The Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has launched the Bureau of Indian Standards Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’ and three portals – the Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS on www.manakonline.in for consumers. Consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products and lodge complaints using this app.
Initiatives of BIS
The mobile app BIS-Care can be operated on any Android phone. This app is operational in Hindi and English language and can be downloaded free from Google play store. Another important aspect of BIS functioning is certification and surveillance to enforce the implementation of standards.
- The BIS is strengthening its capacity of enforcement by implementation of e-BIS, an integrated portal covering all its functions, enlisting the services of outside agencies for factory and market surveillance and development of mobile app-based and AI-enabled surveillance methods.
- BIS is also developing a portal on consumer engagement, which will facilitate the online registration of consumer groups, submission of proposals and approval thereof, and complaint management.
- BIS has formulated a scheme for the recognition of other Standard Development Organizations in the country with the objective of harmonization of standard formulation. It is under examination and will be launched soon.
- BIS has actively collaborated with various Ministries and Departments to help them issue quality control orders (QCOs) for 368 products and work on the formulating QCOs for 239 products is in progress. After standards become mandatory, manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, have to comply with them.
- To achieve the objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and protect the interests of consumers, BIS had to further strengthen its efforts to formulate standards in the areas important for boosting exports and regulating the import of cheap and sub-standard products. The Department of Consumer Affairs has approved the Standard National Action Plan and identified the important sectors of economy for development of standards.
- During the present Covid-19 Pandemic, BIS also developed COVID standards for cover-all and ventilators and issued norms for grant of licence for N95 Masks, surgical masks, and eye protectors. This has resulted in an increase in the production of ISI-marked PPE items. Daily production capacity for ISI-marked N95 masks in the country has gone up from less than two lakh to more than four lakh.
- BIS through the National Institute of Standardization at Noida has been imparting training to various stakeholders, as training plays an important role in the promotion and implementation of standards. Through it, it has now formulated a comprehensive training policy and chalked out an action plan to reach out to industry, consumer organizations, and government officials in a big way through online and offline courses.
Source: PIB
