Quality Council of India

The Quality Council of India (QCI) is a national body established for raising the quality and standards related to every aspect of life for the overall development of the nation. This works as a quality infrastructure, maintaining the quality of Indian goods and services and leading them easily to the foreign markets. The Quality Council of India was formed in 1997 as a public-private partnership model working towards assuring quality standards throughout all the social and economic spheres of the country.

While appearing for the UPSC exam, a common question that you will come across is the Quality Council of India under which ministry. The QCI is under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is a non-profit autonomous body registered under the 1860 Societies Registration Act XXI. With its headquarters located in New Delhi, India, the current chairman of the QCI is Adil Zainulbhai.

As a part of the UPSC Syllabus, the details of the QCI are of much importance. Read through the below article to score high.

Role of Quality Council of India

The role of the Quality Control Council of India is establishing and operating a structure for national accreditation while promoting quality by the National Quality campaign. The QCI functions with their own set of resources as well as through the fees obtained from accreditations and quality promotion investments. When it comes to quality eco-system across the world, QCI is the National Accreditation Body (NAB). It creates a mechanism in which processes, products and services are subjected to a third-party assessment.

History of the Quality Council of India

India required an accreditation body for the assessment of standard quality with global acceptance. This led to the formation of a committee including the relevant ministries, the industry stakeholders, and the governing bodies in the year 1992.

The committee came up with the agenda of proposing recommendations for the formation of an industry body abiding by the concept. The overseeing of the process was done by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The final recommendations were sent to the Union Council of Ministers in the year 1996. This eventually led to the formation of the QCI in 1997.

The recommendations stated below are of much importance for the UPSC Prelims:

• The requirement for setting up an organisation set to be run jointly by the government of India and the relevant industries
• The requirement for making the organisation self-sustaining

These recommendations later got accepted by the Cabinet Committee. That eventually led to the Quality Council of India being approved and registered as a new autonomous body. It was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

Swachh Bharat Mission

The Ministry of Urban Development commissioned the Quality Council of India to conduct an extensive survey for measuring the overall success of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The hygiene rankings for a total of 73 cities were released by the Quality Council of India under the Swachh Survekshan 2016.

Quality Council of India Membership

As per the Quality Council of India UPSC Syllabus, the membership criteria for the same are an important aspect for the students to go through. Any organisation or person with the motive of becoming a QCI member can duly complete the QCI membership application form and submit the same with applicable annual fees. The membership must be renewed every year. The rights for the membership are reserved by the QCI in whatsoever case. A “Professional Membership Scheme’’ is operated by the QCI so that the applicants get a platform for becoming a part of the National Quality Movement.

The details of the membership will be of immense significance in the IAS Exam. You are required to study the same carefully.