By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 30 Oct: Director and Head of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Dehradun Saurabh Tiwari addressed a press conference at the Media Centre in the Secretariat here today. Tiwari stated that various standards made by the BIS are very important to ensure the safety of common citizens’ lives. He shared that the purity of these products can be tested with the BIS Mobile Care App.
Tiwari informed media that consumers can identify real and fake products from the comfort of their homes through the Mobile Care App. He added that this mobile app can be downloaded from the Play Store. He mentioned that there are more than 600 products for which BIS standard mark has been made mandatory for manufacture, import, or sale. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is taking concrete steps to strengthen standard-making activities and is signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for the development of standards with various research institutes.
Tiwari also shared that BIS Dehradun Branch Office has signed MoUs with four major educational institutions of the state, namely, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Uttarakhand, and Graphic Era University. He added that BIS is committed to contributing to uplift of every section of the society. BIS Dehradun has signed the first MoU for farmers in the country with GBPUAT to develop ‘Standardised Agricultural Demonstration Farm’ (SADF). In this regard, a pilot project will be conducted to evaluate the increase in quality and productivity of crops using ISI-marked products.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will also make the Gram Panchayats aware about benefits of using standard-marked products. BIS Dehradun has brought out a booklet detailing the products commonly used in rural infrastructure development and their respective Indian Standards. In collaboration with the department concerned of the State Government, all the Gram Panchayats of the State of Uttarakhand have been fully sensitised about the standards. The Bureau of Indian Standards is also organising capacity-building programmes on Indian Standards for State Government officials. BIS Dehradun Branch Office has sensitised important Government departments and is also continuing to do so.
In addition, Tiwari further shared that BIS Dehradun is working to spread awareness about the importance of standardisation among consumers by collaborating with Consumer Organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and Self Help Groups (SHGs). The BIS has also launched a series of stakeholder consultation programmes called ‘Manak Manthan’ to make the standards more robust and of international standard.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also launched a toll-free number through which any citizen can communicate with the BIS team for their queries. It has introduced new digital-based public interaction platforms, such as a public contact facility through video conferencing, for consumer queries.
