The Narendra Modi government’s focus on developing scientific institutions and nurturing scientific temperament in the country has seen the country’s bio-economy grow 13-fold in a decade from $10 billion in 2014 to over $130 billion in 2024, with the nation now being rated among the top 12 bio-manufacturers in the world.
Announcing the GenomeIndia Flagship Programme of 10,000 Genome Sequencing in New Delhi, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said the bio-economy and space economy are going to spearhead India’s future growth story, with the country’s economic growth already being the highest in the world today at more than 6%.
He described 10,000 genome sequencing as a watershed moment for India, as it will lead to genetics based remedies, besides giving a big boost to the public healthcare system. “There is a pressing need for finding Indian solutions to Indian problems as we emerge as a frontline nation in the comity of scientifically advanced countries,” said Dr Singh.
The minister said there are several success stories which have made tremendous contribution to India’s bio-economy like Mission COVID Suraksha, Indian Biological Data Centre which is the first repository of life sciences data established in the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad and Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG).
In the interim budget of 2024-25, he said, the Union government has announced new scheme of Bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry to be implemented by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), for promoting green growth and the new programme will provide environment friendly alternatives such as biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-agri-inputs. This scheme will also help in transforming today’s consumptive manufacturing paradigm to the one based on regenerative principles, he added.
Referring to Prime Minister Modi conducting a thorough review of the progress made in the Gaganyaan Mission and conferring astronaut wings upon 4 astronauts, Dr Singh said, like bio-economy, India’s Space Economy is also opening up new vistas.
Dr Singh said, the current size of the Indian Space Economy is estimated around $8.4 billion (around 2-3% of global space economy) and it is expected that with the implementation of the Indian Space Policy 2023, $44 billion Indian space economy can be achieved by the year 2033.
Referring to the GenomeIndia project, Dr Jitendra Singh described this as a watershed moment for India, as it will lead to genetic based remedies, besides giving a big boost to the public healthcare system in the country.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Genome study or sequencing is going to determine the future healthcare strategies across the world, both therapeutically and prophylactically. He said, there is a pressing need for finding Indian solutions to Indian problems as India emerges as a frontline nation in the comity of scientifically advanced countries.
Dr Singh lauded DBT for the ambitious goal to identify and catalogue the genetic variations of diverse Indian populations by sequencing the whole genome of 10,000 healthy individuals from 99 communities, representing all major linguistic and social groups, across the country.
The minister said, India’s population of 1.3 billion is made up of over 4,600 diverse population groups, many of which are endogamous (Matrimony in Close Ethnic Groups) and these groups have unique genetic variations and disease-causing mutations that cannot be compared to other west world populations. Hence the need of the hour was to create a database of Indian reference genome, for gaining insights about these unique genetic variants and use the information to create personalized drugs for the Indian population, he added.
