ADDRESS
OF PROF. K.V. THOMAS, HON’BLE MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD
AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION AT THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF THE NATIONAL TEST
HOUSE, KOLKATA, ON SATURDAY, THE 1ST DECEMBER, 2012 AT KOLKATA:
Respected Rashtrapati Shri Pranab
Mukherjee ji, Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal Shri M.K. Narayanan, Shri Sadhan
Pandey, Minister-in-Charge, Consumer Affairs Department, Government of West
Bengal, Shri Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Prof.
Bikaram Sinha, distinguished Scientist, Dr. Bijendra Kumar Sharma, Director
General, NTH, Scientists and the senior officials and dear employees of the
National Test House, friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen:
2. On this historic occasion of the
Centenary Celebration of National Test House, Kolkata, Department of Consumer
Affairs, it is a matter of rare privilege for us that we have amongst us
Respected Rashtrapati ji, who has kindly agreed to grace the occasion. I convey
my sincere gratitude on behalf of Department of Consumer Affairs and the NTH to
Respected Rashtrapati ji for sparing his valuable time to be with us today. I am also grateful to the Hon’ble Governor, West
Bengal, Shri. M.K. Narayanan, Prof. Sinha and other dignitaries for their
gracious presence here.
3. The National Test House, the premiere
scientific institution of our country was established in the year 1912 at
Alipore, Kolkata by the then Indian Railway Board to ensure quality of the
engineering products manufactured by nascent Indian industries and imported
products brought in for utilisation in railway. From its very inception, the NTH
has been pursuing research and development on test methodologies and
up-gradation of quality of products to assist blooming Indian Industries.
Eminent Scientists across the country, most of them sons of this soil, took
special interest in NTH as a centre for scientific research in our country in
those pre-independence days. As we
celebrate the 100th year of the National Test House, I could not but
only recall with pride the grateful acknowledgement by Sir C.V. Raman, in his
Noble Prize acceptance speech, of the effective role played by the NTH in no
small measure in exploration of his research work that led him getting the
Noble Prize in 1930.
4. It is worthwhile noting here that two of the
present day scientific organizations, which have earned a name for themselves, the
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research originated (CSIR) had their origin in the Alipore Campus of the National
Test House. To serve the
long-felt needs of the Indian industry which is growing at a fast pace, the NTH
now has added six regional laboratories in its network spread across the
country, well equipped with advance technological microprocessor-based
instruments which generate authentic and reproducible test results for ensuring
quality of engineering products. They
render scientific services to industries, Government Departments, PSUs, and
other organizations and give expert opinions, as third party reference
laboratories, to the Judiciary, custodians of law and vigilance departments of various
Governments and the PSUs.
5. The NTH has extended its
services in the area of Test, Quality Evaluation and Calibration to our neighboring
countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and imparted training
on testing methodologies to the professionals from the SAARC countries. It supports Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) in up-gradation of Indian National
Standards through representation of NTH Scientists on several Technical
Committees of the BIS. The NTH Scientists have also rendered their valuable
services for up-gradation of quality system of the country through National Accreditation Board of Test &
Calibration Laboratories.
6. Of late, the import of standardization
has been realised with added vigour in meeting the needs of consumer, trade and
industry and above all in promoting the cause of innovation and sustainable
development, especially in having a sound indigenous engineering manufacturing
base. It cuts cost a nation spends on
import of engineering products required for its industrial development; it
brings in revenue through export of engineering products recognised for their
quality and affordability, the evolution of quality improvement of products
gives birth to new innovations, ingenuity and improved confidence in our
capabilities in manufacturing engineering goods – leading us to be
self-sufficient in this important area of economic activity. The future of Indian
engineering capabilities looks promising, especially in areas such as power,
infrastructure and manufacturing. Increased international competition also pushes
Indian players to develop their capabilities to be competitive enough
to produce engineering products that are of quality with strong technical base. Understanding the hidden
potential of Indian players, internationally well-established companies prefer
India as a favoured destination for outsourcing of their business activities in
area of engineering product designs, manufacturing systems, etc.
7. These are newer issues which pose new
challenges before the NTH. The NTH must
ponder where it stands today in its preparedness in helping the Indian industry
face challenges of today in areas like indigenous product development, quality
testing and national and international level standardization. We need to have more and more agility in the
methods and techniques in assessing the quality of engineering products that
come under our scanner. Your stamp of
approval on an engineering tool must have international appreciation and
recognition. The NTH must keep it abreast
of latest quality assessment techniques; the NTH must constantly endeavour to
modernize its activities – its laboratories must be on par with the best in the
world of quality assessment, its staff and scientists trained well enough to be
superior in their output through latest test methodologies under different
technological areas.
8. I
am also happy to know that the NTH is gearing up to face these challenges and
is proposing to expand its activities by covering new products and new areas,
such as solar-energy equipment, by setting up massive testing facilities in
various parts of the country for testing LED and Solar equipment. The efforts of the NTH in advance technology
areas such as non-destructive testing of structures like building, bridges,
etc. and testing of tyres, microchip-based plastic cards, etc. are innovative
ideas in pace with developments taking place in such areas of economic
development, and hence are welcome.
These efforts, I am sure, will help the NTH earn more revenue and become
self-sufficient in resources.
9. I am very proud that NTH has performed
extremely well during the 11th Five Year Plan Period and met the
target set. The adoption of strengthening and modernization of test procedure
and technique has helped NTH to increase its revenue generation enormously in
comparison to that of 10th Five Year Plan period. The statistics
shows that while during the 10th Plan period, NTH was able to garner
revenue to the tune of Rs. 17.61 crore,
it has increased its revenue generation by three times to Rs. 52.59 crore
during the 11th Five Year plan.
10. In the globalized economy, where
competitiveness is at its peak, the weak wither away. Quality and standard of products have become
bywords which decide the fate of a nation’s economy. As someone has aptly said, “Quality
is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.” I
hope that in coming years, the National Test House will emerge as a Centre of
Excellence in encouraging such intelligent efforts in test engineering and
become notable for its presence not only in our country but also in the entire
continent bringing laurels and revenue to our motherland. Before concluding, I once again thank Hon’ble
Rashtrapati ji and other dignitaries for their kind presence at this historic
function, and congratulate the officials and the employees of the National Test
House on their achievement, and believe that we will continue to touch new
heights in the area of testing quality of engineering in the years to come.
JAI HIND!
