Science & Technology Quiz: Quality Standards and Certification Marks: ISI, Agmark and Hallmark

The correct answer is B, the Bureau of Indian Standards. The Bureau is India’s National Standards Body and it grants the ISI mark to manufactured goods that conform to the relevant Indian Standard. The initials ISI survive from the Indian Standards Institution of 1947, whose work the Bureau took over when it came into being on 1 April 1987, which is why the mark and the body have different names. Option A is wrong because the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India deals with food, where the mark is a fourteen-digit licence number and the vegetarian or non-vegetarian symbol, not an ISI mark. Option C is wrong because the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection administers Agmark for agricultural produce. Option D is wrong because the Bureau of Energy Efficiency gives the star rating that shows how much electricity an appliance uses.

The correct answer is B, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The Bureau works under the Department of Consumer Affairs in that Ministry, and the Union Minister in charge is the President of the Bureau, because standards and certification exist to protect the consumer. Option A is wrong because the Ministry of Commerce and Industry handles trade, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and intellectual property, not standardisation. Option C is wrong because the Ministry of Science and Technology runs research councils such as the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises promotes small industry; it may help a unit obtain certification, but it neither sets standards nor awards the ISI mark.

The correct answer is C, agricultural and allied produce. Agmark is a grade mark given under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 to produce such as edible oils, ghee, butter, honey, spices, pulses, wheat flour, besan and eggs, and it is administered by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The name is a contraction of agricultural marketing. Option A is wrong because electrical appliances carry the ISI mark and the BEE star rating. Option B is wrong because gold and silver carry the hallmark of the Bureau of Indian Standards, which certifies purity and not grade. Option D is wrong because handloom cloth carries the Handloom Mark launched in 2006, while pure silk carries the Silk Mark of the Silk Mark Organisation of India.

The correct answer is C, 916. Fineness is the carat value divided by 24 and multiplied by one thousand, so 22 divided by 24 gives 0.916 and the article is marked 22K916, meaning 91.6 per cent gold. This is the usual grade for Indian jewellery because pure gold is too soft to hold a setting. Option A is wrong because 750 is the mark for 18 carat gold, which is 75 per cent gold. Option B is wrong because 833 corresponds to 20 carat gold, at 83.3 per cent. Option D is wrong because 999 is the mark for 24 carat, that is pure gold, which is sold as coins and bars rather than jewellery. Learn the ladder 999, 958, 916, 833, 750 and 585 against 24, 23, 22, 20, 18 and 14 carat, because papers ask it in either direction.

The correct answer is A, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Authority was created by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, was established in 2008 and works under that Ministry with its headquarters at New Delhi, because food safety is treated as a public health matter. Option B is wrong because the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare runs Agmark grading through the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, which concerns the grade of produce, not its safety. Option C is wrong because the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution handles the Bureau of Indian Standards and the public distribution system. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Food Processing Industries promotes the processing industry through schemes and parks, and the regulator remains the Authority under the Health Ministry.

The correct answer is B, an earthen pitcher. The Eco Mark scheme was notified in 1991 for consumer products that cause the least harm to the environment over their life, and the earthen pitcher was chosen as the symbol because it is made from a renewable material, is produced without generating waste, uses little energy and is wholly biodegradable when broken. The criteria for each product category are framed with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the mark itself is awarded by the Bureau of Indian Standards along with the ISI mark. Options A, C and D are wrong because no such symbol was adopted for the scheme; a leaf, a river and a peacock feather are generic images of nature used in various logos, and candidates pick them by guesswork. The pitcher is the single fact to remember here.

The correct answer is A, the Central Silk Board. The Silk Mark is issued by the Silk Mark Organisation of India, launched in 2004, which is a society set up by the Central Silk Board under the Ministry of Textiles; the Board itself was constituted in 1949 and has its headquarters at Bengaluru. The mark is a swing tag or label assuring the buyer that the fabric is pure natural silk and not a blend or an artificial imitation. Option B is wrong because the Bureau of Indian Standards issues the ISI mark, the hallmark and the Eco Mark but not the Silk Mark. Option C is wrong because the Textiles Committee tests and inspects textiles for export quality, a separate function. Option D is wrong because the Khadi and Village Industries Commission certifies khadi and village industry products, which is a different mark altogether.

The correct answer is B, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency was set up on 1 March 2002 under that Act and works under the Ministry of Power; its Standards and Labelling programme gives appliances a rating from one star to five stars, where more stars mean less electricity consumed for the same service. Option A is wrong because the Electricity Act, 2003 governs generation, transmission, distribution and trading of electricity and created the regulatory commissions. Option C is wrong because the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is the umbrella environmental law under which pollution standards and the Eco Mark criteria are notified. Option D is wrong because the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 governs the standards body that gives the ISI mark and the hallmark, a different Bureau with a different Ministry.

The correct answer is B, 14 October. World Standards Day is observed on 14 October to mark the day in 1946 on which delegates from twenty-five countries met in London and agreed to create an international standards organisation, which became the International Organization for Standardization, founded in 1947 with its headquarters at Geneva. Option A is wrong because 15 March is World Consumer Rights Day. Option C is wrong because 24 December is National Consumer Rights Day in India, the day on which the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 received the President’s assent. Option D is wrong because 1 April is the date on which the Bureau of Indian Standards came into being in 1987, a fact worth knowing but not an observance day. These four dates are often mixed in a single matching question, so learn them as a set.

The correct answer is B, Nagpur. The Central Agmark Laboratory at Nagpur is the apex laboratory for the Agmark scheme; it analyses samples, settles disputed results and keeps the standard methods, while regional Agmark laboratories do routine testing elsewhere in the country. Option A is wrong, and it is the trap here, because Faridabad is the headquarters of the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, the office that administers Agmark; the headquarters and the laboratory are at different places. Option C is wrong because Pune has the National Film Archive of India and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, not the Agmark laboratory. Option D is wrong because Lucknow has the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research and the National Botanical Research Institute, which do other work. Remember the pair: Directorate at Faridabad, laboratory at Nagpur.

The correct answer is B, non-vegetarian food. Under the food labelling rules a non-vegetarian article must carry a brown filled triangle within a brown square outline, while a vegetarian article carries a green filled circle within a green square outline. The symbol must appear in contrast to the background and close to the brand name, along with the fourteen-digit FSSAI licence or registration number. Option A is wrong because the vegetarian symbol is a green circle, not a brown triangle, and candidates lose the mark by swapping the shapes. Option C is wrong because organic food is certified separately under the Jaivik Bharat identity and the India Organic mark, which is a different label. Option D is wrong because added preservatives, colours and flavours are declared in the ingredient list in words and not through this symbol.