BioVoice News April 2017 Issue 11 Volume 1 | Page 22

cover story

that suit our needs. If India has to become a biotech hub, India has to utilize technologies such as CRISPR. Also, the IT based solutions in agriculture must be fast utilized.”
Being realistic suits us best!
The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr Y S Chowdary, appreciates the way policymaking has improved over the period of years. He conceded at the BIRAC forum that the
policymaking wouldn’ t have been easy for those sitting at the helm of government agencies earlier. He appreciated the way Dr Renu Swarup has driven the BIRAC and her extraordinary delivery of projects.“ The cooperation and coordination are always better than confrontation. It must have been difficult for even former bureaucrats to work under difficult circumstances when the sector wasn’ t of much importance to higher ups in government,” the minister said pointing towards Dr M K Bhan who he said must have faced hurdles in establishing the bio-clusters.“ We have to improve and the growth has to be horizontal with proper channelization of funds,” added the Minister.
So, the realism is finally defining the way we are gearing up to achieve our target. Being confident, innovative and yet realistic is the need of the day. The areas where we need the maximum solutions include agriculture and healthcare. Experts agree that the potential of‘ Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats’ technology or CRISPR must be explored to revolutionize research and that the strength of IT based system too need to be built upon.
Indians are always known for two things: optimistically wait for things to settle down and the survival instinct despite heavy odds. So, this is what the case with the Indian bioscience sector is! If one must
22 BioVoiceNews | April 2017