It was the height of summer in July 1996. Just to beat the relentless sun’s rays on the eastern coastline, off Bhubaneswar, a group of science writers from across the country were visiting some experimental fishing plots early in the morning itself. An enthusiastic woman scientist was explaining the nuances of the technology breakthroughs that have been helping to increase the fish yield significantly. 

She was no ordinary scientist. Dr Manju Sharma was India’s top policy maker in biotechnology, as secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). And she still is. An army of scientists was at hand to brief the media team. But Dr Sharma, a well-known scientist herself, could not control the enthusiasm and explained every minute development made at the few hundred acres plots for most of the day.

Cut to early 1990s. It was late evening. Hundreds of farmers had assembled at a makeshift pandal in a village about 50 km from the southern Tamil Nadu town of Coimbatore. Dr S Ramachandran, the then DBT secretary was at the mike advising farmers the advantages of using integrated pest management (IPM). The vice chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore was at hand to translate part of the speech into Tamil, particularly the technical terms. And later, as the members of the media team covering the three-day whirlwind visits to IPM project sites in the dusty plains of Tamil Nadu, checked into a hotel for the night stay, Dr Ramachandran would not join them. He will stay at the agriculture university’s modest guesthouse, as is the norm for senior government officials. No luxury of a comfortable hotel room.

Two different chief . But the message is the same. Technocrats, ever ready to be at the frontline, making sure that the technologies developed at the government-funded laboratories were fruitfully employed in the land. 
The DBT secretary is one of the 75-odd secretary-level officials running the Government of India’s vast set up. But rarely does one see officers at this level actually soiling their hands in this fashion. And rarely one gets to see them being featured in the news shows, news columns, and magazines.

But things are changing fast. Set up in 1986 by the Rajiv Gandhi government, DBT has been working quietly to beef up the country’s infrastructure in biotechnology. Instead of building its own parallel empire, DBT has chosen to fund a range of activities and research programs in existing institutions and worked zealously to build on the strengths of the organizations in biotechnology. The best example of this is the highly competitive national examination conducted to select students for the post graduate courses in biotechnology across the country. The high standards set by the examination has ensured that the students, who complete the courses, are treated as the equivalent of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) products by the biotech industry.

Yet within the government, DBT was yet another scientific department, part of the omnibus Ministry of Science and Technology. Much the same way the Department of Electronics (DoE) was till nineties. But with the economic liberalization and the emergence of software industry changed the face of DoE. Today with a National information technology policy in place and a Prime Minister’s National Task Force on IT, the contours of the IT industry changed dramatically. In the last five years, aided by a relentless campaign by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), almost every hurdle in the path of IT was removed. IT and software became the ‘mantra’ every minister and policy maker swore by, starting from the Prime Minister. Every state evolved its of IT policy and wooed global investor. Now IT has joined the ‘holy cows’ of the government in the same way space, atomic energy, defense and national security policies have become. There is a national consensus on these sectors and these areas have become the nation’s pride. Both ruling and opposition party leaders talk in glowing terms about the nation’s achievements in these sector at all available forums.

A similar treatment is what the biotechnology sector expects from the nation at this time. Biotechnology itself has now become main stream. It is no longer just some esoteric research work done by dedicated scientists in sophisticated laboratories. Across the world, biotechnology is recognized as the harbinger of a new world in areas such as health care, agriculture, industrial processes and genetics and cloning are on every one’s lips.

India too has embraced biotechnology in a big way. From the labs it has entered the markets. The hepatitis B vaccine developed in Indian laboratories and produced by Indian companies are competing against the best in the world and ensured affordability to the world’s poor people. India is emerging as the new destination for the bioinformatics industry, by the world’s pharma companies wanting to leverage the country’s computer software strengths.

India is the new market for a host of genetically modified products and particularly seeds.
While hepatitis B vaccine was accepted without any reservation in India, other gene-based products are facing considerable opposition to their introduction. These products have become the new symbol of hate for a section of the civil society, waiting to take on the establishment. And in the process, there is a feeling among biotechnologists that the regulations have become too stringent and counterproductive to the growth of the industry.

Hence the clamor for National Biotechnology Policy. Many hope that a widely debated policy, when adapted will become the nation’s property and hurdles in the path of the segment will become things of the past. Leading the demand is widely respected geneticist and one of the architects of the Green Revolution, Dr MS Swaminathan. Almost every one in the biotech industry, with whom BioSpectrum spoke to, endorse the urgent need for a National Biotechnology Policy. And they all say that this is just the right time to formulate one. On the other hand, the DBT says the 10-year Biotechnology Vision launched by Prime Minister AB Vajapayee on 7 September 2001 is adequate to translate the national resolve on this emerging sector to action points. 

BioSpectrum presents the views of some of the leading practitioners of biotechnology, which will enable an informed national debate on this issue in all its shades. 

Next Page : “We need a strong National Biotech Policy”