OREANDA-NEWS. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has taken up development of standards for 43 products identified by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) for manufacturing quality products in the country under Make in India programme. It has also decided to develop or upgrade standards for basic consumer services like potable water and waste collection & disposal besides revising National Building Code to promote safe and environment friendly construction in the country.

This was informed during the meeting of Governing Body of BIS chaired by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, here today. The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament, representatives of various central ministries and technical experts from different sectors.

Reviewing the performance of BIS, Shri Paswan directed that labs of the Bureau in each state should be upgraded on priority basis and facilities for testing of more products should be arranged. He also asked the BIS to develop or revise standards regarding street food and products of day to day. Mass awareness campaign should also be launched to make people quality conscious, he stressed.

Underlining the importance of transparency in licensing of standards, Shri Paswan asked BIS to encourage industry to adopt self declaration scheme for adopting standards. He was informed that 250 products have already been notified by the Bureau for this purpose. It was also informed that the roadmap for computerisation of BIS has been prepared to make its all functions and processes IT enabled, Shri Paswan directed BIS to complete the work by March 2016.

Participating in the discussion, Members of Parliament suggested that BIS should arrange promotion of ISI marked consumer products with the help of State Governments, should take up standardization of Ayurvedic products also. They also suggested standards for biodegradable packaging of drinking water and other consumer products should be explored.