| Biotechnology has been globally recognised as a rapidly emerging and far reaching technology. It is a frontline area of science which plays a key role in the growth and development of a nation. It refers to any technological application that uses biological forms and systems, in a controllable manner, in order to produce new and useful products or processes as well as modify the existing ones. It seeks to provide benefit not only to mankind, but also to other life forms, such as micro-organisms. It also helps to maintain an optimum ecological balance in the environment by reducing harmful hydrocarbons, controlling pollution, etc.
In India, the biotechnology is among the fast growing knowledge based sectors. It has been considered as a powerful enabling technology that can revolutionize agriculture, healthcare, industrial processing and environmental sustainability. Nowadays, it is increasingly being used to develop and design uniquely improved varieties of crops, new pharmaceutical products, plethora of chemicals, cosmetics, fertilizers, growth enhancers, processed foods, health care aids and environment-related substances, etc. Indian biotech segment has been making rapid strides on the global platform. There are large number of therapeutic biotech drugs and vaccines, being currently produced and marketed in the country and helping mankind enormously. The sector registered a revenue of $ 1.07 billion and recorded a 36.55 per cent growth in the year 2005-06.
India has been reorganized as a mega bio-diversity country. The biotechnology offers avenues to convert country's diverse biological resources into economic wealth and employment opportunities. There are several factors that create the impetus for India to develop exceptional capabilities in the realm of biotechnology. They are:- large reservoir of scientific human resource, that is, a strong pool of scientists and engineers; cost effective manufacturing capabilities; number of national research laboratories employing thousands of scientists; centers of academic excellence in biosciences; several medical colleges, educational and training institutes offering degrees and diplomas in biotechnology, bio-informatics and biological sciences; vibrant drugs and pharmaceutical industry; as well as fast developing clinical capabilities.
In India, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is an apex authority for the development of biotechnology sector. It has been set up for the purpose of planning, promoting and coordinating various biotechnological programmes and activities in the country. It is the nodal agency for providing grant-in-aid support to national research laboratories, universities and research foundations for biotechnology related activities in different sectors like health care, agriculture, environment and industry. The main responsibilities of the Department are to:-
- Promote large scale use of biotechnology
- Identify and set up centres of excellence for R&D in biotechnology and related manufacturing fields
- Establishment of infrastructure facilities to support R&D and production
- Act as an agent of the Government for import of new recombinant DNA based biotechnological processes, products and technology
- Evolve bio-safety guidelines for laboratory research, production and applications
- Initiate scientific and technical efforts related to biotechnology
- Develop integrated programmes for human resource development
- Promote international collaborations for expanding knowledge base of biotech sector
- Serve as a nodal agency for collection and dissemination of information relating to biotechnology.
The Department has seven autonomous institutions mandated to work on various aspects of medical, agriculture and industrial biotechnology. These are:-
While, the public sector undertakings in the Department, working for the development of biotech sector, are:-
The Department has been making significant achievements in the growth and application of biotechnology in the broad areas of:- (i) agriculture, in the form of increased agricultural productivity; development of disease, drought and pest resistant varieties; production of high yielding varieties of transgenic organisms (plants and animals); development of hybrid seeds, synthetic/ artificial seeds and genetically engineered crops; improvement in food security by raising crop tolerance to adverse weather and soil conditions; etc. (ii) health care, in the form of manufacturing of safe and cost-effective vaccines; development of bio diagnostic kits to ensure early detection of various diseases; production of various therapeutic proteins; use of DNA fingerprinting; etc. (iii) industry, in the form of preparation of various acids and alcohols; production of vitamins, antibiotics, steroids, number of pharmaceutical drugs and chemicals ; prevention of industrial products from spoilage; etc. (iv) environment and energy, in the form of pollution control; conversion of bio-degradable waste completely into energy like bio-gas fuel; restoration of degraded lands; development of biosensors for detection of pollutants; treatment of industrial effluents; etc.
In order to supplement such efforts and to attract large investments into the biotech sector, the Department has been undertaking several policy initiatives and measures from time to time. The most important being, the announcement of 'National Biotechnology Development Strategy' as a overall policy framework in order to boost the biotech industry. It takes stock of what has been accomplished and provides a set up for future, within which strategies and specific actions need to be taken to promote the sector. This policy aims to chalk out the path of progress in areas such as agriculture and food biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, therapeutic and medical biotechnology, regenerative and genomic medicine, diagnostic biotechnology, bio-engineering, nano-biotechnology, bio-informatics and IT enabled biotechnology, clinical biotechnology, manufacturing and bio-processing, research services, bio-resources, environment and intellectual property law.The main objectives of this policy framework are to:- (i) set out the direction for strengthening India’s academic and industrial biotech research capabilities; (ii) work with business houses, Government and academia to move biotechnology from research to commercialization; (iii) foster India’s overall industrial development; (iv) inform people about the science, applications, benefits and issues of biotechnology; (v) enhance the teaching and workforce training capabilities for the growth of biotech; (vi) establish India as a preeminent international location for biotechnology. In other words, it focuses on issues like human resource development, academic and industry interface, infrastructure development, lab and manufacturing, promotion of industry and trade, biotechnology parks and incubators, regulatory mechanisms, public education and awareness building.
The setting up of biotech parks and biotech incubators centres as well as training and pilot projects in various States and organizations provide an excellent template for promotion of biotech start up companies. Under this, there are schemes of providing financial/logistical support to those young entrepreneurs who are not in a position to incur high capital expenditure in the biotech industry, but have the capabilities to develop, design and perfect new biotech products and processes by utilizing the biotech incubators and pilot level facilities. Some of the existing biotech parks/incubation centres and pilot projects are:-
- Biotech Park at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Biotechnology Incubation Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
- Biotechnology Incubation Centre/Pilot plant facilities at Kerala
- Biotechnology Incubation Centre/Pilot plant facilities at Himachal Pradesh
- Biotechnology Park/ Incubation Centre and Common Instrumentation Facility at Bangalore
'National Bio-Resource Development Board (NBDB)' has been set up under the Department, in order to decide the broad policy framework for effective application of biotechnological and related scientific approaches for research and development as well as sustainable utilization of bioresources, especially for development of new products and processes. The Board seeks to develop a scientific plan of action for contributing to the economic prosperity of the nation through accelerated research and development using the modern tools of biosciences. A National Steering Committee has been constituted to support the activities of the board. NBDB has identified three priority areas, such as:- (i) preparation of digitized inventories of plant, animal, microbial, and marine resources; (b) R&D projects, programme support, establishment of centres of excellence, training activities and demonstrations, for the development of bioresources for special areas such as north-eastern region, Himalayan region, coastal and island ecosystems, desert region, etc; and (c) knowledge empowerment and human resource development. The other important functions of the board are to:-
- Evolve effective ex-situ conservation strategies for bioresources of potential scientific and economic value
- Develop predictive groupings of biological resources through well-established molecular lineages
- Construct gene maps of bioresources that can be used for locating useful genes
- Promote the use of biological software in the management of agricultural pests and pathogens
- Promote value addition to bioresources and strengthen bioinformatics
- Train human resource for the achievement of all such objectives.
International collaborations in biotechnology have been a major strength of the Department, with an increasing number of countries renewing their interest in collaboration with India. These are being pursued as an important vehicle for expanding the knowledge base and developing expertise which would accelerate the pace of growth in R&D in the country. In the recent times, there has been a steady progress in international collaboration in biotechnology resulting in many important research projects, products and technologies. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) have been signed with Denmark and Finland and joint call for proposals have been issued. Joint projects have also been funded with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK. The Department has signed two memoranda with Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada and the National Research Centre, Canada, respectively. New agreements on vision research with NIH, USA and an amendment to the agreement with Contraceptive Research and Development Programme (CONRAD), USA have also been signed. Ongoing bilateral collaborations have been pursued with Germany, Mongolia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK and USA. Bilateral interactions have been initiated with Cyprus, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine and EU. The multilateral collaboration including cooperation amongst SAARC countries have also been pursued.
As a result of all these, India has been emerging as a biotechnology hub on a world map and is being looked upon as a preferred investment destination. Advances in molecular biology and biotechnology has led to an overwhelming impact on the economic well being of the society. The Indian biotechnology sector is gaining global visibility for emerging business opportunities and holds great promise in meeting the needs of the growing population for innovative medicines, higher productivity in agriculture and value addition including nutritional enhancement and protection of environment. However, there are several social concerns that need to be addressed in order to propel the emergence of biotechnology innovation in the country, such as conserving bioresources and ensuring safety of products and processes, etc. Accordingly, both the Government and the private sector have to play an important role in educating and protecting the interests of the masses as well as advancing the benefits of modern biotechnology to them. |
