Kohima Bureau
Kohima, March 15 (EMN): The New Market Area Panchayat and New Market Youth Organisation of Kohima organised a World Consumer Rights Day programme based on the theme “making digital market places fairer’ at New Market in Kohima on Wednesday.
The president of the Nagaland Voluntary Consumer’s Organisation (NVCO) Kezhokhoto Savi was the resource person for the event. In his discourse to the gathering, he reminded them about consumers’ rights. In this ‘digital world’ people need to be aware of their rights as consumers, he said.
Saying that the right of all consumers is to be respected and protected, he appealed to the participants to be aware of their rights as consumers. “A learned consumer is an asset to the society,” Savi said.
Speaking on the theme, he said that the aim of this year’s theme was to promote digital market places that are accessible, safer, and fairer for consumers across the globe.
Savi said that access to fair and secure internet for all, action against scams and fraud; and better consumer protection online are some of the rights of consumers. He cautioned consumers that with all the benefits of the digital market they need to be aware of scams and fraud which have become very common in the digital market.
“When we go and buy, we become consumer for our consumption. So we must know about other aspects like accurate measurement, quality, information and knowledge of the goods we use,” Savi said.
Consumers are the king of the market and without consumers there will be no businesses, the resource person said. He added: ‘We are failing in our duty. We don’t even care to check expiry dates or read the content. It is our duty to check the quantity and quality before buying a product.’
Highlighting the importance of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said it was a uniform tax across the country. With GST, no other tax should come. He however lamented that the Nagaland government had set up illegal check gates in various districts.
Also Haikam Zeliang, joint controller for Legal Metrology & Consumer Protection (LMCP), addressed the gathering. He said that the LMCP was the main department for consumer protection. He highlighted the activities of the department besides speaking about the importance of consumer rights. He asked the gathering to seek assistance from the department whenever they need.
