The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 which came into effect on 12 October 2017. The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS. BIS has 500 plus scientific officers working as Certification Officers, Member secretaries of technical committees and lab OIC's.The organisation was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies No. 1 Std.(4)/45, dated 3 September 1946. The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.A new Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22 March 2016, has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017. The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.As a National Standards Body, it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Eastern Region at Kolkata, southern Region at Chennai, Western Region at Mumbai, Northern Region at Chandigarh and Central Region at Delhi and 20 branch offices. It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India.
Traditional systems of medicine remain integral to global healthcare, yet variability in herbal raw materials has long challenged their scientific validation and regulatory acceptance. Differences in environmental conditions, harvesting, processing and formulation techniques significantly influence the herb's phytochemical composition, potency, and therapeutic outcomes. Standardisation is therefore essential to ensure safety, efficacy, reproducibility, and regulatory credibility. In this context, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has developed Indian Standards for medicinal plants and homoeopathic preparations. This article presents an overview of IS 18978:2024, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) for Use in Traditional Medicine—Specification, and IS 19135:2025, Alfalfa Hydro-alcoholic Extract for Use in Homoeopathy—Specification. These standards establish comprehensive benchmarks for botanical identity, pharmacognostic characterisation, physicochemical parameters, chromatographic profiling, phytochemical identification, microbial limits, contaminant control, and regulated preparation of the Alfalfa mother tincture (IS 19135) prepared from Medicago sativa L. (IS 18978). By integrating classical pharmacognostic knowledge with modern analytical, microbiological, and regulatory requirements, the standards provide a structured quality framework for manufacturers, researchers, clinicians, and educators. Collectively, they strengthen the safety, consistency, traceability, and global credibility of Alfalfa-based homoeopathic formulations and serve as a model for future herbal drug standardisation initiatives.
Homoeopathic mother tinctures form the foundation of homoeopathic pharmaceutical preparations, and their quality largely depends on the source material and the method of extraction. Standardisation of these processes of extraction is essential to ensure consistency, safety, therapeutic reliability, and reproducibility of preparations. The recently published Indian Standards IS 19327 (Part 1): 2025 and IS 19327 (Part 2): 2025 provide standardised procedures for the preparation of homoeopathic mother tinctures through maceration and percolation, respectively. This article reviews the salient features of these standards, including apparatus, materials, procedural steps, process modifications, and storage requirements. The standards emphasise the use of suitable extraction equipment, laboratory-scale and industrial-scale practices, controlled environmental conditions, appropriate menstruum composition, and hygienic handling procedures. By establishing uniform procedures for both maceration and percolation, these standards contribute significantly to quality assurance and good manufacturing practices in homoeopathic pharmacy. The adoption of these standards is expected to strengthen pharmaceutical consistency, facilitate regulatory compliance, and support scientific validation and wider acceptance of homoeopathic medicines.
Glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayas, critical freshwater sources formed by glacier retreat, are undergoing rapid transformations due to climate change. Accelerated glacier melting is driving the expansion and formation of these lakes, significantly increasing the frequency and magnitude of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), which pose severe and escalating risks to downstream communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems. This comprehensive review synthesizes current knowledge on the status, dynamics, and distribution of glacial lakes across the Indian Himalayas, encompassing the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra basins. It critically examines the impact of climate change trends on glacier retreat and lake evolution, analyzes GLOF triggers and historical events, and evaluates existing methodologies for GLOF risk assessment used in India, including remote sensing inventories, hazard modeling approaches, and standardized risk indexing criteria such as those developed by the Central Water Commission (CWC), highlighting both advancements and limitations. Furthermore, it examines mitigation strategies, monitoring techniques, and the crucial role and challenges of Early Warning Systems (EWS) as key components of risk management. Key findings indicate widespread lake expansion, an apparent increase in GLOF frequency, significant downstream vulnerability, and persistent gaps in accurately assessing moraine dam stability and quantitative socio-economic vulnerability. The paper concludes that managing the escalating GLOF hazard requires an integrated, multi-faceted approach, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced monitoring networks incorporating field data, validated risk assessments, robust and sustainable EWS implementation, effective inter-agency coordination, community preparedness, and targeted research to fill critical knowledge gaps for effective disaster risk reduction in this dynamic, high-mountain environment.
This concluding chapter synthesizes insights from the volume, highlighting the transformative potential of AI in education alongside the ethical, cultural, and pedagogical challenges it raises. Common themes include balancing standardization with innovation, ensuring fairness for neurodiverse and culturally diverse learners, and fostering responsible AI mindsets. Looking ahead, the chapter outlines priorities for future research on ethical benchmarks, inclusive design, and human–AI collaboration. Policy implications center on aligning global standards and safeguarding learners' rights. International collaboration is emphasized as essential to building a responsible and inclusive AI-learning ecosystem grounded in shared values and collective innovation.
This article aims to describe and critically examine the Indian Standard (IS 18947:2024) for globules used in Homoeopathy, outlining the technical specifications, testing methods, and significance for pharmaceutical quality assurance. The implications of the standard for manufacturers, quality control laboratories, consumers and regulatory bodies engaged in the production and evaluation of homoeopathic drugs are highlighted by presenting a consolidated view of the standard's scope and applications. This discussion underscores the continued importance of systematic standardization in ensuring the safety, consistency, and global credibility of homoeopathic medicinal products produced in India.
