Passengers may think they are just booking a ticket, but airlines' clever design tricks are quietly picking their pockets.
A recent survey reveals that a significant number of households in Delhi-NCR are experiencing health problems due to the worsening air quality, with residents reporting symptoms like sore throat, cough, and burning eyes.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs is looking into complaints of additional charges being levied by ecommerce platforms when customers choose cash-on-delivery (COD) option instead of paying while ordering items. "The Department of Consumer Affairs has received complaints against ecommerce platforms charging extra for cash-on-delivery, a practice classified as a dark pattern that misleads and exploits consumers," Pralhad Joshi, Union minister of consumer affairs, wrote on X on Friday afternoon.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sought a meeting with quick-commerce (qcom) platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto on Tuesday to discuss issues regarding violations of food safety standards, according to sources familiar with the matter. This comes at a time when there have been issues raised about food safety standard violations by qcom platforms for packaged food products, including violations related to expiry and best before dates.
An online company would show a particular price to the customer and then quickly increase the cost after analysing consumer behaviour or detecting any kind of desperation.
As many as 58 per cent of citizens surveyed feel confident that India is well prepared to handle the third wave of Covid, LocalCircles said on Thursday.
About nine out of every 10 households in India are "feeling the pinch" of rising prices of vegetables in the last 30 days, according to a survey. LocalCircles, which conducted the survey, said it received 11,800 responses from citizens residing in 311 districts across India and claimed that around 87 per cent of Indian households are "affected" by the rising prices of vegetables since March. Of these, 37 per cent of the respondents said they were experiencing an increased spending of over 25 per cent on vegetables.
As much as 46 per cent of the respondents in India are looking to travel in October-December, even as only six per cent of them have made bookings, indicating that most of them may look either for last-minute deals or opt for a road journey, as per a survey. The survey, conducted by the online platform LocalCircles, also revealed that the festive season (October-December) is likely to see a 60 per cent jump in citizens travelling as compared to the monsoon season (August-September). About 34 per cent of respondents said they are planning to visit family and friends in October-December.
As many as 81 per cent people support having rules for consumer e-commerce, but want more services-based platforms to have more clearly defined roles, a survey by community social media platform LocalCircles has found. The survey asked respondents to answer questions based on the recent draft Rules proposed by the ministry of consumer affairs. The responses found 81 per cent consumers wanting sales of products and services over electronic or digital networks to be governed by a set of electronic commerce rules.
In India, Opposition parties along with healthcare professionals have urged the government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top leaders, to take either of the Covishield or Covaxin doses, which could help in drastically reducing trust and fear issues amongst citizens., reports Sohini Das.
Less than 30,000 booster doses daily in December.
If two individuals in an indoor space are not wearing a mask, in just 10 minutes, the infected person can transmit the virus to the other person, while if both are wearing a fitted N-95 mask, it requires over 600 hours of exposure for transmission, he said.
The much-awaited festive season is unlikely to bring any cheers to the travel industry, including the airline sector, as less than 20 per cent of people polled plan to travel during October-November amid the pandemic, a survey said.
On an average, 1 in 2 Indians are getting less than 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
What is aggravating the situation is that e-commerce firms are facing huge shortage of delivery personnel. They have not been able to bring back their staff to work, despite offering higher pay and Covid-related insurance packages.
According to a survey by community platform LocalCircles, early-stage start-ups, funding dependent start-ups and many small businesses will soon be fighting for survival as the spurt in coronavirus cases hits them hard.
Amid rising pollution levels in the national capital and adjoining areas, a survey conducted by a community social media platform has found that four in five families in the region have someone facing one or more ailments due to contaminated air.
The jury is still out on the decision to demonetise high value currency notes on November 8, 2016, with the government claiming it has helped greater formalisation of the economy while critics saying it has failed to curb black money and reduce dependence on cash. On November 8, six years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes and one of the key objectives of the unprecedented decision was to promote digital payments and curb black money, besides eliminating terror funding. As per a Reserve Bank data, currency with the public has jumped to a new high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore an October 21, indicating that cash usage is still substantial even six years after the demonetisation move.
There is a lot of police action on the ground and even inter-state movement has been stopped, because of which deliveries of essential items via platforms, such as Flipkart, Amazon, Grofers, and Milkbasket, aren't happening. Food-delivery firms -- Swiggy and Zomato -- are facing similar challenges, according to the sources.
According to the survey, 77 per cent of the respondents are not willing to visit multiplexes and cinema halls, if these facilities are allowed to reopen from next month.
Despite the most lethal COVID-19 wave that any country in the world has experienced so far, India's mask compliance is still low as indicated by the survey finding where 67 per cent of citizens say there is limited or no mask compliance in their area, district, or city, the survey revealed.
According to CAIT, the estimated loss to Chinese manufacturers this Diwali could be as high as Rs 40,000 crore.
The companies have asked for digital curfew passes as e-retailers feel if more lockdowns are ordered after April 14, it is extremely difficult and time-consuming process to acquire the passes from local authorities.
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
For now, Bounce, Shuttl, Fab Hotels, Instamojo, Zomato, Curefit, and HealthifyMe, among others, are going for salary deductions. Most of the consumer internet start-ups, besides those who are in the grocery delivery, education tech, and video conferencing business, would ultimately lay-off people and cut back salaries.
Five years after demonetisation, which sought to curb black money and reduce cash circulation in the economy, 70 per cent of respondents said they paid a large component of the total payment towards a real estate transaction in cash. About 16 per cent said they paid over half the amount in cash, observes Shyamal Majumdar.
50 per cent of the flashlights market in the country is dominated by Chinese imports, which have been increasing.
Not displaying the mandatory information, including country of origin, on products sold on their platforms in India, draws government's attention.
'We will see footfall returning to pre-COVID levels by January.'
Instead of making the sellers bleed, experts say, e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart have roped in banks to offer discounts to buyers.
People in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and Odisha reported low instances of corruption, while Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Punjab had higher occurrences of corruption.
Seed and early-stage start-ups are high-risk businesses, rarely have collateral and only 1 in 10 of them makes it to becoming a viable company.
In the worst-case scenario, it will be next to impossible for tech companies like Amazon and Google to run any service that requires user biometrics.
The government is looking to plug loopholes in the Indian customs law provision that allows tax exemptions for gifts up to Rs 5,000 and trade samples up to Rs 10,000 sent to India from abroad.
A single format and simpler, uniform rules would have kept the service going. In other parts of the world including in the US, managing demand and capacities along with ensuring preventive measures were an issue, but there was hardly any administrative hurdle anywhere.
Among key guidelines, the e-commerce companies will also be required to ensure that personally identifiable information of customers are protected.
A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.25 pm, showed a higher number of 1,76,792 confirmed cases and at least 5,100 deaths. It also showed nearly 86,000 recoveries and close to 85,700 active cases.
Pollution levels in Delhi and satellite towns shot up again on Sunday morning, with the air quality bordering the 'severe plus' category at several places.
Even if the government didn't plan for demonetisation properly, it could have taken steps on a war footing later to ensure the situation improves.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances