The second meeting of the Governing Council of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was held today at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi. The Council was chairedbythe Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan as ex-officio President of the Council and was attended by distinguished members of the Governing Council such as the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri C. R. Chaudhary who is also ex-officio Vice President of the Council, Members of Parliament, Shri Bhola Singh (Lok Sabha) and Shri Mahesh Poddar (Rajya Sabha); Secretary, Dept. of Consumer Affairs,Avinash K Srivastava and Director General, BIS, Smt. SurinaRajan among others.Delivering his presidential address,Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan mentioned some of the important provisions of the BIS Act 2016 which are aimed at strengthening and further improving the effectiveness of BIS’s functioning.
Ram Vilas Paswan highlighted important enabling provisions in the new Act such as to direct the licensee to recall non-conforming Standard Marked goods from the market, pay compensation to the consumer and manufacturers be liable for the injury caused to the consumer due to use of the non-conforming Standard Marked products. Another enabling provision has been included for compounding of offences.The Union Minister emphasized on another provision that has significant public impact, making Hallmarking of Gold and Silver jewellery items mandatory. Shri Paswan informed, “As overall in-charge of Department of Consumer Affairs I am fully conscious that BIS should play its role in protection of consumers. As I have been emphasizing earlier, I am happy to announce that the standard on gold was revised and published to include only three caratagei.e. 14, 18, 22 carat for Hallmarking, which the common consumer could understand them better. This is expected to avoid confusion amongst consumers and will also reduce chances of them being cheated”. Shri Paswan further expressed his desire for India to be the top in the emerging fields of manufacturing and exhorted BIS to make all possible efforts in this direction.
In his opening remarks, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, C.R. Chaudhary thanked the officials for holding the important meeting to chart the future roadmap for BIS with the objective of zero effect and zero defect to increase exports through high and efficient standardisation. Shri Chaudhary asserted that implementation of standards should be the key focus area especially to improve quality and no compromisesshould be made in this regard. Shri Chaudhary also desired that following PM’s mantra of forming a New India by 2022, more production, more exports and maximum employment should be the goal and efforts should also be dedicated towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022. Shri Chaudhary also expressed gratitude towards Union Minister Shri Paswan for providing his able guidance and support which has led to rules being framed in a time bound manner and ensured proper implementation of such rules.Given the importance Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Government places in improving the ease of doing business in India, as well as to attract global investments in the Make in India and Smart cities campaign, BIS plays a key facilitating role in such national programs with the main objective of harmonious development of standards and quality certification in the country to provide quality goods and services to consumers.