Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan today chaired a meeting on the Standard formation process of Bureau of India Standard (BIS) and their enforcement with the senior officials from 14 Ministries. Wide ranging discussions were held on how standards are set and what can be done to make their implementation/enforcement better. Shri Paswan exhorted that similar to “One Nation One Constitution” and “One Nation One Ration Card” there should be “One Nation One Standard”.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Shri Paswan stated that the meeting was held with all stakeholders, Regulators and officials to review the ‘Process of Making Standards’ and also deliberate on improving the implementation and enforcement of the set Standards. Shri Paswan urged all stakeholders to provide all their suggestions in this regard by 17th September, 2019. Shri Paswan also said that the purpose of setting standards and enforcing them is not intended to bring back ‘’inspector raj’’ but to ensure that quality products are made available for all consumers across the country.
Shri Paswan asserted that Indian Standards should be set as per global benchmarks and just like other countries enforce their standards on imported products. Similarly, foreign goods coming into India should also comply with Indian standards. He said that this should be done on a reciprocal basis for International goods and a system should be put in place for effective monitoring and checking to ensure that they are effectively enforced.
Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Shri Avinash K Srivastava expressed happiness at the fact that the time taken to complete the process of Standards formation has been reduced from 24 months earlier to 18 months now. He said that detailed discussions were held on “One Nation One Standard” and for that it is important that BIS is empowered. Shri Srivastava also said that since the BIS is a National Standards body, residuary powers are vested with BIS, all other standard making bodies must work in coordination with BIS.
Dr. D K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog informed the media that NITI Aayog is currently working on a draft Medical Devices Bill which will help to tackle the problem of non-standard medical devices coming into the market. It was stated that devices of 23 categories are regulated and notified under drugs and the attempt is to do this on a comprehensive scale.
The gathering was also informed that the standard set for Bullet Proof Jackets in India is higher than global benchmarks and India is only the 4th country in the world to have such a standard after USA, Germany and UK. He said that the standard has been set after due consultations with stakeholders and it is now being exported to several countries under the ‘’Make in India’’ initiative.
Rashtriya Pension Yojana Launched for Traders & Self-Employed 462 Ekalavya Model Schools launched all over the country for tribal students Jharkhand Gets its New Vidhan Sabha Building in Ranchi Posted On: 12 SEP 2019 5:46PM by PIB Delhi In another major effort to secure the lives of the farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana at Ranchi, the Capital of Jharkhand.
The Scheme shall secure the lives of 5 Crore Small and Marginal Farmers by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3000 per month, to those who attain 60 years of age.
Prime Minister also launched the National Pension Scheme for the Traders and The Self-Employed. The scheme aims at providing a minimum assured pension of Rs 3000, to small traders and self - employed after attaining the age of 60 Years. Around 3 Crore Small traders would be benefitted from the scheme. PM stated that the electoral promise of a strong government that will fulfill your aspirations is delivered.
“I said that every farmer family of the country will get the benefit of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi after the formation of the new government. Today, more than 21 thousand crore rupees have been deposited in the accounts of about six and a half crore farmer families of the country. There are also 8 lakh farmer families of Jharkhand, in whose account about two hundred and fifty crores have been deposited.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated “Development is our priority as well as commitment. Our government is trying to provide a shield of social security to every Indian.” “Government is becoming the companion of those who need it the most. Since March this year, a similar pension scheme is going on for crores of unorganized sector workers of the country.”
“More than 32 lakh laborers have also joined the Shramayogi Manadhan Yojana. More than 22 crore people have joined Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, out of which more than 30 lakh beneficiaries are from Jharkhand only. Also under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, about 44 lakh poor patients have been benefitted, out of which about 3 lakh are from Jharkhand.”
In an effort to empower all, the Prime Minister today launched 462 Ekalavya Model Schools across the country in Tribal Dominated Areas. The schools would focus to provide quality upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level education to ST Students in these areas.
“These Eklavya schools will not only serve as medium of education for tribal children but there will also be facilities for sports and skill development along with protection of local arts and culture.In these schools, the government will spend more than one lakh rupees a year on every tribal child.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated the Multi-Modal Transport Terminal at Sahibganj.
“Today I also have the privilege of inaugurating the Sahibganj multi-modal terminal. This is not just another project, but is giving a new option of transportation to this entire region. This waterway will connect Jharkhand not only with the whole country, but also with foreign countries. From this terminal, the tribal brothers and sisters, farmers here, will now be able to access their produce in the markets across the country more easily, PM added.”
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the New Vidhan Sabha Building of Jharkhand. “Today, nearly two decades after the formation of the state, the temple of democracy is being inaugurated in Jharkhand. This building is the holy place where the foundation of the golden future of the people of Jharkhand will be laid and dreams of present and future generations will be realized”. PM also laid the foundation stone of the new building of the Secretariat.
The Prime Minister exhorted the country to reduce the usage of Single-Use Plastic.
Referring to the Swachhata Hi Seva Programme launched on the 11th September 2019, the Prime Minister said, “Since yesterday, the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign has started in the country. Under this campaign, by October 2, we have to collect single-use plastic in our homes, schools, offices. On October 2, the day of Gandhiji's 150th birth anniversary, we have to remove that plastic pile”.
Joint Military Exercise MAITREE-2019 between India and Thailand will be conducted at Foreign Training Node, Umroi (Meghalaya) from 16-29 Sep 2019. Indian and Royal Thailand Army (RTA) comprising 50 soldiers each will participate in the exercise with an aim to share experience gained during various counter terrorism operations in their respective countries.
Exercise MAITREE is an annual training event which is being conducted alternatively in Thailand and India since 2006. Notably, in the series of military training exercises undertaken by India with various countries, Exercise MAITREE with Thailand is a significant in terms of the security challenges faced by both the nations in the backdrop of changing facets of global terrorism. The scope of this exercise covers company level joint training on counter terrorism operations in jungle and urban scenario.
The joint military exercise will enhance the level of defence co-operation between Indian Army (IA) and Royal Thailand Army (RTA) which in turn will further foster defence cooperation and bilateral relations between the two nations.