BioVoice News May 2017 Issue 12 Volume 1 | Page 56

Our paper in
Nature got peer revived by eight referees . It took almost one year as the paper was sent back for revision and finally they got convince that we had done something novel . Few said it was workable in only Arabidopsis Thaliana but might not be workable in wheat .

special interview

is India . However , my collaborators are from UK and there is need in other developing nations as well .
At what scale has been the experiment been tried ? So , you are confident of its success in field ?
We did it at the field scale but not the mass scale . As an academician , we develop and validate . Now , it is for industry to take it up .
Laboratory research generally uses controlled conditions . However , we have used it in uncontrolled conditions as well . But sometimes , there are variations while testing at mass scale . The soil aspect on how the plant will perform in various types , as you are asking , needs to be looked at .
Should Indian government agencies collaborate with you to benefit masses ?
Surely there is a way as we have developed a simple method without involving chemical toxins . Generally , the reagents are used to do that are hazardous . But in this case , there is no such thing . To benefit masses , we need to produce our molecule at the large scale and the field testing would be massive . For that we need funding . It may come from agrocompanies as we have initiated talks with them . Once the product is ready , it will automatically go to masses . Also , we are also exploring opportunities to convey our discovery to the government funding agencies as to understand how they could collaborate with us .
Can we become a nation of exporters from the current importer of wheat ?
India has bought more than five million tons of wheat since mid-2016 , already its biggest annual purchase in a decade , after it began an import campaign to meet a supply shortfall left by two years of lower production .
By using these molecules , there is straight forward

Our paper in

Nature got peer revived by eight referees . It took almost one year as the paper was sent back for revision and finally they got convince that we had done something novel . Few said it was workable in only Arabidopsis Thaliana but might not be workable in wheat .

increase by 50 percent .
Given that wheat is one of India ’ s most important and staple food crops , this process brings the possibility of enabling food security , addressing the threat of climate change and in the process , enable the country ’ s vision of an evergreen revolution .
56 BioVoiceNews | May 2017