Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today announced 75 "Amrit" Grants for Biotech initiatives involving StartUps,industry, academia and research bodies in integrated collaboration. The Minister said, DBT-BIRAC 75 Amrit Team Grant Initiative will give a big boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “Jai Anusandhan” .

Dr Jitendra Singh said, 75 inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional grants would be supported for high-risk, ambitious research ideas, milestones-driven collaborative research in all domain specific areas of the biotech sector.

Dr Jitendra Singh said Startups, Industries, Academia and Research Bodies can form Team Science Grant in a Public-Private Partnership mode to avail grant of Rs 10-15 Crore over a period of two to three years for inter-disciplinary, high-quality research. The Minister said, in order to address national priorities to propel India as a global leader in biotechnology, the grants would be broadly provided in the areas of health, agribiotech, climate change, synthetic biology and sustainable bioresource management.

The Minister said, the overall goal would be achieved through this initiative: knowledge-based discovery solutions for societal needs; transformational advances of scientific value and impact and also contributing towards India’s emergence as an equal global partner. He added that spin outs and venture creation will be a key component of this initiative.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, this initiative builds on the deep foundation of partnerships, to support new and innovative research programs, which aims to propel India to a position of global leadership. He said, under this initiative, ambitious research ideas, high-risk, milestone-driven collaborative research for knowledge-based discoveries with broad demonstrable application from both academia and industry will be considered for support.

Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this year’s Independence Day Address from the ramparts of the Red Fort underlined the importance of Anusandhaan, when he said, “Till today we always remember our revered Lal Bahadur Shastri ji for his inspirational clarion call of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan meaning “Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer". Later Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji added a new link of Jai Vigyan which meant “hail science” and we gave it utmost importance. But in this new phase Amrit Kaal now it is imperative to add jai anusandhaan that is “hail innovation”.

Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan Jai Anusandhaan.”.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s Bioeconomy will grow from $70 Billion to $150 Billion by 2025 and this can only be achieved with active participation of all the stakeholders in biotechnology Sector. He said, Biotechnology sector has been recognized as one of the key drivers growing exponentially and it will be the main torch bearer of India’s developed economic status in the Amrit Kaal period of next 25 years.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) along with its PSU, BIRAC has a huge footprint in Biotech sector, having supported research endeavors across scale and in diverse areas in Institutes, Universities and Industries across the country. He, however added that the thrust in the Amrit kaal should be more on technological development to address the problems and needs of our country and also to facilitate a path to make our country a developed nation.

The Minister said that there are a few co-creative programs on maternal health and pre-term birth, bioenergy and INSACOG and they are amongst the many cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional initiatives supported by DBT. He also added that Covid pandemic witnessed the critical impact of Made-in-India novel vaccines, diagnostics, healthcare delivery and management solutions endorsing India’s growing strength towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

Dr Jitendra Singh congratulated the team from DBT and BIRAC for coming up with this unique initiative of 75 DBT-BIRAC Amrit Team Grants to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

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SNC / RR