On the occasion of World Standards Day, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) organized a day-long event on the theme of ‘Shared Vision for a Better World’ Standards for Sustainable Development Goals at its headquarters in New Delhi here today.

Minister of State (MoS) for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey presided over the event. During his address to the, he pressed on the significance of environmental sustainability through standardization. He emphasized on the importance of MSME sector in India and how the implementation of standards facilitate access to national and international markets. He spoke on the critical role that standards play in ensuring the integration of diverse technologies and interoperability of innovations required for propelling smart cities of the future. He further elaborated that in view of the pandemic, the path to move towards Sustainable Development Goals has become an absolute necessity, for which relevant, faster and better standards are essential.

SmtLeenaNandan, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs delivered the special address and emphasized the need for striving towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all members of the UN and about India’s commitment towards the same.She appreciated the effort made by BIS for prioritizing the formulation of standards that address the Sustainable Development Goals and for the development of standards with a wide understanding of what supports a healthy environment. She reiterated that the Sustainable Development Goals provide the best hope to face a number of challenges and opportunities from demographic transitions to new models of economic activity and that standards have a critical part to play in this regard.

She also felicitated the Indian experts who were awarded the IEC awards for their technical contribution for furthering standardization in the field of Electrotechnology.

SmtNidhiKhare, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs presented the keynote address and spoke about the significance of standards and the benefits they bring to business, society and the government. She mentioned that standards, form the foundation of international trade and play a key role in strengthening the means of implementation and revitalization of global partnerships for sustainable development. She further added that BIS has an important role to play in successfully achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and making our world a better place to live in.

In his welcome address, Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, BIS highlighted the recent initiatives taken by BIS for strengthening the standardization process and the importance of standards in national economy. He spoke on how BIS is striving to formulate need-based standards taking into consideration the needs of consumers, making sure they get efficient and reliable goods and promote responsible supply chains in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

SmtMamtaUpadhyayaLal, Additional Director General informed about the programmes being held by the various regional & branch offices of BIS all over India. They included workshops with consumer groups, state government departments and manufacturers, competitions at schools and colleges and seminars on the topics relevant to the theme. She also informed that BIS has undertaken a series of innovative activities (i.e. 75 activities for 75 weeks), being held every week under the ‘AazadikaAmrit Mahotsava-India@75’, to showcase its achievements and also commemorate 75 years of existence of BIS. These activities include theme-based seminars; Standards Club Activities in schools/ colleges across India through its Branch Offices; Industry meet with focus on collective journey from Independence to Atmanirbhar in Quality, at its Regional Offices; ‘This Week that Day’ on its conformity assessment activities; Special events on 15 August & 06 January i.e. BIS’s Foundation Day.

The Inaugural session was followed by a technical session on Standards for Sustainable Communities, wherein presentations were made by experts and eminent personalities. The technical session covered a wide range of interesting and insightful presentations which included topics on Clean Energy, Smart Transportation, Plastic Waste Management, Electrotechnical Standards and Sustainable Cities.

The second technical session, was on Standards fostering Well-Being. The second technical session had presentations related to fostering Well-Being which included topics on Nutrition, Water Efficient Plumbing, Piped Drinking Water, Standardization in Food & Water and Green Infrastructure.

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DJN/NS