North News
New Delhi, December 23
On National Consumer Day 2024, which will be observed tomorrow, top executives from 13 major e-commerce platforms, including those from Reliance Retail, Tata Sons, Zomato, Ola, and Swiggy, will sign a Safety Pledge committing to the protection of consumer rights. This pledge, finalized by the Department of Consumer Affairs following extensive stakeholder consultations, is a voluntary public commitment by e-commerce platforms to ensure the safety of goods sold online.
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, will deliver the inaugural address and launch key initiatives aimed at strengthening consumer protection. These initiatives align with global best practices and are designed to enhance the safety of online transactions.
The Department of Consumer Affairs is rolling out tools to detect “dark patterns” on e-commerce sites that manipulate consumer behavior. Using the Airawat AI Supercomputer under the National Supercomputing Mission, the intelligent system will analyze text and design elements on these platforms to assess their impact on consumer psychology. Additionally, the ‘Jago Grahak Jago App’ will provide real-time alerts to consumers, warning them about potentially unsafe URLs, while the ‘Jagriti App’ will allow users to report suspicious online practices to the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).
In a bid to further support consumer rights, the government will also launch the ‘e-Mapp’ portal, a unified digital platform that integrates State Legal Metrology services into a national system. This platform will streamline business registration, licensing, and verification processes, reduce compliance burdens, and enhance transparency. It is expected to improve the ease of doing business, provide consumers with valuable information, and enable smoother interactions between state-level authorities.
