&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "Consumer Affairs Minister Slams Air Purifier Companies for Making False Claims India News")
Consumer Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi on Monday criticized air purifier manufacturers for making false claims about their products and called for greater consumer awareness ahead of winter when air pollution in Delhi worsens due to the burning of crop stubble. harvests in neighboring states.
Speaking at an event to celebrate World Standards Day, Joshi expressed concern over misleading marketing tactics adopted by some air purifier companies.
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“Discussions about air pollution have already begun. People will buy air purifiers out of fear of seeing the Air Quality Index (AQI) on cell phones. Air purifiers make false claims… We see air purifiers and many things are written but there is nothing on it. There is only one ventilator, but demands are made,” said the minister.
Joshi called for a collaborative approach involving the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the Consumer Affairs Ministry and consumers to resolve the issue.
When praising the BIS for its “extraordinarily wonderful work” in recent years, the minister highlighted that more needs to be done.
“I don’t blame BIS for this. The BIS has done an exceptionally wonderful job in recent years. But BIS, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and consumers, together, need to create awareness. It’s important, and I feel strongly (so),” said the minister against misleading claims about products. It emphasizes collective responsibility in the struggle.
He emphasized the government's commitment to ensuring that every Indian has access to safe, reliable and high-quality products and services.
The comments come as concerns grow over air quality in India's major cities and the expansion of the air purifier market.
Joshi also announced plans to make BIS standards mandatory for public procurement on the government's e-marketplace (GeM) portal. “BIS standards are partially implemented in GeM. We will try to make them mandatory.”
The minister highlighted the government's focus on quality, noting that the Cabinet proposal now includes the Global Standards Note.
“Nowadays, the tradition started in the Union Cabinet. Whenever a bill in Parliament reaches the Cabinet, the Global Standard score arrives. It has become mandatory for the Cabinet,” he said.
This note mentions which countries perform best in specific areas and standards and how India can achieve this. “Therefore, we have to adapt each cabinet note to global standards. This helps our government decide to set high standards, be it quality infrastructure or urban metro trains.”
The government has given top priority to implementing standards at the national level and is actively putting more products under mandatory quality control, he said.
He said more than 22,300 standards are currently in force, 94 percent of which comply with international standards. The number of quality control requests increased from 14 (covering 106 products) in 2014 to 174 (covering 732 products).
Furthermore, 94% of Indian standards comply with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
Joshi emphasizes the interdependence between consumers and producers to build a quality ecosystem. He urged the BIS to take a greater leadership role in international standardization and accelerate the development of new standards.
World Standards Day, celebrated every year on October 14, aims to raise awareness about standards and their role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
(Only the title and image for this report may have been reworked by the Business Standards team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a distributed feed.)
