Manak Mahotsav 2025: Building Trust Through Standards
See How Manak Mahotsav 2025 is Enhancing Consumer Safety And Trust
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Ahmedabad, celebrated its annual Manak Mahotsav to mark World Standards Day 2025. This special day honours the work of thousands of experts across the world who create and implement technical standards. These standards make sure products and systems are safe, reliable, and of good quality.
To make the Manak Mahotsav more meaningful, BIS Ahmedabad planned a series of activities throughout the first half of October. These included a quality run and walk, awareness programmes for consumers and jewellers, a standards carnival, stakeholder meetings, Standard Club activities, and outreach in Residential Welfare Associations.
The theme this year was “Shared vision for a better world – Partnerships for the Goals.” It focused on how working together can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. This connects closely with SDG 17, which promotes partnerships between governments, industries, and communities to reach shared global goals. BIS is also including more sustainability elements in Indian standards, covering areas like clean energy and emission control.
On 14 October 2025, BIS Ahmedabad held the main part of the Manak Mahotsav event in Gandhinagar on the same theme. More than 200 people took part, including government officials, industry leaders, NGOs, jewellers, academics, and students from Standards Clubs. At the national level, India now has more than 22,000 active standards. Nearly all of these are in line with international ISO and IEC standards. The number of new standards has more than doubled in the past decade, and many more products now require mandatory certification to ensure quality and safety.
The Ahmedabad event saw the presence of several important guests, including Shri Ashok Sharma, IAS, PS to the Governor of Gujarat; Shri Sudhanshu Jangir, CEO of Doctor Skill and founder of the Indian Institute of Sustainability; Shri S. P. Singh, Director General of Kaushalya University; Shri P. K. Jha, Executive Director of NSIC; and Dr. Bhavesh Modi, Director and Scientist at ICMR-NIOH. Director and Head Shri Sumit Sengar welcomed everyone and highlighted the activities carried out during the celebrations.
He spoke about how standards play a vital role in daily life and stressed India’s focus on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. He also reminded everyone of India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047 and how BIS will play a big role in achieving this.
Shri Ishan Trivedi, Joint Director of BIS Ahmedabad, shared the World Standards Day message from ISO and IEC. Guest speakers, including Sudhanshu Jangir, P. K. Jha, S. P. Singh, Ashok Sharma, Anindita Mehta of CERC, and Prof. Prateek Maheshwari from IIFT, praised BIS for its efforts to strengthen the national quality ecosystem. They also highlighted BIS’s role in supporting the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat by promoting local manufacturing and high standards. Nationally, BIS also launched the National Lighting Code of India 2025 and new digital tools to make the standards process more transparent and accessible.
A felicitation ceremony was held to honour key stakeholders who have supported BIS’s mission. The session ended with a question-and-answer segment followed by a vote of thanks by Shri Vipin Bhaskar, Joint Director of BIS Ahmedabad.
On 13 October 2025, Gujarat Technological University joined hands with BIS Ahmedabad to host a grand Manak Mahotsav event for students. Different student chapters came together to present creative performances and promote quality. After the cultural programme, students took part in the Swadeshi Gunvatta Yatra, a march that celebrated Indian-made products and self-reliance. This is part of BIS’s wider effort to build awareness about standards among the youth through initiatives like BIS Corners and student chapters in colleges.
On 12 October 2025, a Quality Walkathon took place at Sabarmati River Front. Students, working professionals, and citizens from various fields joined with enthusiasm. It began with a mass Quality Pledge to promote a culture of quality in everyday life. Zumba and patriotic performances added colour and energy to the event.
Participants then marched with banners and slogans promoting product quality, standards, and consumer safety as part of building a stronger and self-reliant India. Similar walkathons and public events were held by BIS in other cities during World Standards Day to engage the general public.
On 11 October 2025, BIS Ahmedabad held a Manak Mahotsav event in Anand with over 100 participants from government, industry, and education. Dr. J. B. Prajapati, Chairman of the Indian Dairy Association (West Zone), gave the presidential address and spoke about the role of quality standards in national development. Experts from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology and BIS officers led technical sessions.
Stakeholders who had made key contributions were also felicitated. In industries like dairy and food processing, strong standards help improve safety, traceability, and fair trade.
On 10 October 2025, BIS partnered with the Government of Gujarat to hold a major conference at the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference in Ganpat University, Mehsana. The theme was “Swadeshi and Quality Excellence towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat.” The event was attended by Cabinet Minister Balvant Singh Rajput, Member of Parliament Hari Patel, and Gujarat Technological University Vice Chancellor Rajul Gajjar.
At this conference, they launched a new course on Standardisation and Quality Ecosystem in partnership with GTU. This shows how BIS is working with educational institutions to make quality a core part of academic learning. The same day, over 1,000 students joined the Swadeshi Gunvatta Yatra in North Gujarat. The yatra was flagged off by government officials and highlighted the importance of supporting Indian products that meet strong quality standards.
Many industries associated with BIS also organised their own programmes during Manak Mahotsav. These events underline that standards are not just the responsibility of one organisation but involve everyone in the supply chain. In recent years, BIS has brought more products under certification through new regulations. Machinery, electrical goods, and footwear are some of the areas where stricter quality checks have been introduced to protect consumers and support fair competition.
The Manak Mahotsav celebrations in Ahmedabad show how BIS is engaging students, industries, communities, and the government together. By linking standards with sustainability, education, and national goals like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, BIS is building a strong foundation for India’s quality journey in the years ahead.
