In news– The Quality Council of India has celebrated its Silver Jubilee recently.
About QCI-
- Quality Council of India is an autonomous body of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Govt. of India.
- QCI was set up in 1997 jointly by the Government of India(under the Societies Registration Act ) and the Indian Industry represented by the three premier industry associations i.e.
- Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
- The main objectives of QCI are (a) to establish and operate national accreditation structure (b) to monitor and administer the National Quality Campaign
- The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, is the nodal ministry for QCI.
- Chairman of QCI is nominated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and is a non-executive post.
- The Council is independent and works under the directions of its Governing Body (GB) having equal representation of government, industry and industry associations.
- It does not get funded by the government and is a self-sustaining non-profit organization with its own Memorandum of Association (MOA) and Rules.
- Over the past 25 years, QCI has(its operations are carried out by) created various boards viz National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), National Accreditation Board for Hospitals Healthcare Providers (NABH), National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP) and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
- They take over the functions of accreditation and quality promotion.
- As per the mandate given to it by the government, QCI started venturing out into the global scenario and established memberships with forums and organisations that decided about how the business and trade was to be conducted in a globalised environment.
- QCI and NABL became members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation(ILAC) respectively and subsequently to the regional bodies like Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC).
Source: PIB