Consumer Guidance Society of India
The Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) is a nonprofit consumer organization established in India in 1966 to protect and educate the Indian consumer about sub-standard products and services, adulterated foods, short weights and measures, spurious and hazardous drugs, exorbitant prices, endemic shortages leading to black marketing and profiteering, unfulfilled manufacture guarantees, and a host of other problems. History Since independence, India has been striving to develop and strengthen its industrial base. However, in this pursuit of "self-sufficiency", exploitation of consumers by manufacturers and service providers became rampant in India. In the 1960s, only a few monopolistic business houses controlled industry. In one infamous case, forty persons suffered dropsy and glaucoma after consuming groundnut oil adulterated with toxic argemone oil. The victims did not get any justice and the culprits escaped without punishment. This outrage energized nine women to organize a movement to fight for consumer rights and to form the CGSI in 1966. Governing body CGSI founders Ms. Seeta Gupta (social worker) Ms. Indira Mazumdar (social worker) Ms. Seeta Nadkarni (social worker) Dr. Leela Thorat (doctor) Ms. Leela Jog (journalist) Ms. Kamala Mankekar (journalist) Dr. Shanta S. Rao (scientist) Ms. Nalini Tulpule (social worker) Ms. Shakuntala Kadam (social worker)