Ministry of Science and Technology

About Ministry

• The Ministry of Science and Technology is the Indian government ministry charged with formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and technology in India.
• The Ministry of Science and Technology includes the following departments –

• • Department of Biotechnology
    • The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It was set up in 1986.
    • The Department shall provide services in the areas of research, infrastructure, generation of human resource, popularization of biotechnology, promotion of industries, creation of centers of excellence, implementation of biosafety guidelines for genetically modified organisms and recombinant DNA products and biotechnology-based programs for societal benefits. Bioinformatics is a major mission to establish an information network for the scientific community, nationally and internationally.

• • Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
    • The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has a mandate to carry out the activities relating to indigenous technology promotion, development, utilization and transfer.
    • The primary endeavour of DSIR is to promote R&D by the industries, support a larger cross section of small and medium industrial units to develop state-of-the art globally competitive technologies of high commercial potential, catalyze faster commercialization of lab-scale R&D, enhance the share of technology intensive exports in overall exports, strengthen industrial consultancy & technology management capabilities and establish user friendly information network to facilitate scientific and industrial research in the country. It also provides a link between scientific laboratories and industrial establishments for transfer of technologies through National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and facilitates investment in R&D through Central Electronics Limited (CEL).

• • Department of Science and Technology
    • The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is a department within the Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It was established in May 1971 to promote new areas of science and technology and to play the role of a nodal department for organising, coordinating and promoting Scientific and Technological activities in the country. It gives funds to various approved scientific projects in India. It also supports various researchers in India to attend conferences abroad and to go for experimental works.

 

NATIONAL BIOPHARMA MISSION

• It is an Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India, a $250 million program in collaboration with World Bank.

Objectives

• • to enable and nurture an ecosystem for preparing India’s technological and product development capabilities in bio-pharmaceuticals to a level that will be globally competitive over the next decade and transform the health standards of India’s population through affordable product
  • Aspires to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector
  • Other objectives include – Creating and enhancing technology transfer and intellectual property management capacities, building human capital and establishing shared infrastructure facilities for both product discovery validation and manufacturing.

Focus of the scheme

• • To develop new vaccines, biotherapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices to address the rising burden of diseases.
  • To bring isolated centres of excellence (Academia) together, enhance regional capabilities and strengthen the current bioclusters network in terms of capacities as well as quantity and quality of output.
  • The initial focus will be on Vaccines for HPV, Dengue and biosimilars for cancer, diabetics and rheumatoid arthritis and medical devices and diagnostics.
  • This mission will develop platform technologies for product validation, link institutions to strengthen clinical trial networks, promote partial de-risking for novel products, and build capacities in emerging areas such as translational bioinformatics, bioethics

Implemented by

• • Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Enterprise, set up by DBT.

Salient Features

• • NBM is an industry-academia collaborative mission launched by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.
  • The Mission has been approved at a total cost of US$250 million for five years with 50% funding through World Bank Loan, with an aim to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective biopharmaceutical products such as vaccines, biologics and medical devices for combating public health concerns.
  • The mission will be implemented by BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) – a Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
  • It will include the World Bank assisted INNOVATE IN INDIA (i3) program to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector.
  • Private sector, Government and Academia are together considered as the triple helix of medical innovation which can spur the much required development of Biopharma.

 

BIOTECH-KISAN (KRISHI INNOVATION SCIENCE APPLICATION NETWORK)

• Target group – Small farmers and Women-Farmers

Objectives

• • Linking available science and technology to the farm by first understanding the problem of the local farmer related to water, soil, seed and marketing and provide solutions to those problems.
  • The working together, in close conjunction, of scientists and farmers is the only way to improve the working conditions of small and marginal farmers.
  • To work with small and marginal farmers especially the woman farmer for better agriculture productivity through scientific intervention and evolving best farming practices in the Indian context.

Components of the scheme

• • The Program will provide support to following components –
    1. The Hub – Biotech-KISAN Hub will be established in each of 15 agro climatic zones under the leadership of a champion, who will act as a Facilitator. A strong network of top quality scientific institutions/ Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)/other Farmers’ organizations in the region and leading international institutions will be developed. Biotech-KISAN Hub will have a tinkering laboratory.
    2. International Training – Short-term Training (STT) Programmes will be developed by DBT in partnership with international organisations / universities for farmers
    3. Partnering Institutes – to Conduct training programmes for farmers in laboratories of scientific research Institutions and for scientists in agricultural farms
    4. Research Projects – for additional funding.

Salient Features

• • Scientists will work in sync with farmers to understand problem and find solutions
  • Mahila KISAN Biotech- fellowships, for training and education in farm practices for women farmers.
  • The scheme will also support women farmers in developing small enterprises.
  • Biotech KISAN will connect farmers with science in the 15 agro-climatic zones of the country in a manner, which constantly links problems with available solutions.
  • It will connect farmers to best global practices. Training workshops will be held in India and other countries.
  • It will use hubs and spoke model to connect farmers with scientists and institutions.
  • Financial incentives will be provided to the hub (60 lakh/year for initial 2 years and on the basis of a review for additional 3 years) and to the partnering Institutes (5 lakh/year).

 

CATTLE GENOMICS SCHEME

• Programme is currently in research mode.

Objectives

• • To predict breeding values of animal, using DNA level information with performance record, more accurately and identify genetic worth of animal (elite animal) at an early age.
  • To boost selective breeding of the native livestock more accurately to ensure high-yielding, disease-resistant, resilient livestock.
  • Genome sequencing of indigenous cattle breeds from all registered cattle breeds of India.
  • To address the effect of Climate Change over Livestock and get benefit from increasing demand for animal food products.

Implementing Agency

• • National Institute of Animal Biotechnology

Salient Features

• • A high-density DNA chips will be developed under this scheme to reduce the cost and time interval of breeding of the native livestock.
    • 1. Genomic selection of Hardy Livestock to ensure production of high yielding, disease resistant, resilient livestock.
      2. High-density DNA chips will be developed to reduce the cost and time interval for future breeding programs and enhance the productivity of indigenous cattle.
  • Benefit- The ability to select elite breeding animal at an early age will help in enhancing productivity at farmer’s level in future.

 

FARMER ZONE

• It is an intuitive open source, cloud-based

Objectives

• • To collect, collate and curate field and remotely sensed data along with market intelligence to create smart agriculture solutions for small and marginal farmers
  • To ensure effective decision-making in agriculture that integrates science, technology, innovation and the farm ecosystem.

Salient Features

• • Collection of relevant quality data related to agriculture which will be transfer to FarmerZone cloud. Development of sites to link with farmers and Evolve PPP based enterprises for data delivery.
  • Help cater to all needs of the farmer-+ dealing with climate change, weather predictions and soil, water, and seed requirements, providing market intelligence
  • Information would be available for the farmers throughout the world.
  • Will include a ‘MarketZone’ where farmers can directly sell their produce which can be picked up directly from the farm.
  • Brings together all stakeholders like farmers, scientists, government official, economists & global companies working in big data analysis & e-commerce firms.

 

INSPIRE (INNOVATION IN SCIENCE PURSUIT FOR INSPIRED RESEARCH) SCHEME

Objectives

• • To attract young students to study science and pursue research career
  • To promote creative thinking and foster a culture of innovation among children.
  • To attract, attach, retain and nourish talented young scientific Human Resource for strengthening the R&D foundation and base.

Target group – students in the age group of 10-32 years

Salient Features

• • INSPIRE has three Schemes/Programs –
    1. Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS) aims at attracting talented youth to study science by providing INSPIRE Award, to experience the joy of innovations, of Rs.5,000/- to one million young learners in the age group 10-15 years. There shall be annual Summer/Winter Camps for about 50,000 youth at more than 100 locations, for toppers in Class X board examinations for exposure with global leaders in Science, through INSPIRE Internship.
    2. Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) offers 10,000 Scholarship every year at Rs 0.80 lakh per year for the talented youth in the age group 17-22 years, for undertaking Bachelor and Masters level education in natural sciences. The main feature of the scheme is the mentorship support provided to every scholar.
    3. Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) has two sub-components.
       1. 1. INSPIRE Fellowship (age group of 22-27 years), it offers 1000 fellowships every year.
          2. INSPIRE Faculty Scheme, it offers assured opportunity every year for 1000 post- doctoral researchers in the age group of 27-32 years.
  • It does not believe in conducting competitive exams for identification of talent at any level. It believes in and relies on the efficacy of the existing educational structure for identification of talent.

SUB COMPONENTS OF INSPIRE

MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge)

• • • The INSPIRE Award (sub – component of INSPIRE Scheme) aims to motivate students and fosters culture of innovation among school children, in the age group of 10-15 years (class 6 to 10)
    • In the context of Startup initiative, INSPIRE Awards scheme has been revamped as INSPIRE Awards­ MANAK.
    • Approach – 10 lakh ideas are being targeted from more than 5 lakh middle and high schools across the country, out of which 1 lakh ideas are to be shortlisted for an initial award of Rs. 10000/- each.

NIDHI (National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovations)

• • • It is an umbrella program by DST for nurturing ideas and innovations of students into successful start-ups.
    • It has 8 components that would support each stage of a budding startup i.e. from idea to market (commercialization stage)
    • Financial support – to each of selected student startups, an ignition grant/award of INR 10 lakh

Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY)

• • • It is on-going National Programme to provide Mentorship and Scholarship support to pursue study in Basic Sciences.
    • Objective – to identify students with talent and aptitude for research, help them realize their potential in their studies, and encourage them to take up research careers in science.
    • Target group – Students of Class 11^th onwards, with mentorship/scholarship provided upto post graduate level.
    • Administered and implemented by – Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.

National Children Science Congress (Rashtriya Kishor Vaigyanik Sammelan)

• • • A nationwide Science Communication programme started in the year 1993
    • Objective – to provide a forum to Children to exhibit their creativity and innovativeness and their ability to solve a societal problem experienced locally using by method of science, “Learning through doing”
    • Target group – children of the age-group of 10-17 years, both from formal school system as well as from out of school
    • Implemented by – National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), DST 26th edition of the event was held at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM)

• • • A nationwide science talent search examination to give a boost to the learning of science, technology and mathematics among school students.
    • Target group – School students of VI to XI standards
    • Initiated by –
      • 1. Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) in collaboration with
        2. NCERT, under Ministry of HRD
        3. Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organization under DST

AWSAR (Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research)

• • • Objective – To encourage, empower and endow popular science writing through newspapers, magazines, blogs, social media, etc. by young PhD Scholars and Post-Doctoral Fellows during course of their studies and research pursuits.
    • Aims to communicate and disseminate Indian research stories among masses in a format that is easy to understand and interesting for a common person.
    • Implemented by – National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), DST, Ministry of Science and Technology
    • Key Mandate of NCSTC – to communicate science & technology to masses
    • Incentives –
      • 1. Monetary Incentive
        2. Certificate of Appreciation
        3. Publishing of Story

 

INTEGRATED CYBER PHYSICAL SYSTEMS PROGRAM

Objectives

• • To encourage the interdisciplinary approach in academia
  • To encourage greater synergy between the university scientists and industry.

Salient Features

• • Broad research thematic areas under the Program are –
    • 1. Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems Research (ICPSR)
      2. Data Science Research (DSR)
      3. Internet of Things Research (IoTR)
      4. Cyber Security Research (CSR)
      5. Indian Heritage in Digital Space (IHDS)
      6. Epidemiology data & Analytics (EDA)
  • Systems for practical applications in the areas of Water, Energy, Healthcare, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Transport, and Security of Physical Systems will be developed.
  • CPS is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the deployment of computer-based systems that do things in the physical world. For example, self-driven cars Autonomous unmanned vehicles (UAVs) and aircraft navigation systems
  • Centres of excellence will be developed at IITs and Universities.
  • Robotics, artificial intelligence, digital manufacturing, big data analysis, quantum communication and IoTs will be exploited.

 

NATIONAL MISSION ON INTERDISCIPLINARY CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS (NM-ICPS)

• Approved in December 2018 by Ministry of Science and Technology.

Objectives

• • The mission implementation would develop and bring –
    1. Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,
    2. adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,
    3. produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,
    4. catalyse Translational Research,
    5. accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS,
    6. give impetus to advanced research in CPS, Technology development and higher education in Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines, and
    7. Place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.

Coverage

• • It is a Pan India Mission and covers entire gamut of India ie. Central Ministries, State Governments, Industry & Academia.

Strategy

• • The Mission aims at establishment 15 numbers of Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), six numbers of Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and four numbers of Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP).
  • These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke mode.

Implementation period

• •  5 years at a total outlay of Rs. 3660 crore.

Benefits

• • Boost India’s Technological resources – Provide a cutting edge to India’s scientific, engineering, & technological innovative capabilities.
  • Industrial growth – Provide industrial and economic competitiveness
  • Drive societal progress – act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc.
  • Employment generation – especially technology driven job opportunities through start-ups. It is estimated that, about 40,000 jobs will be created in the short term and about 2,00,000 in long term.
  • Advanced skills development- It will bring paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement, generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society.

 

NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING MISSION

• Launch approved in 2015, for a period of 7 years at an estimated cost of Rs.4500 crore

Objectives

• • Create an ecosystem for positioning India as a major power for supercomputing and attain global competitiveness and self-reliance in HPC
  • Empower scientists & researchers with state-of-the-art compute facilities for their cutting-edge research in respective Domains.

Implementing Agency

• • The mission would be implemented jointly by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) Through C-DAC (MeitY) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

Salient Features

• • The Mission envisages empowering the national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing (HPC) facilities.
  • These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN)

Application areas

• • Climate Modelling
  • Weather Prediction
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computational Biology Atomic Energy Simulations
  • National Security/ Defense Applications
  • Seismic Analysis
  • Disaster Simulations and Management
  • Computational Chemistry
  • Computational Material Science & Nanomaterials
  • Discoveries beyond Earth (Astrophysics)

• • PARAM Shivay – The 1st super computer designed & built under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) by C-DAC.

 

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT AND NETWORKS (SRIMAN)

• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has come up with a policy document, Scientific Research Infrastructure Management and Networks (SRIMAN), to address various issues for effective utilization of its research infrastructure.

Need for SRIMAN

• • Easy availability and access of high quality research infrastructure (RI) is one of the determinants of success in science and technology.
  • Developing research infrastructure is very expensive and hence it becomes important for a developing country like India to carefully plan for it and develop mechanisms for its efficient use.
  • However, in case of India, while there is a constant rise in import of expensive research equipment, the majority of them are lying idle or underutilized resulting in wastage of public expenditure, poor maintenance and higher RI costs.
  • Thus, SRIMAN policy aims at ease of access to RI through culture of sharing between institutions, ensuring its optimal utilization.

Objective

• • The policy plans to hire out to researchers all lab equipment that cost more than 10 lakh.

Components

• • Procurement and maintenance of equipment and infrastructure for research
  • Providing access and sharing of scientific equipment and infrastructure
  • Disposal of scientific equipment and infrastructure
  • Capacity Building of operators and technicians for efficient operations
  • Monitoring of usage of expensive scientific research infrastructure
  • Infrastructure Management for efficient operations

Application of the Policy

• • Applies to – All scientific departments and agencies & Ministries and Departments of Gol.
  • Excludes – Scientific departments/agencies in Strategic sector of Space or Defense or Atomic Energy

Key Benefits

• • Maximizing use by providing equity of access – A culture of collaboration/sharing between institutions helps in optimum utilization of equipment resulting in better maintenance of the equipment.
  • Avoiding Duplication – Eliminates duplicate purchase of expensive scientific equipment by facilitating sharing and monitoring utilization, hence, cost reduction.
  • Efficient use of Public Expenditure – Through sharing of expensive public funded scientific RI.
  • Reduce brain drain – Greater awareness of available equipment can aid in attracting new minds to research.
  • Income generation – Transforms scientific instruments in government labs into lucrative assets generating a steady rental income.

 

KNOWLEDGE INVOLVEMENT IN RESEARCH ADVANCEMENT THROUGH NURTURING (KIRAN)

• An exclusive scheme for women

Objectives

• • Aimed at providing opportunities to women scientists who had a break in their career primarily due to family responsibilities.
  • Bring gender parity in S&T through gender mainstreaming.

Target group

• • women scientists and technologists between the age group of 27-57 years

Salient Features

• • Components
    1. 1. Women Scientist Scheme-A – provide opportunities for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences
       2. Women Scientists Scheme-B – Focused on S& T solutions of challenges/issues at the grassroots level for social benefit.
       3. Women Scientists Scheme-C – Create opportunity of self-employment and/or also sustainable career for the women scientists.

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF YOGA AND MEDITATION (SATYAM)

• A new research program based on interdisciplinary approach

Objectives

• • To foster scientific research on the effects of yoga and meditation on physical & mental health and on cognitive functioning in healthy people as well as in patients with disorders.

Salient Features

• • Finding Science & Technology -led solutions that would help cope with stress and strain associated with fast changing social, economic, environmental and professional circumstances
  • Tap potential for safer, holistic & cost effective treatment of physical & mental health problems.

 

DEEN DAYAL UPADHAYAY VIGYAN GRAM SANKUL PARIYOJANA

Objectives

• • To formulate and implement appropriate S&T interventions for sustainable development through cluster approach

Salient Features

• • Approach-
    1. Department of S&T will adopt and develop a cluster of villages into self-sustainable units in time bound manner
    2. By utilizing local resources and locally available skill sets and converting them in a manner using science and technology, that substantial value addition takes place in their local produce and services, which can sustain the rural population locally.
    3. Four clusters Selected in Uttarakhand – at Gaindikhata, Bazeera, Bhigun (in Garhwal) and Kausani (in Kumaon)
  • Key Interventions
    1. Value addition of milk, honey, mushroom, horticulture, medicinal & aromatic plants and traditional crafts
    2. Solar drying technology for Post- harvest processing of Kiwi, Strawberry, Cherry etc.
    3. Using cold press technology for the extraction of Apricot.
    4. Promoting agro-based cottage industries and animal husbandry in an eco-friendly manner.

 

JIGYASA

• A School- Student- Scientist connect programme

Objectives

• • Inculcate culture of inquisitiveness on one hand and scientific temper on the other, amongst students and their teachers.

Implemented by

• • Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), along with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)

Salient Features

• • It will connect Kendriya Vidyalayas with National Laboratories of CSIR targeting 100,000 students and nearly 1000 teachers annually.
  • Extend student’s classroom learning with that of a well-planned research laboratory based learning.
  • Enable the students & teachers to practically live the theoretical concepts taught in science by visiting CSIR laboratories & by participating in mini-science projects.

 

VISITING ADVANCED JOINT RESEARCH FACULTY SCHEME – VAJRA FACULTY SCHEME

• launched in 2017 by Ministry of Science and Technology

Objectives

• • a dedicated program exclusively for overseas scientists and academicians with emphasis on Non-resident Indians (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to participate and contribute to research and development (R&D) in India by working as adjunct / visiting faculty in Indian Public funded academic and research institutions for a specific duration.

Implementation

• • by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a Statutory body under DST

Salient Features

• • VAJRA faculty will undertake research in S&T priority areas of nation wherein the capability and capacity are needed to be developed. The VAJRA faculty will engage in collaborative research in public funded institutions.
  • Applications received from the interested foreign researchers would be evaluated by a Selection Committee of eminent scientists.
  • The residency period of the VAJRA Faculty in India would be for a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 3 months a year.
  • The researchers would receive endowments at par with those in their own countries.
  • This scheme is open to overseas scientist / faculty /R&D professional including NRI and PIO / OCI.

 

TEACHER ASSOCIATE SHIP FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE (TARE)

Objectives

• • It aims to activate the latent and unused R&D capacity in colleges and state universities that lack S&T infrastructure and culture.

Salient Features

• • The TARE scheme will allow undertaking of part-time research by the faculty working in a regular capacity in State Universities or Colleges including private Academic Institutions by integrating them in Academic Institutions such as IITs, IISc, IISERs, National labs, etc. located in the same city where the faculty member is working.
  • It focuses on Teachers who are well trained but having difficulty in pursuing their research due to varied reasons including lack of facilities, funding and guidance.

 

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH BOARD (SERB)

• It is a statutory body established through the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008

Salient Features

• • Supporting basic research in emerging areas of Science & Engineering
  • Provide financial assistance to persons engaged in such research, academic institutions, research and development laboratories, industrial concerns and other agencies.

 

WAYU – WIND AUGMENTATION PURIFYING UNIT

Objectives

• • It is an air pollution mitigation device that helps in reducing ambient air pollution levels ejected by vehicles at busy traffic junctions, which have high concentration of pollutants.

Salient Features

• • Launched by – Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology
  • Developed By – Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI).
  • Installed at ITO intersection and Mukarba Chowk in New Delhi.
  • Function-
    1. The device is expected to keep an area of 500 sq. m (to be eventually expanded to 10, 000 sq. m) around the unit clean.
    2. WAYU can reduce PM 10, PM 2.5, carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), etc. emitted in the atmosphere.
  • Features-
    1. Cost Effective – The device consumes only half a unit of electricity for 10 hours of running and has a maintenance cost of only Rs. 1500 per month.
    2. Working principle – The device works on two principles mainly Wind generation for dilution of air pollutants and Active Pollutants
    3. Active Pollutants removal – It has
    4. Fan & filters for Particulate Matter removal
    5. Activated carbon (charcoal, which is coated with special chemical Titanium Dioxide) and UV lamps for poisonous gases removal such as VOCs and Carbon Monoxide.

 

NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS IN NORTH EAST REGION

• Department of Biotechnology has established a dedicated ‘North Eastern Region Biotechnology Programme Management Cell (NER-BPMC)’, to evolve, implement and foster biotechnology research in the north east states.
• It has committed to dedicate each year, at least 10% of the budget for the North-East.

NEW PROGRAMMES LAUNCHED

PHYTO-PHARMA PLANT MISSION

• • • It will promote conservation and cultivation of endangered and threatened species in North East Region. Major components:
      • Captive cultivation of selected medicinal plants of North East Region.
      • Development of packaging technology for medicinal plant extracts to promote exports.
      • Production of safe efficacious Phyto-pharmaceutical drugs using modern technology.

BRAHMAPUTRA BIODIVERSITY AND BIOLOGY BOAT (B4)

• • • To be implemented on the Brahmaputra River, a major ecology hotspot in North East Region, in collaboration with DONER. In includes –
      • Establishing a well-equipped laboratory for analysis of all components of the entire ecosystem of the river and surroundings.
      • It will have cold storage facility to store samples and satellite boats to collect samples will be set up.
      • The B4 will link to all the local research institutions along the river, as well as national and international laboratories.
      • B4 will also have a teaching laboratory for school/college children.

FRUGAL MICROSCOPY THROUGH THE FOLDSCOPE

• • • A frugal microscope assembled from simple components, including a sheet of paper and a lens, will act as a tool connecting students and science from the region, with the rest of the country.

OTHER ONGOING PROGRAMMES IN NORTH EAST REGION

HUMAN RESOURCE SKILLING PROGRAMS

• • • Under this program, Department of Biotechnology has initiated establishment of link institutes in North East Region with the rest of the country.
    • Biotechnology Labs in Senior Secondary Schools (BUSS) Program for promoting biotechnology at school level.
    • Bioinformatics Centre – 30 centres have established for conducting research on genomics, proteomics and data analysis.
    • Biotech Industrial Training Program – to provide industry-specific training to Biotech students for skill development and enhancing their job opportunities.
    • ‘Overseas Associateship for North East Region’ has seen 200+ scientists from North East Region being trained overseas
    • Twinning R&D Program – Under this program DBT has initiated establishment of link institutes in North East Region with the rest of the country. This has resulted in 252 research publications and 600 junior and senior fellowship being awarded to the students in biotechnology research.
    • Department of Biotechnology e-Library consortium (DeLCON) – a unique Electronic Journal Consortium in operation since 2009 which provides students access to world class journals and publications.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

• • • Infrastructural support has been provided by establishment of 126 biotech Hubs at various institutions. Animal House facility at Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Dibrugarh to promote animal experiments & research.
    • Advance Animal Disease Diagnostic & Management Consortium (ADMaC) for surveillance and control of trans-boundary, exotic and zoonotic pathogens from North East Region.
    • Launched a major network programme on chemical ecology of North East Region for conservation of delicate ecology of NER.
    • Department of Biotechnology is also planning for the development of NER-Scented Rice and NER-Banana.

 

PROMOTING INNOVATIONS IN INDIVIDUALS, START-UPS AND MSMES (PRISM)

• Launched under Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology.

Objectives

• • It aims at to support individual innovators which will enable to achieve the agenda of inclusive development. It would also provide support to institutions or organizations set up as Autonomous Organization under a specific statute or as a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or Indian Trusts Act, 1882 leading to development of state-of-art new technology solutions aimed at helping MSME clusters.

Who can apply

• • Any Indian citizen having innovative idea & wish to translate their idea into working prototypes/models/processes; public funded institutions or organizations viz. Autonomous Organizations or Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or Indian Trusts Act, 1882 engaged in promotion of innovation.

Thrust Areas

• • The proposals shall preferably be considered in the following focus sectors: Green technology, Clean energy, Industrially utilizable smart materials, Waste to Wealth, Affordable Healthcare, Water & Sewage Management and any other technology or knowledge intensive area.

 

 

OTHER INITIATIVES OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

 

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