Page 5 - BIS Ebook

Bureau of Indian Standards

PRAMOD KUMAR TIWARI, IAS
Director General
: + 91-11-2323 7991, 2323 6980
: + 91-11-2323 5414 Bureau of Indian Standards
: dg@bis.gov.in (Government of India)
: http://www.bis.gov.in Manak Bhawan, 9, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi - 110 002

Foreword

In the twilight years of British rule in India, when the country was faced with the
gigantic task of building up the industrial infrastructure, it was the Institution of
Engineers (India), which prepared the first draft of the Constitution of an
Institution which could take up the task of formulation of National Standards.
This led to the Department of Industries and Supplies issuing a memorandum on
03 September 1946, formally announcing the setting of an organization called
the “Indian Standards Institution”. The Indian Standards Institution (ISI) came
Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari
Director General, BIS into being on the 06 January 1947 and in June 1947 Dr. Lal C. Verman took over
as its first Director.

In the initial years, the organization concentrated on standardization activity. To
provide the advantages of standardization to common consumers, the Indian
Standards Institution started operating the Certification Marks Scheme under
the Indian Standards Institution (Certification Marks) Act, 1952. The Scheme,
which was formally launched by ISI in 1955-56, enabled it to grant licences to
manufacturers producing goods in conformity with Indian Standards and to
apply ISI Mark on their products. To meet the requirements of the Certification
Marks Scheme, the nucleus of a laboratory was started in 1963. While the
product certification wasbeing operated under the Indian Standards Institution
(Certification Marks) Act, 1952, the formulation of standards and other related
work were not governed by any legislation. A Bill with this objective was
therefore introduced in the Parliament.

Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) thus came into existence, through an Act of
Parliament dated 26 November 1986, on 1 April 1987, with a broadened scope
and more powers; taking over the staff, assets, liabilities and functions of
erstwhile ISI. Through this change over, the government envisaged building a
climate for quality culture and consciousness and greater participation of
consumers in formulation and implementation of national standards.

The Bureau is a Body Corporate consisting of 25 members representing both
Central and State governments, Members of Parliament, industry, scientific and
research institutions, consumer organizations and professional bodies; with
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as its
President and the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution as its Vice-President.

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