“Reddy” remedies

Satwant Reddy committee: Report of the committee on the pesticide residue in packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water, March 25, 2003

• Setting standards

• BIS should have a core group of scientists from various fields to keep track of recent scientific and technical developments in critical areas.

• For the sake of transparency, the constitution of the various committees, panels or such bodies involved in standards formulation should be on the web. • It is sometimes stated that vested interests, particularly big industry, influence BIS’ activity. This criticism emanates from the fact that standard formulation is a voluntary activity and BIS does not pay anything for participation in meetings of the technical committees. At times the participation of scientific organisations and consumer organisations remains on paper, while industry participates more actively.

Implementing standards

• Enforcement of BIS Act is weak. Search and seizure operations are carried out on the basis of specific complaints. Prosecution does not reach its logical conclusion for several years.

• BIS should review its internal resources before accepting further responsibility. But once it accepts the responsibility, it must discharge it faithfully and not cite lack of human resources as justification for non-adherence to norms.

• BIS must revitalise its core competencies. Existing procedures, formulated several years ago, are shrouded in secrecy and confidentiality. These may be reviewed by expert groups, to achieve maximum transparency.

Pesticide policy

• Need to review permissible limits of contaminants in other food products under PFA. This may also lead to a wider discussion regarding permissible levels of use of pesticides and fertilisers for agriculture and horticulture.

Drinking water policy

• In developed countries all water for human consumption — publicly distributed or privately sold — conforms to a single standard: the one for drinking water. In India these standards are now limited to bottled water. Why? It is time that consumers demand pollution-free drinking water and the municipal machinery gears itself up to meet this rightly demand.

Groundwater policy

• A water recharging system should be made mandatory for the bottled water industry. Before licence renewal, a noobjection certificate should be obtained from concerned monitoring agencies. There should be some guidelines regarding selection of a site where a bottled water plant is to be installed, to ensure that it is free from pollution. Disposal of waste from water purification plants needs to be monitored.