Policy to ensure uniform quality, says Paswan

New Delhi: The government is planning to implement a ‘one nation, one standard’ policy under the umbrella of Bureau of Indian Standards to ensure uniform quality for various products and services, consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said.

There are about 50 quality certifying bodies in the country, including Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Automobile Research Organisation of India, that set the standards for products under their respective purview.

Now, BIS would work on the parameters of these agencies to frame standards for each of those products and offer national accreditation, the minister said on Thursday. “We are now working towards it,” he said.


Paswan also said the government may make hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory before Diwali to help consumers get genuine gold jewellery. The consumer affairs department has asked the commerce ministry to make it binding for jewellers to hallmark 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat gold jewellery before Diwali, he said.

“There is a craze for gold jewellery during festive season,” he said. “Hallmarking will ensure that consumers are not cheated.”

The government will also implement strict quality standards for imported products, Paswan said.