Ram Vilas Paswan calls for boycott of Chinese products

“I have told the officers of my Ministry that no Chinese product will be bought for office use today onwards,” he said.

Expressing concerns over the import of sub-standard Chinese products such as diyas and furniture, Paswan said the government will strictly implement the quality standards framed by BIS.

The BIS, which comes under the Department of Consumer Affairs, has framed over 25,000 quality rules for different products so far, he said.

“When our goods go abroad, they are checked. Our Basmati rice exports get rejected, but when their (China’s) goods come to India, there is no strict quality control,” he said.

The new BIS law, passed in Parliament in 2016, empowers the Centre and the BIS to promote a culture of quality of products and services through mandatory or voluntary compliance with Indian standards.

Earlier in the day, Paswan held a meeting over video conference to review the progress of the implementation of the One Nation, One Ration card scheme in the 14 States and Union Territories yet to enforce it. He asked the officials to complete the rollout of the scheme by end of the year.

The scheme aims to ensure portability of ration cards issued under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

During the meeting, several states and Union Territories, including Andaman and Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland and West Bengal raised the issue of Internet connectivity. Participants from these states said that due to non-availability of Internet connectivity in several parts, they are not able to roll out the scheme. Paswan assured them that he will raise the issue with the issue with Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.