Source: News on Air
Subject: Polity
Context: The Quality Council of India (QCI) announced next-generation quality reforms on the eve of Sushasan Divas 2025 to strengthen India’s quality ecosystem.
About Quality Council of India (QCI):
What it is?
- The Quality Council of India (QCI) is an autonomous, non-profit national accreditation body that promotes, adopts, and institutionalises quality standards across sectors in India.
- It operates as a public–private partnership (PPP) model, independent of direct government control, while supporting national quality objectives.
Established in:
- 1996, following Cabinet approval, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- Set up on the recommendations of a multi-stakeholder committee coordinated by the then Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (now DPIIT).
Aim:
- To build a robust national quality infrastructure aligned with international standards.
- To enhance global competitiveness of Indian goods and services, protect consumer interests, and improve quality of life.
Key functions:
- National accreditation programmes: Accredits laboratories, certification bodies, inspection agencies, medical labs, and testing facilities as per global norms.
- Service-sector quality assurance: Develops accreditation frameworks for education, healthcare, governance, environment, infrastructure, and vocational training.
- Trade facilitation: Helps overcome TBT/SPS barriers under WTO by ensuring internationally acceptable conformity assessment.
- Capacity building: Strengthens quality systems in governments, institutions, MSMEs, and enterprises through training and benchmarking.
- International engagement: Maintains linkages with ILAC, IAF, OECD, ISQua, APLAC, PAC, enabling mutual recognition and global acceptance.
- Quality awareness: Leads the National Quality Campaign to empower citizens to demand quality goods and services.
Significance:
- Recent initiatives like Q Mark – Desh ka Haq and Quality Setu shift the system from inspection-heavy regulation to trust-based governance.
- Improves export credibility, especially for MSMEs, by aligning Indian standards with global benchmarks.
