323 cement samples not conforming to BIS norms in 3 yrs: Govt

Government today said 323 cement samples were found not conforming to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms during the last three years.
"During the last three years and the current year, 5,561 samples were drawn by BIS for independent testing, out of which 323 samples were found to be non-conforming to the respective Indian standard," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
During January-July, a total of 29 cases of violation of standards were there on which corrective actions were sought and verified.
Replying to a separate question, Sitharaman said India's exports of live animals including horses, swine, sheep and poultry stood at USD 9.87 million in April-May during this fiscal compared with USD 68.56 million in 2015-16.

"The increase in exports of live animals is primarily on account of increase in export of live sheep and goats," she added.
Replying to a separate question on tea, the minister said Kerala has requested the Centre to earmark Rs 500 crore from the Price Stabilisation Fund, maintained by the Department of Commerce for plantation crops, to provide additional price support of at least Rs 50 per kg to natural rubber farmers.
Natural rubber being a commercial crop is not considered for minimum price support.