DBT’S(DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY) BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS IN NORTH EAST INDIA

What is  Biotechnology: Use of living systems and organisms to develop useful products. Ex. Brewing i.e. production of beer (one of the early application of biotechnology).

Some major area of application:

a)      Healthcare (eg. Pharmaceutical drug discovery)

b)      Crop production and agriculture(eg. Genetically modified crop )

c)       Industrial use of crop (eg. Vegetable oil, biofuel )

Various terms related to Biotechnology:

• Bioinformatics:- address biological problems using computational techniques and make the    process of biological analysis fast.
• Blue biotechnology:-  use to describe the marine and aquatics applications of biotechnology.
• Green biotechnology:- Describe the agricultural use of  biotechnology.
• Red biotechnology:- describe the medical use of biotechnology.
• White biotechnology:- describe the industrial use of biotechnology.

Issues related to biotechnology: There are various issues related to biotechnology.

• Cost:  Biotechnology products cost are relatively high because they require high investment for initial research. There may be high risk of failure, which further increase its cost.
• Ethics: debates over the ethics of biotechnology are raising. Ethics related concern include cloning and genetic modification of organisms.
• Laws: there are very few laws there address biotechnology  practices.
• Uncertainty: the biggest issue with biotechnology is the uncertainty in its long term effects. Their immediate advantages are clear ,but their long term effect is still hide because most of the research have been done since mid 1990s. for example biotechnology developed genetically modified crops which solved the problem of hunger, increase the plants resistance to disease but still it is not clear that the same GM crops is safe to human health.

So what we need is REGULATION , currently bioengineered plants food fall under the jurisdiction of three agencies, the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of Agriculture and the Environmental  Protection agency.

• The US Food and Drug Administration determine whether  the new plant variety will adversely affect the environment.
• The Environmental  Protection agency regulates pesticides and  determine tolerance level in human and animal.
• The US Department of Agriculture determine the safety of genetically modified plants.

But still there is a problem , the problem is that the companies are asked to voluntarily submit their test results, it is not compulsory. There is no way to check whether the companies that have developed  genetically modified products, is providing correct information or not.

So it must be compulsory to submit test results and there must be a separate agency whose task is to check whether the company are providing correct result or not. In case of any violation, appropriate action should be taken.

 North East Region (NER) of India: [Consist of Seven sister state -Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland  and Himalayan state of Sikkim]

•  8% of the total geographical area of the Indian subcontinent but  50% of the floristic wealth of the country.
•  house of exceptional natural beauty, floral and faunal biodiversity and abundant mineral, water and forests resources.
•  ideal climatic conditions for agriculture, plantations and sericulture(i.e. silk farming).

Reason for rich biodiversity:  High rainfall and plenty of sunlight coupled with unique bio-geographical positioning.

Because Of This(Rich Biodiversity) NER(North East Region) Provide Unique Opportunity For Biotechnology Based Interventions For Overall Development Of The Region.

Started In the year 2009-10:- DBT had set up a North Eastern Region-Biotechnology Programme Management Cell (NER-BPMC) throughBiotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) for coordination and monitoring of biotechnology programme in the North Eastern States of India.

Then NER-BPMC has initiated FIVE biotechnology programme in the North Eastern States of India(since DBT has setup NER-BPMC, so ultimately this programmes are running by DBT) as follows:-

 1. INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY/PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:-Mainly focused on programme that lead to product development In order to ensure economic development of NER. Example includes:-

• Biotechnology Led Organic Farming in the NER
• Twinning Programme(joint venture, between two or more institutes, where one of the institute is from North East India. )
• A value chain on Jackfruit and its value added products .
• Value chain development in Citrus.

2. CAPACITY BUILDING:- Some initiatives were taken towards building capacities of the institutions in NER by supporting infrastructure facilities, high speed internet bandwidth, high end IT equipment, access to high impact e-journals, etc. some of the projects implemented are:-

• North Eastern Bioinformatics Network
• Online human resource repository of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics resources of North East India (BABRONE)
• Development of Digital Database of Bioresources of NE(North East) India
• The Establishment of Biotech
• DBT’s e-Library Consortia (NER-DeLCON)

3.INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT:-Since the infrastructure is the key of growth, Following programme has been initiated to support & create infrastructure facilities.

• DBT Nodal Centre, Tezpur
• Development of Infrastructural Facilities of National Research Centre on Yak
• Creation of infrastructure facility of labs at NEIGRIHMS, Shillong

     4.HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT:- In order to develop human resource, following activities has been initiated.

• Overseas Fellowship/Associateship for NER scientists
• Award of Biotechnology National Associateship to Scientists working in North Eastern States .
• Entrepreneurship Development in NER
• MD/MD Thesis Grants
• Star College Scheme
• Training program on utilization of biopesticides and biofertilizers in NE states .

5. SETTING UP OF CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE: For strengthening agro-biotechnology research in NER, DBT has been set up Center of Excellence at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat

• The major focus of the centre will be

a). Basic research-Gene technology, molecular breeding and microbial gene prospecting

b). HRD component with strong Ph.D. programme and

c). Extending technology benefits through enhanced production of bio inputs etc

Recently The DBT has decided to spend 10% of its total budget (148.50 crores) for the year 2013-14 to promote biotechnology activities in the North Eastern Region of India.

Practice questions-

Expected question for prelims :

1)Term                                                               Related to

A) Blue biotechnology                                   1) medical  use

B) Green biotechnology                                 2) agricultural use

C) Red biotechnology                                     3) industrial use

D) White biotechnology                                  4) marine use

Which of the following is correct:

a)      A- 4   B-2  C- 1  D-3

b)      A- 4   B-1  C-3   D-2

c)       A- 3   B- 2 C-1  D-4

d)      A-2    B- 4 C-3  D-1

(CORRECT ANSWER IS a)

Expected Question for mains:

1)      What is biotechnology? Write down its major area of application.(50 words)

2)      What are various issues related to biotechnology. What steps has been taken to tackle these issues. (200 words)

3)      Explain the rich biodiversity of North East India. What are the factor behind it.(100 words)

4)      “Department of Biotechnology(DBT) has recently focused on rich biodiversity of NE Regions of India.” What was the reason behind this? Also write down some steps taken by DBT in this regard. (200 words)