Business blog

ACTIVITIES OF THE VARIOUS DIRECTORATES OF FEDCOT

FEDCOT has 11 directorates, each having specialised in and acting on a particular field. They are as follows :

• Training
• Agriculture
• Food and Public Distribution
• Women Concern
• Public Utilities
• Standards
• Environment
• Local Self-Governance
• Health
• Law
• Membership

DIRECTORATE OF TRAINING

The training unit of FEDCOT, was formally launched on 31 May 1992 to impart knowledge, skill, attitude to members in regard to consumer affairs. It has now a well-established office premises in Nagercoil. The training team has been functioning very effectively and has been keeping the movement alive in different parts of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The different training programmes conducted by the training directorate of FEDCOT could be categorised as follows:

• Special Training Programme for Women
• General Awareness Training Programme
• Special Training for NSS Programme Officers
• Trainer’s Training
• Special Work toys shop
• Workshop on unfair and restrictive trade practices

General consumer awareness was the focus of the training programmes. The training methodologies used in these programmes have left a lasting impact on the participants.

A total of twelve Special Training Programmes for women were conducted in 1994-95 by FEDCOT in various places in Tamil Nadu. About 500 participants participated in them and benefited from them.

Three General Awareness Training Programmes were arranged in 1994-1995 in Pondicherry and various districts of Tamil Nadu. About 115 participants benefited from these programmes. During this year several special training sessions and workshops were conducted. Special workshops included those for NSS programme officers, some for activists, and lawyers on unfair trade practices, another on the experience of the bulk-buying schemes and yet another on health and health related issues.

1997-98

From April 1997 to March 1998 eight Zonal Training Camps were organised. A Special Training Camp was organised on 20-21 December 1997 for member organisations of FEDCOT to explore the sources for financial assistance for the expansion of their activities. The participants were trained in preparing plan reports and the methods to get financial assistance from financial institutions. To ensure that women played a major role in consumer rights awareness, a training camp was organised for young consumer leaders. The objective was to identify such women and improve their ability through training. On 3 January 1998 FEDCOT conducted a one-day training camp for women co-ordinators in Madurai on the right to get information Mr. Ossie Fernandes, director of Chennai Human Resource Foundation, Miss. Selvi, High-Court lawyer and Mr. Nagendran from Legal Resources’ for Social Action (LRSA) and Karur Devasahayam were the resource persons. Three Zonal level training camps were conducted by FEDCOT against unfair trade practices in February and March 1998. Finding that it would be easy to create consumer rights awareness among rural people if presented using theatrical devices FEDCOT decided to have its own cultural troupe. With this idea a consumer cultural training camp was organised from 26 February to 2 March 1998 at Dindigul. Participants were trained in drama, consumer movement songs and villupattu (a folk-song which narrates a story adapted to our purpose). The trainees of this workshop performed live in front of an audience in the NSS camps held by Gandhigram Rural University in Dindigul District from 15 to 22 March 1998. In the year 1997-98, for new members, training camps were arranged in 26 districts and in 29 taluks with 1502 trainees including 429 women. The training helped them receive consumer rights awareness education through FEDCOT and strengthen the grassroots level member councils.

1998-99

The Training Directorate of FEDCOT organised two training camps for new consumer group leaders one in Salem and the other in Villupuram. Training directorate in collaboration with other voluntary organisations arranged a number of training camps in various places. The focus of the training camps was on consumer awareness, consumer problems, realisation of the problems of rural people etc. A consumer awareness camp was conducted on 22 and 23 February 1999 for NSS Students of Madurai Kamaraj University. Training directorate used its consumer information exhibits in different places on different occasions and kept the people informed of the consumer rights. For young consumer leaders a training manual was brought out with a view to making them understand consumer-related issues so as to handle the consumer complaints in a better way.

1999-2000

In this year training directorate had arranged its own training camps besides helping the other directorates in organising their training camps.

Training Directorate – training camps

Ø Tiruchy Zonal Level Consumer Welfare Training was arranged in Gandhigram in Dindigul district from 23 to 25 April 1999. Ø Third Training Camp was conducted to improve the functioning of consumer leaders in Samayapuram, Tiruchy, from 23 to 25 April 1999. Ø Thanjavur Zonal Level Consumer Welfare Training was arranged in Thanjavur from 20 to 22 August 1999. Ø Chennai Zonal Level Consumer Welfare Training was arranged in Cuddalore from 15 to 17 August 1999. Training directorate had a significant role in the publication of various training manuals.

FEDCOT’s big show in Consumer Co-ordination Council at Delhi Convention

FEDCOT made its mark at the national level in the history of the movement with the largest number of delegates from a single State, 85 consumer activists from Tamil Nadu taking part in the two-day National Convention on “Towards the New Millennium”, held in New Delhi on 1-2 November 1999, responding to the clarion call given by the Consumer Coordination Council (CCC). The General Secretary Dr. Pirai Arivazhagan led the team of delegates of FEDCOT. At this historic meet, it should be mentioned, FEDCOT not only contributed to its successful conduct of the convention with its numerical strength, but also played a significant role in introducing some of its very important resolutions. Especially, FEDCOT cautioned about the resolution on economic liberalisation in that the Convention should not straight away welcome the globalisation as wholesome without any qualification, but wanted it to be suitably amended that while liberalised economy would be a welcome step, it did not mean that unfettered freedom was conferred on the market forces. The Hon’ble Minister and his Deputy Minister for Consumer Affairs Mr. Santha Kumar and Srinivas Prasad visited the FEDCOT’s stall put up at the Exhibition and recorded their appreciation on the highly educative value of the exhibits, especially the informative hoardings. Training directorate helped the district administration in arranging consumer exhibition on behalf of the Government in various places in Tamil Nadu. Training directorate arranged an excellent exhibition in Salem in connection with consumer day celebrations organised by Tamil Nadu Government. The District Collector who inspected them commended the exhibits.