Un-fair price hike on Lipton tea bags by Hindustan Unilever Limited?

This has reference to the latest hike in the rates for the Lipton Green Tea (20 tea bags packet). The rate as on 01/2011 was Rs. 30.00 (Code no. UCGPR06A). The rate is hiked to Rs.50.00 as on 02/2011 (Code No. UCGPR04A). The increase is over 60%! The tea bags packages were bought in Navi Mumbai. Available for inspection.

We consumers strongly feel that there is no justification for such a steep increase without any change in the quality. This is unjust and unfair business practice. Consumer un-friendly.

I request that the Hindustan Unilever Limited management should review this again and do justice to the MRP.

India – ranked seventh among the world’s most hard working nations!

A simple survey conducted by Ipsos Global and Reuters, showed that India is ranked seventh among the world’s most hardworking nations. The ten rankings are: Japan, Australia, South Africa, South Korea, USA, Canada and India, Brazil, Sweden and China. It is found that 58.5% of people take all their allotted holidays, while in Japan only 33% of the employees avail of all their allotted paid holidays.

The sample number for the survey, 13,000 people across various countries is too small to make a judgment of this kind. Important to know is the number of “working” hours in a year. Never-the-less, this is a good attempt. Also it will be much different if one considers Indians working in India or Indians working abroad!

Water purifiers and purity of water

The ground water is one of the major sources of drinking water and the Indian government promised to provide safe drinking water to all by 2012. It is reported that 33% of ground water of India is not fit to drink due to pollution. Besides the harmful bacteria and virus, the pollutants are iron, fluoride, salinity and arsenic. The concentrations generally exceed the tolerance levels prescribed by the authorities.

Bottled water has flooded the market and many companies are selling water purifiers claiming the supply of 100% pure water. There are many models available in the market. Zero B claims their water purifier as “A perfect blend of beauty and technology”. Kent Mineral RO claims to supply water which is purest in the world. Some other company claims 100% “Chemical free water”. The price varies from Rs.1000 to Rs.10,000. The high-pitch advertisements by the companies do not clarify the limitations of such systems. It looks as if the companies are taking the gullible public for a ride. Regulation of the water purifiers is not in sight.

There seems to be no awareness amongst the consumers as to the minimum purity requirement for the potable water. What are the drinking water standards? How and who will monitor the potability of the water supplies, i.e., municipal water supply and ground water supply?

The concerned authorities / departments should intervene immediately and specify the minimum required purity in terms of presence of chemicals, bacteria and virus in the water coming out of these purifiers. In fact, the television channels and news papers should take up this issue and sensitize the viewers about the existing status in domestic water purification systems in India. It can start public debates to discuss the issues involved.

Increasing use of "Party Drugs" by youngsters

It is reported that the use of so-called party drugs, also called soft drugs is the first step to addiction. The youngsters (11 to 18 years) who used to smoke cigarettes once in a while for “kicks” have started taking soft drugs such as use of Hookahs and natural products such as cannabies, charas, ganja and bhang. These products do give some feeling of “highness” or well-being for a while, but are highly addictive over time.

There drugs do have long-term ill effects. They can cause brain damage, memory loss, loss of concentration, impaired judgment, etc, etc.

Public awareness through the mass media such as television should be used to bring-in awareness about the harmful effects of these drugs. Small ads using film/TV personalities should be made and shown for greater impact. Indian children are well known for hero-worshipping and try to copy the “styles” of these “Stars”.

These personalities should be asked give a few minutes of their time for such a noble cause. The government can provide some income tax benefit to the obliging stars as an incentive. Parents should also be educated to strongly discourage their children from consuming these life-style drugs to prevent addiction.

New Year Greetings

I wish all my fellow-bloggers and readers:

A Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year – 2011

I would like to see India (minus corruption and poverty) a fully developed country and not a chronic developing country.

My Voice

Common man is being blackmailed and swindled!

The prices of vegetables, onions, tomatoes are spiraling to unrealistic heights. This is a clear case of nexus between the politicians and traders (APMC) to enhance the prices and swindle the poor man and get fortunes to the political parties and the politicians. The Food Minister declares that the prices are likely to increase and the very next day the prices increase like a magic band. Very nice planning indeed!

The farmer is not at all benefited. He continues to get almost the same price which he used to get earlier.

It is high time that the APMC type of system is discontinued in India, and the marketing chains such as MORE and RELIANCE FRESH should be permitted and encouraged to buy the vegetables directly from the farmers so that the actual grower get a better price, and naturally the consumers need not pay APMC fixed rates which is three to five times higher than what the farmer gets.

Emission cuts-fundamental shift in India’s stance

US is praising India’s Environment minister for facilitating the climate deal at Cancun and expressed commitment for accepting emission cuts voluntarily in the future. Unfortunately, there are no targets, but only pledges by the rich countries to reduce future emissions. Without any legally binding emission cuts, nothing is going to happen. There will be constraints only on the developing countries and their developments will be on hold or will be economically not viable for global trade.

Are the voluntary pledges of the rich and polluting countries adequate enough to prevent the dangerous climate changes we are already witnessing today? The threat is for real. It is reported that the world is already emitting 48 billion tons of CO2 equivalent of Green House Gases. To keep the world below 2 degrees C temperature increase, the global emissions must drop to 44 billion tons of CO2 equivalent by 2020.

The world leaders should see the clear writing on the wall that the climate change is already ON, and whatever is planned to be done by 2020 should be done right now. It is now or never.

May be, the world leaders are realizing slowly that the climate change is the naturally occurring cyclic phenomenon and nothing can really be done or achieve by GH gas emission cuts at the cost of much needed global economical development

Exposure to EMF radiations from mobile phones and towers

The health effect Electro-Magnetic Frequency (EMF) radiation from the towers/mobile phones is of great concern. As reported, the probability of health effects is about 5 times higher in case of children and teenagers. Pregnant women should also be protected from the exposures so that the fetus is not exposed.

It is reported that about 50% of Indian population are using mobile phones! There are several thousands of transmission towers mushrooming all over the country. The convenience of mobile phone in passing on messages is undisputed. But it is over-used and unregulated. That is the concern.

I doubt whether India has a separate regulator to ensure safety from the EMF radiation exposures. It was suggested that BARC/AERB should start monitoring the EMF density in different locations to ensure see compliance with the available international standards. Just formation of committees is not enough. It is already late.

Through mass media communications, the public, both urban and rural, should be made aware of the situation and warn them against using mobile phones indiscriminately and regulate the service providers in installation of towers.

Self regulation is missing in Indian aviation industry

Why every time the government machinery should intervene in sorting out irrational actions by the industry resulting in public outrage in India? Airlines in India started to charge exorbitant spot domestic air fares without any justifiable reason. The airfares were steeply raised often three to four times the normal fares, particularly during festive seasons! This is not existent in any other public transportation system. If this is permitted, why not allow railways to follow the same and swindle the common man who is already harassed by the inflation?

As of now, there is no transparency in deciding the airfares. Let alone the public, even the regulator (Director General of Civil Aviation), if functioning, is not aware of the modus-operandi followed by the airlines in deciding the airfares.

Following the public outcry, the government seems to have intervened and issued stern warning to the airlines to give fair airfares in consumer-friendly and transparent manner.

The airlines should not be allowed charge fares outside the range of fares which should be decided in consultation with the government regulator. Maybe, the government can also contribute by reducing the sales tax on ATF and control the airport charges which is reported to have gone up by 30% (out-sourcing effect).

Unreal Realty

In India, it is not shocking. Well established bank officials have taken bribes to dole out multi-crore rupees loans to real estate companies. It is suspected that some of the projects are risky and dubious. Though, apparently it looks like bribes-for-favours scandal, there must be much more than meets the eye. There are inherent irrationalities involved in the realty sector. The realty prices are soaring not because of the actual demand, but the prices are manipulated by the builders. The banks are providing them easy money which helps them to hold-on to the property thereby an artificial demand is created. Prices are rigged by the builders lobby in all the major cities.

The government should intervene and investigate the scandals since government banks and institutions like LIC of India are involved, and it is public money. It is high time that the prices of realty should have some controls and the prices should be justified. The bank officials should be made responsible for the recovery of loans given to the builders in a given time frame. The guilty should be punished and sent to jail. India should not end up in a situation similar to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Medical Insurance claim – agony unlimited

Why there are so many complaints in the newspapers, of insurance companies not respecting the claims made by the medical insurance policy holders? The very common reason for refusal is “disease pre-existing”.

There are cases where the claims of from the policy holders have been up-held by the Consumer Courts in-spite of the fact that the policy holder did not declare the commonly existing conditions such as diabetes and hypertension while buying medical insurance. The regulatory body, IRDA should clearly bring this out to the public notice and instruct the insurance companies not to resort this type of tactics to refuse insurance claims.

Cashless medical insurance should be made really “cashless” as per the insurance policy. Why the regulators are not intervening and penalize the companies for the torture they are giving to the policy holders? The erring hospitals which delay reimbursements or charge patients indirectly should be blacklisted.

Reliance Fresh – scope for improvement

The outlet, particularly at CBD, Belapur (Navi Mumbai) is in a bad shape. The so-called FRESH vegetables are not fresh. Old stocks are kept in the racks for extended time periods giving not a good and appreciable sight. The green vegetables (patta vegetables) are not cleaned at all. So much soil in the vegetables. I do not understand how such a big and quality-conscious organization can do such things?

It is also a fact that the outlet must be doing well inspite of so many problems such as non-availability of second weighing machine, improper deployment of the staff, etc, etc. This is not because of the quality but mere helplessness of the consumers. No competition.

The nearby residents are of the firm opinion that the quality of vegetables and fruits should improve. The not-so-fresh vegetables and fruits should be sold at 50% discount (late in the evening) so that these are not wasted. It is criminal to throw-away so much of the vegetables and fruits when poor people do not get to eat these things. Large quantity of spoiled vegetables and fruits are disposed as garbage daily from the Belapur out-let.

Irradiation to Ensure the Safety and Quality of Prepared Meals

This publication (STI/PUB/1365, 375 pp. Date of Issue: 8 April 2009) presents the results of an FAO/IAEA coordinated research project (CRP) on the use of irradiation to ensure the safety and quality of pre-prepared foods. There is an increasing worldwide demand for pre-prepared and take-away meals. However, the traditional methods of preparing convenience foods via retort-processing and freezing are being replaced in favour of chilled foods, due mainly to their fresher and often more appealing appearance. Chilled prepared foods, however, are non-sterile and their heightened potential for microbiological contamination creates a considerable limitation to their shelf-life. The findings of this CRP demonstrate that radiation processing of pre-prepared meals results in a safer product by eliminating existing pathogens, and thereby reducing health risks while extending the foods’ commercial shelf-life.

This publication presents the findings of the CRP and offers a discussion of the possible further utilization and marketing of this new application of irradiation technology.

Food Adulteration

The bitter truth is the food items we consume are adulterated in some way or the other. Recently, during the festive season in India, it was observed that the ingredients to make sweets, such as milk, sugar, khoya, ghee, maida, etc are found to be adulterated.

As per the law, no person shall manufacture, sell, stock, distribute or exhibit for sale any article of food, including ready-to-serve food, irradiated food except under a licence issued by the State Commissioner. Manufacture for sale, or sale of adulterated food article is an offence. A complaint can be made to the Food Inspector. The health inspectors in municipalities and municipal corporations are notified as Food Inspectors for purpose of checking adulteration of food and prosecuting the offenders. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not doing enough to control the adulteration.

A complaint can also be made to the Consumer court for compensation for the damage caused on consumption of adulterated food item. The Prevention Food adulteration Act, 1954 stands repealed from the date “The Food Safety and Standards (FS &S) Act 2005” passed by parliament comes into force. If the food article is unsafe, substandard, or misbranded you can complain to the Food Safety Officer of the local area. Under the new Act, the Adjudicating Officer or the court trying the offence also can award compensation to the victim.

The Indian government has not done enough to control the adulteration of food products. There is law existing in the country to prosecute the guilty, but the people are not aware of the laws. The common man does not know whom to complain and how they work! The first thing the government should do is to increase the awareness amongst the public regarding the food adulteration, the local authority to whom the complain should be addressed and also provide proper guidelines to the manufacturers.

Safer CT scans

CT scanning—sometimes called CAT scanning—is one of the best and fastest noninvasive medical test that helps doctors diagnose and treat medical conditions. CT scanning combines special x-ray equipment with sophisticated computers to produce multiple images or pictures of the inside of the body. The scans are used to diagnose health problems such as cancers, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, appendicitis, trauma and musculoskeletal disorders

The greatly increased availability of CT, together with its value for an increasing number of conditions, has been responsible for a large rise in popularity. However, the CT is regarded as a moderate to high radiation diagnostic technique. The radiation dose for a particular study depends on multiple factors such as volume scanned, patient build, number and type of scan sequences, and desired resolution and image quality. In United Kingdom, CT scans contributed 47% of the total collective dose from medical X-ray examinations in 2000/2001. World wide, including in developing countries, CT usage has increased considerably which led to an overall rise in the total amount of medical exposures.

The exposure of the patient, particularly children, has potential for induction of caner and hence, the probability of additional rise in fatality from the radiation induced cancer may increase marginally over the background rate. Numerous studies are being conducted on this aspect. Incidents of patients receiving radiation doses more-than-expected have been reported due to equipment failure and improper use of the equipments.

Typical scan doses in milli-Sievert, mSv (Sievert is the unit of radiation dose)

Chest X-ray - 0.1
Head CT - 1.5
Screening mammography - 3
Chest CT - 5.8
Cardiac CT angiogram - 6.7 – 13
Barium enema - 15

[For purposes of comparison, the average background exposure in India is around 2 mSv in one year].

There is a recent advice from the US Food and Drug Administration that the manufacturers, users and regulators should together arrive at an optimal solution to this problem so that over-exposures of the patients are avoided, and the CT scans should be made safer for the benefit of patients.

Cruelty on kids – Reality shows

There is growing concern, world-over on participation of young children in television shows. In India, as on today, the things are in very bad shape. Dance-based reality shows – typically Dance India Dance Lil. Masters (Zee TV) and Boogie Woogie Kids Champianship (Sony), are the shows showing kids under tremendous pressure to perform. There are many other similar shows in regional languages. Remember the government recently decided not to have exams for kids so that they should not be under exam stress. But the stress levels experienced by the kids in these reality shows are so high that soon the children may turn out to be mental wrecks. Thanks to the TV channels which ruthlessly exploit the kids for TRPs.

The kids are made to under go grueling routines practices; face harsh, ill-planned verdicts from judges; trained to misbehave; undergo constant fear of being eliminated from the shows and sexual gestures and body movements with sexual overtones! The kids may not even know the meaning of such pelvic thrusts! They are only kids and you just watch - what are the things they are forced to undergo on the stage! The children are made to live in fool's paradise. This is open child labour.

In the Lil Masters show, kids are made to dance so violently, often using dangerous tools/chemical that we are surprised why the government and women’s organizations are not intervening in the matter. There are hardly any laws in India to regulate such shows. Self regulation seems to be not in existence. God save the kids.

Unholy, unethical and unhealthy practice – gifts for doctors

For years now, some Pharma companies follow unhealthy tactics to get doctors promote their medicines – unethical marketing of drugs. As on today, in India there is so-called voluntary code designed to prevent companies from providing incentives like vacations in India and abroad and other freebies to influence their prescribing behaviour. Everyone know that self regulation doesn’t work in India. These marketing techniques result in high cost o the medicines; desirable prescription of generic medicines is over-looked; unnecessary and harmful prescription of new medicines by doctors, negligence of poor patients by the doctors, etc. There are other issues such as: clinical trials of new drugs with fudged data, counterfeit drugs, unnecessary referrals to super specialists and for tests involving radiation exposures such as MRI, CT scans, X-ray examination, etc for kick-back considerations. The practice is further encouraged by the fact that employers/insurance companies foot the bills of the middle class.

In country like India, where the public health care is pathetic and majority of the lower and lower middle class are not covered under any schemes for paying for health care, it is the prime responsibility of the government to bring in stringent legislation proving heavy penalties, to curb this unethical marketing of medicines. Though, there is ban on doctors accepting freebies since the beginning of this year imposed by the Medical Council of India, which became infamous with corruption at the highest level, nothing seems to change. Nobody cares! Nobody to take action on the violators!

Today, July 1 is the Doctors’ Day and do you care?

Clean energy from thrash

It is reported that in Horsholm, Denmark, about 80% of the heat and 20% of the electricity comes from burning of trash in incinerators. The new kind of cleaner incinerators (waste-to-energy plants) convert local thrash into heat and electricity. The exhaust is filtered and toxins such as mercury and dioxins are not allowed in the plant discharges. Cost reduction, cutting carbon dioxide gas emission, and saving of fossil fuel. Across Europe there are about 400 such plants. The emissions from the plant are well below the current EU’s standards for air and water discharges.

This garbage “disposal with benefits” proposition for waste management should be considered worldwide, particularly in small towns.

World Water Day

World Water Day is being celebrated today to focus on the importance of well planned, sustainable management of fresh water resources. Everyone knows that every drop of water counts, but everyone takes it for granted and knowingly or unknowingly wastes water in our day-to-day activities. It is observed that in Indian cities, water scarcity is caused by poor management practices. Lot of water is lost in the water distribution network due to poor quality pipings, theft of water encouraged by corrupt municipal officials, etc.

On an average, about 40 liters of water is required by a person for drinking and sanitation and more than a billion people still lack access to fresh water supply around the world.

We must ensure that the water bodies are not polluted by untreated waste water discharges by the industries. Rainwater harvesting, recycling and use of sewage water for gardening and other non-drinking purposes, desalination of sea water and most importantly the prevention of flow of surface water into the sea are some of the “should be done” to conserve and augment the water supply to meet the impending water crisis world-wide.

Connecting the rivers - northern Indian rivers like Ganges with the water-starved southern rivers would have solved the water scarcity in southern part of India during summer months. In addition, this would have given a boost to the agriculture in some of the states to considerable extent.

Ground water pollution and water purifiers

It is reported that 33% of ground water of India is not fit to drink due to pollution. The pollutants are iron, fluoride, salinity and arsenic and the concentrations exceed the tolerance levels prescribed by the authorities. The ground water is one of the major sources of drinking water and the Indian government promised to provide safe drinking water to all by 2012.

Now, how the domestic water purifiers sold in the market at high costs is going to purify the water with pollution at such high levels. The high-pitch advertisements by the companies should clarify the limitations of such systems. In fact, the companies should replace the old models with the latest models at a considerable discount.

Thus, the consumers get a latest model meeting WHO drinking water standards. The consumers have a right to know whether using the old models they are compromising on the quality of water. If not, there is no issue.