New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said ``governments may come and go, but institutions remain.’’
Speaking at a function organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the Minister said, ``the government can make appropriate rules and regulations but it was for institutions like the BIS to implement them.’’
``Governments may change but institutions remain and they must deliver,’’ he said.
The Minister said that at a time when the world was going in for Fourth Industrial Revolution on the World Standards Day on Thursday, India must not only try to keep pace with international quality and safety standards but also update replace old technology with new.
He said gold hallmarking had been introduced in India and the Centre will soon make it mandatory for industry to hallmark all gold jewellry and bullion as per global norms.
Pointing out that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had taken several decisions including replacing the old BIS Act with a new one to keep pace with international norms and standards.
``India has the capability to take any challenge and the capacity even to take a lead and therefore we need to move faster, ’’ he said.
He, however, added that while competitive standards can be applied to industry, the same standards cannot be applied to small hawkers and traders who might stand to lose their livelihood.
``However, they too must maintain hygiene and quality,’’ he added.
Minister of State CR Chaudhary said regulators and consumers need to be constantly made aware of international standards for quality and safety of products.
"India has a huge man power which has expertise in technology and in Industry 4.0 Revolution, technology is crucial,’’ he said.
Mr Chaudhary said India has to harmonise its quality and standards with international norms especially as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a call for Zero Effect (environmentally) and Zero Defect (quality-wise) in Make-in-India products.
On the occasion, Mr Paswan gave an award to scientist Rino John who won the World Standards Day poster contest.
He also released a BIS pre-standardisation study on Smart Manufacturing and launched its user-friendly web-site.
The Industrial Revolution 4 (IR4) technologies include Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things to Do, 3-D Printing etc.
``Its underlying technologies will not only automate and optimise the existing business process of companies but also open new opportunities and transform the way companies interact with consumers, suppliers, employees and governments,’’ said Surina Rajan, the Director-General of BIS.
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