers’ interests, the government not only relaxed quality norms for procurement but also decided to bear value cut, if imposed for shrivelled and broken grains, so that farmers get full minimum support price for produce, he said while briefing about initiatives taken by his Ministry during last one year here on Monday.
FCI has been asked to work out a plan for procurement of pulses and oil seeds from farmers on MSP and to adopt an aggressive paddy procurement plan in the regions where market price generally rules below the MSP and distress sale is reported, especially in the states of Andhra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Paswan added.
On National Food Security Act, the minister said the Centre has decided to bear 50 per cent expenditure of food grains handling and of dealers’ margin money to ensure implementation of the act more effectively.
The rules for payment of Food Security allowance to the beneficiaries, in the case of food grains is not made available to the beneficiaries, have also been finalize. On pilot basis, the Government is also working on direct transfer of food subsidy to beneficiaries of National Food Security Act, he added.
On Consumer welfare, Paswan said comprehensive amendments have finalised in the Consumer Protection Act to ensure quick, inexpensive and simple redressal of consumer’s grievances, enabling e-filing of cases and not requiring personal appearance till the stage of admission, and time bound admission of cases has been proposed.
A “Central Consumer Protection Authority” also proposed to investigate unfair trade practices; initiate class action, order recall or replacement of defective products. Provision made for product liability to enable consumers to sue for damages caused by defective products/ deficient services.
Besides this a dedicated portal www.gama.gov to enable consumers to register their grievances against misleading advertisements (GAMA) has been launched. Six key sectors namely food and agriculture, heath, education, real estate, transport and financial services have included for this purpose, he said.
On the occasion the Minister also launched a mobile app enabling consumer to register their complaint against consumer products having ISI marks and quarterly newsletter containing best practices of Targeted Public Distribution System. (KNN/ST)
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