Fight must go beyond noodles: R. Desikan

Chennai:  Veteran consumer activist and chairman emeritus of Consumers Association of India, Mr R. Desikan, who has been fighting for the protection of consumer rights for over four decades, said in an interview to Deccan Chronicle that consumers have the right to check all products and, if they find them defective, they can sue the company and get a refund of the amount they spent.
Excerpts of the interview:

Q) How do you, as a consumer activist, look at the ban on Maggi noodles?

To me, this action of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is the greatest gift they could have given to Indian consumers. So far, in my memory, I have never come across a time when the government ordered the withdrawal of any food product anywhere in India for the whole country. This is a major achievement, and as a consumer activist I am thrilled - not because it’s a particular company, I have always been upset because I, as a consumer, have no protection, as soft drinks are sold with very high sugar content, energy drinks are sold with high caffeine content and everybody comes through with a miniature sub-section of the law and gets away with it. There should be a continuity in checks. The FSSAI should check other brands, soft drinks, etc.

Q) These noodle brands have been in the market for the past three decades, but the government has initiated action only now. Do you think the action has come very late?
We have been fighting not only for this but also against caffeinated beverages and soft drinks with high sugar content. I have been part of a committee in 2003-04 where at one time we agreed that these aerated beverages should have a particular level of caffeine, should have specific pH factor and after 14 meetings, spread over three years, it was agreed. We had great difficulty in persuading the company to do that.

On the day when the notification of the committee was to be released, a representative of the consumer affairs department comes with a letter stating that the health secretary had asked the consumer affairs secretary to withhold the notification because the American envoy wanted a particular study to be done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the daily intake of caffeine and daily intake of certain other things in these drinks for one year, and based on the results, a notification can be issued. After 14 meetings, this is what happens in a government set-up! It was end of the chapter. The study never happened.In the case of noodles, the same company markets the same product with a different formula and different package in America.Are we inferior to Americans? Why should we allow this to happen? Why should the company differentiate?

Q) Is it only FSSAI officials who can do the testing? Does the Consumer Protection Act provide provisions to consumers to sue a company if their product is found to be defective?
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act provides an opportunity for the consumer to test any product. One can go to a lab and do it, but nobody does it. There is a facility available, you need to spend a little money to find out whether the product is safe or not, but we want the government to do everything for us. If the consumer finds any product unsafe, they can sue the company under the Consumer Protection Act based on the test reports. They can say that I have been consuming this product for the last three years and have spent Rs50 daily for the past three years. They have cheated me, so they need to reimburse me.
The other alternative is that every consumer can file a complaint with the local police that the company has cheated him/her, so please get me my money back. If that kind of that awareness comes in the country we are truly democratic, but will people do it?