Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal today said that we must recognize and accept the importance of quality to make India a developed nation.

He was addressing the gathering on the occasion of 76th Foundation Day of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in New Delhi.  

The Minister extended his greetings on the occasion of  76th Foundation Day of BIS. Portal for mapping of Industrial Units and Laboratories  was launched on the occasion today.

This is a centralized platform for information on industrial units and laboratories across the country. This will enable analysis of test facilities in the country and help entrepreneurs in accessing information about testing facilities. 

Quoting John Ruskin, “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort”, the Minister pointed out that if we look at the history of developed nations, we find that those countries who adopted ‘Quality’ in early stages of their development cycles progressed faster.

He further added that these countries were able to engage with the world from a position of strength and inculcate the spirit to have high quality products, goods, services, in turn leading to high quality of lifestyle for the people.

Goyal said as India enters into Azaki ka Amrit Mahotsav, it's a great opportunity for all of us to pledge ourselves to take quality as our mission  and to explore how we can contribute to maintain India a developed nation.  He emphasised that India will not become a developed nation unless we all recognize and accept the importance of quality.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s clarion call of ‘Zero effect Zero defect’, Goyal emphasised that ‘zero defects’ will help us produce goods and services of high quality service to people.

He also pointed out that unless our lifestyle has zero effect on climate change, we will not be able to survive. He therefore called for efforts towards mitigating the disasters of climate change and contributing towards reducing carbon footprint in the world. He termed zero effect and zero defects as the urgent call of the hour.

He exhorted everyone to move ahead together with confidence to rapidly transform the future of India and the future of every Indian citizen. Referring to PM Modi’s quote, “rapid transformation, not gradual evolution is going to take this country”, Goyal said we no longer have the luxury of time and called for efforts for a transformational journey. 

He complimented BIS for launching several initiatives today and said that these have the potential of having a transformational effect on the Indian economy and on the lives of the people.

On Standards National Action Plan (SNAP) 2022 - 27, the Minister said it lays down the roadmap on which we will all have to work to make quality a part of the very thinking and philosophy of every citizen in our country.  He also praised BIS for setting up around 4000 Standards Clubs across the country to expand quality connect with the people.

He said this year's effort to reach out to five lakh households is only the beginning.

He pointed out that there may be a lot of people who may have retired but still have the desire to work and participate in the future well being of the country.

He asked BIS to explore if a database of such people can be built up by connecting with alumni associations, organisations, and companies. He suggested that an outreach/ awareness program can be initiated by BIS wherein these people can engage through online/offline/hybrid mode with students in schools/ colleges/ universities to create quality consciousness in students.

He asked BIS to draw up a plan to execute this program with an aim to create quality consciousness in the country.

Goyal said the Government is committed to making the testing infrastructure ecosystem in India at par with the world class. He mentioned that efforts are underway to  equip BIS Labs with most advanced equipment, CCTV Cameras, automatic feeding of Reports of Testing, and focus on accreditation. He said efforts are also to expand capacity and ensure all types of testing facilities are available in labs across the country.

He informed BIS is also looking at collaborating with other private labs to upgrade and mordernise their labs.

He asked BIS to give a roadmap for achieving a target for 10X factory surveillance. He said that testing Minister concluded by saying that BIS must become the gold standard in terms of work on Quality. He assured that BIS will continue to be the harbinger of change and be at the forefront of the revolution of Quality.