MANU/PIBU/1187/2017

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 20.09.2017

DBT announces three High-investment, High Outcome Thrusts for the North East Region Bio-technology in the NER

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science & Technology, has taken many steps to brings about a paradigm shift in biotechnology in the country's North-East Region (NER). Eyeing an inclusive growth, DBT has announced a series of new programs and missions to turn this into a reality. DBT has established a dedicated 'North Eastern Region Biotechnology Programme Management Cell (NER-BPMC)', with an annual investment of Rs. 180 crores, to evolve, implement and foster biotechnology research in the north east states.

On the occasion of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Birth Centenary, the Minister of S&T, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan announced three major new initiatives for the North East. These new initiatives are in congruence to the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's philosophy of "Integral Humanism" which is a synthesis of the material and the spiritual, the individual and the collective, which the world is now calling as "One Health" embodying the health of human, animal and environment as one.

The Minister said that DBT has committed to dedicate each year, at least 10% of the budget for the North-East. This year at least Rs.200 crores is expected to be spent for North-East Programmes. The Minister informed that as a result of the programmes, North East has become a major hub of biotechnology at the foundational level. The biotech programmes are of the highest quality, the institutions have state-of-the-art facilities and there has now been an impact on innovation and entrepreneurship because of excellent human resources programmes.

I. Phyto-Pharma Plant Mission: This is a Rs 50 crore Mission aimed at conservation and cultivation of endangered and threatened endemic medicinal plants, and discovery of new botanical drugs for unmet medical needs using the rich traditional ethno-botanical knowledge and biodiversity of these states and at the same time also improve availability of authentic and quality botanical raw material on sustainable basis for a boom in the phyto-pharmaceutical industry. Through this Mission, it is expected to enable farmers from NE states and phyto-pharmaceutical industry to become global leaders in production and export of some quality botanical drugs for unmet medical needs. For this Mission, DBT will be the nodal coordinating and implementing department and work closely with Ministry of DONER and other identified institutions.

DBT has announced launch of the Phyto-pharmaceutical Mission in NER with three major objectives:

(i) Captive cultivation of selected medicinal plants of NER, which have great demand to ensure supply of authentic and quality botanical raw material to the user industries in the country.