To ensure quality products, Paswan pitches for One Nation, One Standard

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday asserted that after "One Nation, One Constitution" and "One Nation, One Ration Card" it was time for "One Nation, One Standard" to ensure that quality products are made available to all consumers across the country.

Paswan, the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, chaired a meeting on the standard formation process of Bureau of India Standard (BIS) and their enforcement with senior officials from 14 ministries.

"Wide-ranging discussions were held on how standards are set and what can be done to make their implementation better. Paswan exhorted that similar to 'One Nation One Constitution' and 'One Nation One Ration Card' there should be 'One Nation One Standard'," an official release said.

The meeting was held with all stakeholders, regulators and officials to review the process of making standards and also deliberate on improving the implementation and enforcement of the set standards.

Paswan urged all stakeholders to provide their suggestions in this regard by September 17.

He said that the purpose of setting standards and enforcing them is not intended to bring back "inspector raj'" but to ensure that quality products are made available for all consumers across the country.

The Minister asserted that Indian standards should be set as per global benchmarks and just like other countries enforce their standards on imported products.

"Similarly, foreign goods coming into India should also comply with Indian standards. This should be done on a reciprocal basis for international goods and a system should be put in place for effective monitoring and checking to ensure that they are effectively enforced," he said.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash K Srivastava said that detailed discussions were held on "One Nation One Standard" and for that it is important that BIS is empowered.

DK Paul, member of NITI Aayog, said that the top policy-making body was currently working on a draft Medical Devices Bill which will help to tackle the problem of non-standard medical devices coming into the market.

He stated that devices of 23 categories are regulated and notified under drugs and the attempt is to do this on a comprehensive scale.

Paul said the standard set for bulletproof jackets in India is higher than global benchmarks and India is only the fourth in the world to have such a standard after the USA, Germany and UK.

He said that the standard has been set after due consultations with stakeholders and it is now being exported to several countries under the "Make in India" initiative.