Bioeconomy, Space economy to spearhead India’s growth story: Dr Jitendra
STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said, Bio-Economy and Space Economy are going to spearhead India’s future growth story, with India’s economic growth already being highest in the world today at more than 6 per cent.
Announcing the Genome India Flagship Programme of 10,000 Genome Sequencing , Dr Jitendra said, ever since this government took over under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s bio-economy has grown 13 fold in the last 10 years from $10 billion in 2014 to over $130 billion in 2024.
He added that the Biotechnology Sector has seen a rapid growth in the last 10 years and India is now being rated among top 12 bio-manufacturers in the world.
Dr Jitendra 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).
The Minister said, in the interim budget of 2024-25, Govt 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.
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.
Coming back to the GenomeIndia Project, Dr Jitendra 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 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.
