May 2022

Instead of the ‘Health Star Ratings’ on junk food, as proposed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which will “mislead the consumers”, the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) on Wednesday demanded that warnings about unhealthy levels of salt, sugar, and fat be featured instead. “Health Star Ratings are designed by the powerful food industry to mislead the consumer. By pushing these, the FSSAI will give license to glorify junk foods, which is the opposite of what should be done. India can’t afford the epidemic of obesity and non-communicable diseases. It is time the Indian consumer is warned about how bad and unhealthy junk food is,” CSE Director General Sunita Narain said. She was leading the expert deliberation on the aNeed for front-of-pack warning labels on ultra-processed junk foods at Nimli as part of a workshop on food safety and junk food labelling, a statement said here. Front-of-pack labelling on packaged foods was first recommended by an FSSAI-led committee formed in 2013 (CSE was part of this committee). The FSSAI then came up with a draft regulation in 2018, which had strict thresholds – limits to know unhealthy levels – based on those developed by the WHO for countries like India in the South-East Asia Region. “Due to industry pressure, FSSAI came up with another draft in 2019. The food industry was still not pleased and this draft was repealed. From January-June 2021, stakeholder consultations were held on the labelling design to be adopted, thresholds to make applicable and nutrients to be displayed. The latest consultation took place in February 2022, when it was made clear that FSSAI plans to go ahead with the “Health Star Rating’,” the CSE statement said. “The sole objective of the stakeholder consultations, which were heavily dominated by the packaged food industry, was to come up with a labelling system, which is industry-friendly,” said CSE’s Programme Director, Sustainable Food Systems, Amit Khurana. Health Star Rating is a labelling system which includes depiction of 1 to 5 stars on packaged foods. These stars are depicted based on an algorithm at the back-end, which is not known to consumers. “Given all the evidence, if front-of-pack labelling are to cater primarily to public health goals, they must take the form of warning labels and not health star ratings,” reiterated Vandana Prasad, a community paediatrician, Public Health Resource Network, Delhi. “We hope the FSSAI will withstand the pressure of food processing companies and meet this requirement urgently.” Source: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

A customer has sent a takedown notice to Ola Electric for publishing the electric two-scooter’s telemetry data on social media, after the e-scooter met with an accident in Guwahati, injuring the rider. Balwant Singh from Guwahati had tweeted on April 15 that his son had met with an accident “due to fault in regenerative braking where on a speed breaker, instead of slowing, the scooter accelerated, sending so much torque that he had an accident”. The ride-hailing major said last week that its investigation showed the rider was overspeeding. “My notice toA @OlaElectric to immediately take down my telemetry data which they have published in public without my consent violating privacy laws & the graphs whose authenticity has not been verified by me/law agencies. Failure to do so, I will take legal action against @bhash,” Balwant Singh tweeted, with a screenshot of the takedown notice. Ola said it did a thorough investigation of the accident and the “data clearly shows that the rider was overspeeding throughout the night and that he braked in panic, thereby losing control of the vehicle. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle”. The accident happened on March 26 when Balwant Singh’s son was driving an Ola S1 Pro. “The scooter went airborne before crashing and skidding. My son was hospitalised on March 26 and had a fracture in left hand and 16 stitches in right hand due to a fault in Ola S1 Pro,” tweeted Balwant Singh. Ola had said that the scooter’s speed on the night of the accident was between 95 kmph and 115 kmph. At the time of the accident, three brakes were applied together — front, rear and regenerative — bringing the speed from 80 kmph to 0 kmph in 3 seconds. Ola Electric has voluntarily recalled 1,441 e-scooters as a pre-emptive measure to conduct a detailed health check of the concerned batch. The company said that its internal investigation into the March 26 incident when an Ola S1 Pro e-scooter caught fire in Pune has revealed that the “thermal incident was an isolated one”. Source: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

All over the world, SMS phishing attacks, now called ‘smishing’ are on the rise. While SMSs claiming to originate with a bank are the most tried and tested ploy of fraudsters in India, they are also using such expressions as ‘Fedex package delivered’ or ‘Thank you for paying your bill, here is a free gift for you’—to lure unsuspecting people. We will also see, how a knowledgeable person can be persuaded to transfer money to an unknown person and get duped. Previous week we read about how people, particularly senior citizens, are being targeted and lured into clicking links received in an SMS, which in fact is a trap laid by fraudsters. Well, this con game is not confined to India. ‘Smishing’ is fast becoming a smash hit among fraudsters across the world. Take a look at some frauds reported this week:  Smishing Fraud Continues One Micky Kashyap posted a message on Twitter saying, “I keep getting these scam massages somehow. Tried to mark spam on messages but did not work because it always comes from a new number, even though I never played rummy or anything.” The SMSs he is talking about are known as click baits. In this type of scam, the fraudsters try to lure users into clicking the link in the SMS under the pretext of verifying the identity of a beneficiary of  lottery money or other such bonanza. Micky was promised Rs2,000 bonus in his rummy account, provided he clicked on the link. Further, these SMSs are sent from different numbers. This makes it difficult for anyone to block numbers of fraudsters. I still keep wondering how these mobile numbers are even allotted. If you and I want a mobile number, the telcos would make us dance over the know-your-customer (KYC) norms. How is it then that these fraudsters are able to obtain so many numbers? Also, once used, they throw away the SIMs and use new ones. Is the telecom regulator keeping an eye on these bulk SIM purchases? I doubt. IAF Wing Commander Duped of Rs50,000 in Rental Fraud A wing commander with the Indian Air Force (IAF), inspite being well-educated and probably aware about cheating and frauds, sent Rs25,000 twice to a fraudster just because he wanted to rent out her father’s flat! I mean, whatever the fraudster may be saying with his sweet tounge, how can anyone send as much as Rs25,000 twice to any unknown person? The Times of India reports the wing commander lost Rs50,000 after she recently posted an advertisement on a property website to rent her father’s flat in New Delhi’s Dwarka locality. Posing as Subedar Randeep Singh from the Indian Army, the fraudster called her to ask for the flat on rent and agreed to pay Rs12,500 per month rental. He also agreed to pay two months’ rent in advance and asked the wing commander to transfer Re1 to his wallet. Once she did that, he transferred Rs2 back. However, he then said that he could not transfer Rs25,000 and asked the lady officer to transfer the same amount to him, after which he would transfer Rs50,000 back to her, which would include her Rs25,000. After she did that, he claimed that he did not receive the money, and requested her to again transfer Rs25,000. After sending Rs25,000 twice, the lady officer realised that she has been duped and then filed a complaint to her nearest police station, the report says. Greed is certainly a very bad thing as the wing commander would have realised after losing Rs50,000. Most important lesson from this is never-ever send money through wallet to any unknown person or share your wallet details so that he/she can send you money.   Cyber Criminals Targeting Janata Darbar Complainants in Bihar Cyber fraudsters are now targeting complainants at the Bihar chief minister (CM)’s Janata Darbars. The conmen are using mimicry artists to impersonate CM Nitish Kumar’s voice to demand money from the complainants as a prerequisite to address their grievances. One Mintu Upadhyay from Muzaffarpur filed a complaint at the district magistrate (DM)’s office about the demands being made. He says, “I filed an online application for hearing in the Janata Darbar on 8 April 2022. I have not received any calls from the Janata Darbar but I received two calls from fraudsters. The first call was received on 14th April and the second one on 4 May 2022. On both occasions, the caller’s  voice appeared to be that of of CM Nitish Kumar and he asked for Rs5,500 be deposited in an account as registration fee for the issue to be addressed in 10 days.” There is, in fact, no fee for registration or for hearing of complaints in the CM’s Janata Darbar in Bihar. What is not known is, how the callers came to know about the complaint filed by Mr Upadhyay and how they obtained his mobile number. The DM’s office has forwarded the case to the cybercell for investigation. YouTuber, Father Held for Cheating Woman for Rs35.15 Lakh in Delhi The crime branch of Delhi police arrested a YouTuber who runs the YouTube channel ‘ggg productions’ and his father for allegedly cheating a businesswoman of Rs35.15 lakh on the pretext of helping her get an allotment of a petrol pump. In her complaint, the lady says both of them flaunted their high-profile connections and induced her to pay them Rs35.15 lakh for the allotment of an IOCL petrol pump and for the acquisition of land for the same purpose from the Delhi Waqf Board. The truth is that in India, petrol pumps are allotted by oil marketing companies (OMCs) and they all follow a stipulated process. This includes newspaper advertisements or publishing information on the OMC websites. No private individual is authorised to offer such an allotment of a petrol pump, so anybody receiving such a call must necessarily see it as a trap and must must hold on tight to one’s wallet. Years ago, there was a similar

In what is perhaps a first, State Bank of India (SBI) has agreed to reimburse the medical expenses of a customer who fell from an unstable ladder at a bank branch in Mumbai leading to severe injuries, surgery and hospitalisation. The Bank paid, only on the intervention of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the highest level. Ironically, after having first rejected his claim and after the banking ombudsman too had rejected his claim for reimbursement. Unfortunately, there has been no compensation for the dogged battle fought by the customer with support from Moneylife Foundation. Readers may recall our article, earlier this month, about how how DS Ranga Rao, 71, a retired intelligence bureau (IB) officer, was fighting a dogged battle with State Bank of India (SBI) to even acknowledge the negligence which caused him to suffer a fall from an unsuitable ladder, leading to severe injuries and medical treatment. It may be recalled that Mr Rao’s claim for reimbursement of medical expenses had been rejected by both the SBI as well as the banking ombudsman without even an effort to speak to him. A top insurance expert, Mr Shrirang Samant told Moneylife that the Public Liability Act makes public liability insurance mandatory for all organisations. The concerned bank would have substantial insurance under the Act. Unfortunately, the customer was still denied the claim until the matter was taking up with RBI, at the highest level, after pointing to the Public Liability Act. SBI has paid over Rs5 lakhs to Mr Rao as reimbursement, which is lower than his costs. Worse, the disability he suffered due to the fall is permanent and is a fit case for granting him compensation, which has still been ignored by the Bank and could entail another legal battle for consumer action. Mr Rao says, “Moneylife Foundation has been the pillar of support for me and I thank them for their help.”  Mr Rao’s dogged battle will  serve as a template for such cases where customers are put to risk or injured due to actions or negligence by a bank, or any other organisation or establishment. Moneylife Foundation has requested RBI to announce a set of standard operating procedure (SOPs) to be followed when customers are injured while at a bank. The banking ombudsman, which has once again demonstrated little understanding of its role in protecting customers, also needs to be instructed on the handling of such cases. After all, this is not a stray case. Only recently the media reported the case of an 80-year-old who ended up locked overnight in a bank branch due to similar negligence. There will be hundreds of other cases where customers do not know they have a right to medical reimbursement or have their claims rejected in the absence of clarity from the banking regulator. We hope this will lead to a policy or circular from RBI so that each individual does not need to go through such a harrowing fight. That would be a great pro-customer initiative from the banking regulator. Source: Moneylife

The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY)  on April 28 issued directions to Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider companies to collect and share user data including IP addresses with it,  for a period of five years. Along with VPN providers, the notification posted by the Ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), also ordered data centers, crypto-exchanges and other intermediaries to collect and turn over user data in order to “coordinate response activities as well as emergency measures with respect to cyber security incidents” and report cyber-incidents within six hours of their happening. Further, the CERT-in said that these directions would come into force  60 days after the date this notification was issued. As per the government’s directions, the failure to furnish the information or abide by the directions could lead to imprisonment of upto one year, as per sub-clauses (7) of Section 70B of the IT Act 2000. As per Section 70B of the IT Act’s provisions, CERT-in also said that its directions were relevant to “information security practices, procedure, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents”. Although the order is designed to tackle cyber-incidents, including cyber-crimes, the scope of user-information ordered to be stored poses potential privacy risks. The new regulations called data centers, VPN and cloud service providers to log and turn over customer information that includes the names of subscribers/customers hiring the services, their e-mail addresses, phone numbers, the customer’s “purpose for hiring the VPN service”, IP addresses allotted to the customer and being used by the members, as well as ownership pattern of the subscribers/customers hiring services. The range of such information demanded thus undermines one of the most attractive features of the VPN service, which is to protect the user’s digital privacy. The VPN service is designed to encrypt its user’s data, while shielding the identity of the user’s IP address and allowing access to the temporary IP address of any other country. Meanwhile, netizens and rights bodies on Twitter questioned the government’s move. Through a series of tweets, the digital policy and rights organisation, Internet Freedom Foundation, issued a statement questioning the CERT-in’s directions, noting that they were “vague and harmful” and “undermined user privacy and information security”, going against the CERT’s own mandate. Global human rights watchdog Amnesty International also responded by tweeting that the Indian government’s latest directive was “[A] new major blow to the rights to privacy and freedom of expression in India.” Others, including politicians such as Trinamool Congress’s MP Derek O’Brien reacted to the news saying that, “VPN now stands for Virtual Policing Network.” (Sabah Gurmat is a staff-reporter at The Leaflet)  Source: TheLeaflet.in

New Delhi, Apr 29, 2022: The Supreme Court Friday said that doctors and healthcare services are not excluded from the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 and termed the PIL concerning it as a “motivated PIL”. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli affirmed the Bombay High Court verdict which held that doctors and healthcare service providers are covered under the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act. Appearing for the petitioner an NGO “Medicos Legal Action Group”, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra said that in the 1986 legislation there was no mention of healthcare in the definition of services and despite there being a proposal to include it under the new Act, it was actually not included. The bench said that the statute says “services of any description” and added the definition of service is wide enough and had the Parliament wanted to exclude it, then it would have said expressly. Justice Chandrachud said, “Actually your client committed a self-goal. Some consumer negligence case against the doctor and they have prompted it to file a PIL. This is a motivated PIL”. The bench added that the reason why healthcare was deleted was that the definition itself of “services” is wide enough and the Minister’s speech in the house cannot restrict what is expressly stated in the statute. Justice Chandrachud referred to a recent verdict passed by him and said that similar was the case of Telecom services which was not there in 1986 legislation but the court said that it implied that it was covered under the “services of any description”. The bench said, “The speech of the minister which you are referring to is very guarded. We will affirm the judgement of the High Court and you shall pay the fine within four weeks”. The Bombay High Court verdict of last year while dismissing the PIL had said that there was not much difference between the definition of “services” under the 1986 and 2019 legislations as healthcare services were not expressly mentioned in the 1986 Act also. The High Court had imposed a cost of Rs 50 thousand on the NGO. Source: Economic Times