CAG CHANDIGARH | The Citizens Awareness Group – a voluntary organization comprising dedicated and concerned citizens

TRAI ORANISED CONDUMER OUTREACH PROGRAMME

Chandigarh: 9 August: Telecome regulatory authority of India organized Consumer Outreach Programme in the conference hall of Indo Tibet Border Police (ITBP) Behlna Camp Seemanagar, to create awareness about the rights and duties of the consumers. Which was attended by the Senior Officer of the TRAI, Govt. representatives, telecome service providers, consumer advocacy group and consumers. The programme was presided by Sh. Rajesh Sharma Commandant of the ITBP.

Speaking on the occasion Sh. Sharma said that it was a great problem for the Army Personals to get in touch with their family members from at their homes. But now it has become easy with the introduction of mobile phones.

Sh. S.K. Gupta Principal Advisor and A. Robert Ravi Advisor of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India explained about the rights and previligious of the Telecome Consumer in their presentation, TRAI regulations with regard to mobile number portability (MNP) unsolicited commercial calls (UCC) value added services (VAS) roaming charges were highlighted. They also advised that in case of any complaint consumer can register his complaint at the at the call centre of the service providers and in case consumer is not satisfied with the redressal of his complaint he can approach an appellate authority.

Later on an open session for the consumer redressal complaint was held which includes frequent call drops, network and tower radiation problem. The officers of the TRAI directed the representative of the respective companies to take up mobile numbers of the complainants and address these issues.

Sh. Surender Verma, Chairman of Citizens Group appreciated the role of Telecom Regulatory of India in organizing such consumers outreach programs. He said that his organization is one of the 42 consumer advocacy groups which have been registered with the TRAI since 2007 and organizing such consumer advocacy workshops to provide and effective regulatory frame work, adequate safeguards to ensure fair competition and protection of consumer interest.

Sh. G.P. Vishonai Senior Research officer TRAI said (we have conducted 128 such programmes till date). This year 30 programmes have been conducted and 100 programmes are in the pipeline to guide the consumers.

SURINDER VERMA

CHAIRMAN

Beauty enhancement, fragrance and removing visible dirt rank much above protection from germs and illness as primary concern while buying bath product

22 April’14, Chandigarh: With the rising pollution and unhygienic environment conditions, today people across the country are at a higher risk of contracting infections and diseases. In order to identify how bathing practices across the country are helping people stay safe from the outside environment, the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) has initiated a series of surveys across cities in India.
The first phase of the survey was conducted in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. Today, we are happy to share the key findings of this survey with you.

The second in the series will be conducted in Mumbai and Pune. This will be followed by surveys across the length and breadth of the country in the coming months. To study bathing habits, 300 married people with children in the age group of 8 – 14 years were selected randomly. The total population studied was 600. The study was conducted through two modes – (i) face to face, and (ii) online. Overall This first-of-its-kind survey aims to identify the bathing practices followed by people
across the country to keep them protected from the health risks from outside environment. The survey showed that for a city that faces very hot summers, significant 14% individuals do not take a bath daily.
Dr. Ashok Sharma, General Secretary, NIMA (North India branch), said, “According to the study, those who took bath in the night before retiring for the day constituted 26%. This again is significant, as these people carry with them the heat, sweat and grime of the previous night throughout the ensuing day before taking a shower in the evening (and probably getting back to bed soon) – hardly a healthy
trend!- occasionally as compared to the ones who are not.”

Key finding
The study showed that a miniscule 4% of the sample population took bath with antibacterial soap as compared to 91% respondents who bathe with beauty soaps. This key finding showed that the purpose of bathing – killing bacteria that could affect personal hygiene – was lost in most cases (as only 4% used anti-bacterial soap). So, most people are either unaware of or care little about the health-related aspects of taking a bath.

Bathing and falling sick: The connect Dr. RP Gaba, President, NIMA (Chandigarh branch), “A very interesting statistic thrown up by the survey is that only 12% of the daily bathers using anti-bacterial soap fall sick every month. This compares with a steep 55% who use other types of soaps, such as beauty soaps. It is evident that if one needs to stay protected from the health risk posed by outside environment, a beauty soap will not provide much assistance.”This finding of the connect between taking a bath with anti-bacterial soap and the frequency of falling sick highlights the importance of bathing with the right product(s).

Other factors
That’s not all. A mere 7% of the people polled said protection from germs and illnesses was the factor that decided the bathing product they used. And while 9% said they took a bath to protect themselves from germs and infections, 39% bathe to remove the visible dirt from their body.

Pollution and health
The study showed that in Chandigarh, 87% of those polled are exposed to the outside environment for 6 hours or more. As a result 69% of those who do not take a bath daily are reported to contract ailments such as flu, fever, diarrhoea or eye infections, at least once every month.

Other gems
Besides these numbers, the survey threw up other interesting insights. First, with the rising levels of environmental pollution in India, risks to health are also on the rise. Two, environmental pollution is generally associated with respiratory problems. And three, according to experts, environmental pollution is one of the biggest causes of skin, eye and enteric infections.

Conclusion
The survey has thrown up an undisputable chain — that bathing practices have a vital link with people’s health. As compared to the high exposure to outside environment, which leads to frequent bouts of sickness, practices such as frequency of bathing and preferred bathing products are still way below satisfactory levels. The result of the negative impact it has made on their health is evident.