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Tag: consumers

  • CFPB says employee breached data of 250,000 consumers in ‘major incident’

    CFPB says employee breached data of 250,000 consumers in ‘major incident’

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    “This breach raises concerns with how the CFPB safeguards consumers’ personally identifiable information,” House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry said in a statement. “Republicans will ensure any bad actors are held accountable.”

    CFPB spokesperson Sam Gilford said the bureau has referred the matter to the inspector general and is “taking appropriate action to address this incident.”

    “The CFPB takes data privacy very seriously, and this unauthorized transfer of personal and confidential data is completely unacceptable,” Gilford said. “All CFPB employees are trained in their obligations under bureau regulations and Federal law to safeguard confidential or personal information.”

    Agency staff told lawmakers they had learned of the breach on Feb. 14 in an email notifying them about the “major incident” that they sent on March 21.

    The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the story.

    Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), chair of the Financial Services Committee’s investigations panel, asked for a briefing no later than April 25 on the “mitigation and remediation efforts, the scale of the breach, as well as efforts made to give the appropriate notifications” in a letter to Chopra Tuesday.

    “My understanding is that the transfer of records could have possibly implicated more than 50 financial institutions’ sensitive information,” Huizenga wrote. “If these facts prove to be true, the effects could be widespread and injurious.”

    Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, also pressed Chopra for details Wednesday in a letter requesting his own briefing by May 8.

    Scott said the agency’s recent rule requesting small business lending data — including personally identifiable information — is “highly concerning given that the CFPB has provided limited insight to Congress into the CFPB’s data management practices and efforts to ensure the privacy of consumer and small business data.”

    A spokesperson for Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown said the agency “followed protocols” by notifying congressional oversight committees.

    “The CFPB has taken every step required of the agency, and any wrongdoers must be held accountable for misconduct,” Brown spokesperson Alysa James said.

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    #CFPB #employee #breached #data #consumers #major #incident
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Cabinet approves targeted subsidy to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana consumers

    Cabinet approves targeted subsidy to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana consumers

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    New Delhi: In a relief to the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Friday approved a subsidy of Rs 200 per 14.2 kg cooking has cylinder for up to 12 refills per year to be provided to them.

    There are 9.59 crore PMUY beneficiaries as on March 1, 2023.

    Officials said that the total expenditure will be Rs 6,100 crore for financial year 2022-23 and Rs 7,680 crore for 2023-24. The subsidy is credited directly to bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries.

    Public sector oil marketing companies, including Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has already been providing this subsidy since May 22, 2022.

    Officials said that there has been a sharp increase in international prices of LPG due to various geopolitical reasons and it is important to shield PMUY beneficiaries from high LPG prices.

    They said that targeted support to PMUY consumers encourages them for continuous usage of LPG. It is important to ensure sustained LPG adoption and usage among PMUY consumers so that they can completely switch to cleaner cooking fuel. Average LPG consumption of PMUY consumers has increased by 20 per cent from 3.01 refills in 2019-20 to 3.68 in 2021-22.A All PMUY beneficiaries are eligible for this targeted subsidy.

    To make Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), a clean cooking fuel, available to the rural and deprived poor households, the Government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016, to provide deposit free LPG connections to adult women of poor households.

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    #Cabinet #approves #targeted #subsidy #Pradhan #Mantri #Ujjwala #Yojana #consumers

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Consumers Of Ganderbal, Rural Srinagar To Pay Water Tax Bills With JK Bank’s m-Pay App

    Consumers Of Ganderbal, Rural Srinagar To Pay Water Tax Bills With JK Bank’s m-Pay App

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    SRINAGAR:  All registered consumers of District Ganderbal and rural Srinagar are informed that RWS Division Ganderbal/ Srinagar has uploaded Consumer Water tax Bills on m-Pay application of JK Bank Ltd.

    Accordingly, all registered consumers of this division can pay their bills through m-Pay application of JK Bank against 13-digit consumer ID (newly assigned) or at any branch of JK Bank against hard copy of consumer Bill having 13-digit consumer ID.

    The consumer ID’s can be obtained from the e-Billing Section of JS-PHE Rural Water Supply Division Ganderbal or Telephonically on following Mobile No.’s 9797232087, 9596981147.(GNS)

    Previous articleEight Day Theatre Festival Concludes In Srinagar
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    #Consumers #Ganderbal #Rural #Srinagar #Pay #Water #Tax #Bills #Banks #mPay #App

    ( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

  • Cong alleges govt granted ‘monopolies’ to Adani Group, allowed it to ‘fleece’ consumers

    Cong alleges govt granted ‘monopolies’ to Adani Group, allowed it to ‘fleece’ consumers

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    New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday alleged that the government has granted “monopolies” to the Adani Group, allowing it to “fleece” consumers who need to use essential infrastructure services such as airports and electricity.

    The opposition party also said that persistent demand for a JPC on the Adani issue was not to embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi but to unravel its full dimensions.

    Posing a set of three questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the party’s “Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun” series, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the focus of the posers was on how the “monopolies granted” to the Adani Group have allowed it to “fleece” consumers who need to use essential infrastructure services like airports and electricity.

    The Congress is persisting with its attack on the government weeks after Adani Group stocks took a beating on the bourses after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation.

    The Gautam Adani-led group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

    In his statement addressed to the prime minister, Ramesh claimed that the Adani-operated Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India’s 11th busiest airport, has proposed an “exorbitant increase” in the user development fee (UDF) paid by passengers.

    “If approved by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), user fees will rise from Rs 192 to Rs 1,025 for domestic passengers and Rs 561 to Rs 2,756 for international passengers by the fiscal year 2025-26,” the Congress general secretary claimed.

    AERA has already approved a six-fold fee increase for domestic passengers and a 12-fold fee increase for international passengers flying out of the Adani-operated Ahmedabad airport by 2025-26, he said.

    “And AERA outdid itself in the case of the Adani-operated Mangaluru airport by not only hiking user fees for departing passengers but also imposing them on arriving passengers,” Ramesh claimed.

    Is this not the “inevitable outcome of the PM’s decision to grant an airports monopoly to his friend Gautam Adani by handing him six out of six airports over the objections of the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance”, the Congress leader asked.

    “Will customers have to pay out of their pockets for the electoral bonds that your cronies are transferring to BJP coffers?” Ramesh said.

    He also claimed that in 2008, Adani Power signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Haryana’s state-owned power distribution companies to supply 1,424 megawatts (MW) of electricity for 25 years at a levelised tariff of Rs 2.94 per unit.

    But it began to default on its power supply obligations from December 2020, forcing Haryana to buy spot electricity at Rs 11.55 per unit, he claimed.

    “Far from recovering what it was due, the Manohar Lal Khattar government decided to approve a supplementary PPA on June 27, 2022 through which it will procure a reduced 1,200 MW from Adani at Rs 3.54 per unit and will source the remaining 224 MW at a far higher price from Adani,” he alleged.

    “Did you pressure CM Khattar to bail out your cronies yet again? How many thousands of crores of rupees will be fleeced from Haryana consumers by Adani to pay for the BJP’s electoral bonds?” Ramesh said.

    He also claimed that on March 1, 2023, Adani Power made a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange that it had signed supplementary PPAs with Haryana’s two power distribution companies.

    However, no such PPA had been signed at that time, he alleged.

    Was this a crude attempt to shore up flagging Adani share prices, Ramesh asked.

    “Will this be yet another case of SEBI turning a blind eye to blatant violations and deceptions by your favourite business group?” he said.

    Responding to a media report which quoted senior lawyer Harish Salve as saying that the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe was aimed at only embarrassing the Centre, Ramesh tweeted, “My friend Harish Salve with whom I worked closely as environment minister is completely wrong.

    “The persistent demand for a JPC on the Adani scam is not to embarrass the PM but to unravel its full dimensions, which no technocratic committee can or will be willing to do.”



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    #Cong #alleges #govt #granted #monopolies #Adani #Group #allowed #fleece #consumers

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Consumers Association: ‘Two thirds of veggie burgers are not very healthy, nutritional value can be easily improved’

    Consumers Association: ‘Two thirds of veggie burgers are not very healthy, nutritional value can be easily improved’

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    Almost two thirds of the veggie burgers contain too much salt and/or saturated fat and are therefore not very healthy. This is shown by research by the Consumers’ Association, which looked at 75 vegetarian and vegan burgers that are sold at supermarkets. According to them, the burgers are generally still healthier than beef burgers.

    The consumer organization looked at 75 burgers available at Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Lidl, Plus, Aldi, Hoogvliet, Dirk and Ekoplaza. These burgers are made from, for example, soy, nuts, pea protein or vegetables. Two thirds of the products appear to contain too much salt and/or saturated fat, is the conclusion.

    The Consumers’ Association saw that both supermarkets and A-brands make unhealthy veggie burgers. This includes names such as Vivera, Valess, De Vegetarische Slager and Lidl. From Albert Heijn, 3 out of 10 veggie burgers can be called ‘healthy’ (as in: they do not contain too much salt or saturated fat), from Jumbo 4 out of 8 and from Garden Gourmet 2 out of 4.

    Plus comes out best in the check: none of her 3 burgers contain too much salt or too much saturated fat. To illustrate: a healthier veggie burger contains, according to the association, a maximum of 1.13 grams of salt and 2.5 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams.

    Sufficient nutrients?

    Of the 75 vegan burgers, only 27 are a healthier choice, says the Consumers’ Association. It was also assessed whether the 27 healthy vegetarian burgers contained sufficient protein, iron and vitamin B12. Then they are optimal for vegans, who do not get these nutrients from animal products. Only a handful of vegan burgers meet this requirement, the union says.

    “Our panel research among more than 2000 consumers shows that vegetarians and flexitarians also find these additions important,” says Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers’ Association. “Manufacturers can also take significant steps in this area.”


    Quote

    While many veggie burgers aren’t very healthy, they tend to be healthier than beef burgers

    Sandra Molenaar, Director Consumer Association

    Still healthier than meat burgers

    Vega burgers contain on average a lot less salt and saturated fat than beef burgers, according to the Consumers’ Association. “They are generally healthier than beef burgers,” says Molenaar. “Moreover, vegetarian variants are a lot more sustainable. Not only in terms of animal welfare, but also because of the much smaller impact on the climate. With a little less salt, they are even healthier compared to meat, so it is up to manufacturers.”

    The Consumers’ Association calls on manufacturers to be less generous with salt and to add more iron, protein and vitamin B12 to the burgers.

    Not in the Wheel of Five

    The Nutrition Center already reported that in 2022 not all meat substitutes fit into the Wheel of Five, because one part contains too much salt. They then compared six ready-made substitutes (so no burgers) from the supermarkets and saw major differences: one meat substitute had only 0.7 grams of salt per 100 grams, the other no less than 2.2 grams. The maximum amount of salt per day – for someone older than 9 years – is 6 grams.

    Their check showed that Vivera’s ‘Vegetable mincemeat’ contains the least amount of salt, followed by Albert Heijn’s ‘Vegetarian minced chicken natural’ and Jumbo’s ‘Tasty veggie burger vegan’. The Unox Vegetarian Smoked Sausage performed worst in terms of salt. This is followed by the ‘Pieces of Italian style’ from Valess and the ‘Vegan hacktbal’ from the Vegetarian Butcher.

    Watch our news videos in the playlist below:

    #Consumers #Association #thirds #veggie #burgers #healthy #nutritional #easily #improved

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    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • Consumers | Every third Finn estimates that their financial situation has deteriorated in a year

    Consumers | Every third Finn estimates that their financial situation has deteriorated in a year

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    Consumer confidence remained weak in February, although confidence improved.

    Consumers confidence in the economy improved in February. Consumers confidence was still very low in February, but the reading rose compared to the level of January and December, says Statistics Finland.

    The confidence indicator was -11.9 in February, while January’s figure was -12.7 and December’s -18.5. In February of last year, the indicator got a value of -0.5, which is better than the long-term average.

    Expectations for our own economy, and especially for Finland’s economy, are still very weak.

    A third of consumers estimate that their own financial situation is worse than a year ago. 22 percent of consumers felt that their finances were at a better level than a year ago.

    Consumers according to the timing is very bad for acquisitions. Interest in buying an apartment or a car was less than usual in February. Only nine percent considered the time to be suitable for expensive acquisitions.

    Chief Economist of the Savings Bank Group Henna Mikkonen stated in a tweet that the direction is for improvement.

    “Of course, there is still a long way to go to the long-term average, so you can’t be terribly happy about this now. But I guess that the bottom has now been seen,” Mikkonen wrote.

    Consumers the estimate of inflation at the time of the survey rose to a record level, but the expectation was that inflation would have slowed down a year later. In February, consumers estimated that consumer prices have risen by 8.6 percent since February of last year and will rise by 5.2 percent in the coming year.

    Despite the gloomy confidence figures, one’s financial situation was perceived to be good again, and the threat of unemployment was perceived to be at the usual level.

    Regionally, confidence rose exceptionally to its strongest in Eastern Finland, where the confidence indicator reading was -3.1. Northern Finland saw the country’s darkest moods and the reading was -17.8.

    “Even big changes in the consumer confidence indicator do not always reflect the development of consumption, not to mention smaller short-term fluctuations. The confidence survey provides a lot of interesting information, but one should be careful about the conclusions drawn from it. Imaginations do not always correspond to economic facts, and the real situation does not change as quickly as imaginations”, writes OP Group’s chief economist Reijo Heiskanen on the blog.

    Heiskanen estimates that the drop in energy prices and wage increases will ease the economy in the near future. Despite this, the economic situation is not improving quickly.

    “As for private consumption, the pace is only slowing down, as the savings accumulated during the corona period will no longer support consumption in the future as before,” Heiskanen writes.

    Danish The Bank’s Chief Economist Pasi Kuoppamäki estimates in the release that consumer spending will not fall sharply, even though consumers are postponing many of their purchases.

    Kuoppamäki estimates that consumer confidence is still quite stable despite the rise in interest rates and inflation.

    According to him, the good employment situation supports stability and the reduction in heating needs reduces the risks related to the price of electricity.

    Kuoppamäki tweeted that business confidence is stable, but below the historical average in all main industries.

    On the business side trust is EK’s business cycle barometer remained unchanged for the last three months. Confidence in industry fell, but readings improved in construction, service companies and retail trade. Director of EK Sami Pakarinen estimates that the companies are now on a wait-and-see basis.

    “It is rarely worth emphasizing individual observations, but in terms of the economic cycle, the following couple of observations are decisive in many ways. Will the positive signals from the economy strengthen and increase confidence, or will confidence begin to decline again?”

    According to Pakarinen, the economies of the euro area and Finland have managed with very little damage given the circumstances so far.

    “However, it is clear that the growth rate cannot significantly accelerate in the coming months either, because the central bank is tightening its monetary policy to curb inflation. For the next few months, we will be in a swamp there, drift here situation, but we will move forward”, Pakarinen predicts.

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    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • Pawar opposes Electricity Amendment Bill, says its implementation will hit consumers

    Pawar opposes Electricity Amendment Bill, says its implementation will hit consumers

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    Nashik: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday strongly opposed the recently introduced Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in Parliament and asserted its implementation will end subsidy offered to power consumers, adversely affect government-run energy companies and also cause job losses.

    The Rajya Sabha MP said the Opposition will not allow passage of the Bill in Parliament in its existing form and continue to resist its provisions.

    Speaking at an event here, Pawar said the Opposition has clearly conveyed to the Union government that it will not allow the Bill to be passed in its present form.

    “Some days ago, a Bill for amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003, was introduced in Parliament. We oppose it because its implementation will stop power subsidy, shut down government-run energy companies and cause job losses,” said the former Union minister.

    It may get passed in the Lok Sabha because of the majority enjoyed by the Narendra Modi government, but it will not get cleared in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling dispensation lacks the required numbers, Pawar said.

    Privatisation of public undertakings in the power sector is also under consideration of the government, he claimed.

    “The Bill is before a parliamentary committee. Our stand is we will not allow this law to be passed in its current form,” the NCP leader added.

    Pawar was speaking at a convention of the Maharashtra State Electricity Workers’ Federation.

    The veteran politician said 40,000-42,000 existing vacancies in various state-run power firms should be filled and priority must be given to those working on these posts on contract.

    “These posts should be filled up immediately. Preference should be given to employees working in these companies on contract. In states like Telangana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu contract workers have been absorbed in regular service and this should be done in Maharashtra also,” Pawar added.

    “India is an agriculture-dominated economy. Earlier, 35 per cent people were doing farming, now more than 56 per cent people are involved in farming. There is burden on agriculture and new research is needed to improve the situation,” said the former Union agriculture minister.

    Speaking at the convention, former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal said government-run companies in the state should not be privatized.

    All workers, employees, farmers and common people should come together to fight against privatization of state-run firms, said the NCP leader.

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    #Pawar #opposes #Electricity #Amendment #Bill #implementation #hit #consumers

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )