S. Subbiah, Vice-Chancellor, Alagappa University, said a batch of students from China is likely to join the university to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in English as the university was making available world-class facilities to attract foreign students.
Addressing a two-day national seminar on ‘Consumer protection and empowerment in India in the wake of technology domination’ here on Friday, he said the university was offering quality infrastructure and instruction to the students.
“An institution can survive long only when it continues to satisfy the needs of the consumers by providing quality services,” he said. Consumers were kings in today’s competitive world but unfortunately, they were not aware of the various nuances of the Consumer Protection Act, he said.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Rajya Sabha member A. Navanithakrishnan, in his inaugural address, exhorted the students to make full use of the internet facility with the help of laptops, supplied by the State government and excel in their studies.
Stating that villages too had facilities on par with urban areas, he said the technology should be optimally utilized by all and the “net neutrality” should ensure unrestricted supply of information to the public.
With technological advancements, markets have become more sophisticated and complicated, posing challenges to the consumers in availing quality goods and services, he said and stressed the need for safeguarding the interests of consumers from exploitative business practices.
Prof. Pushpavanam, a Consumer Right Activist from Trichy, dwelt at length, the various rights of consumers. The technology domination helped consumers avail quality services, he said.
Prof. Suresh Misra, Chair Professor and Coordinator, Centre for Consumer Studies – Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, in his special address, said that “consumer justice is a part of social and economic justice enshrined in the constitution of India.”
Stressing the need for creating new regulatory rules in the current scenario of technology domination, he appealed to the legislators to pass the amended Consumer Protection Bill 2015 into an Act at the earliest, to render justice to the consumers.
