The bill seeks to establish a regional centre for biotechnology, an institution of education, training and research, under UNESCO in the NCR
The Lower House of the Parliament passed The Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016. The bill seeks to establish a regional centre for biotechnology, an institution of education, training and research, under the auspices of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the National Capital Region and declare it to be an institution of national importance.
According to a PIB release, the regional centre for biotechnology will take up research and innovation and impart education and training in the new areas of biotechnology at the interface of multiple disciplines of science creating a hub of technology expertise.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, said that bio-technology is a new and growing field having immense potentialities for the societal benefit and economic transformation. It has been considered as a powerful enabling technology that can revolutionise agriculture, healthcare, industrial processing and environmental sustainability.
Recently, the Department of Biotechnology has prepared the National Biotechnology Development Strategy-2015-2020. The key elements of the strategy are: making India ready to meet the challenge of achieving biotech industry of $100 billion by 2020; launching four major missions – Healthcare, Food and Nutrition, Clean Energy and Education; creating a Technology Development and Translation network across the country with global partnership and strategic and focused investment in building the human capital.