Avtar Bhat
KATRA, Dec 3: Exuding confidence that BJP will get a landslide victory in Gujarat Assembly elections, Union Minister in PMO, with Independent charge of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that opposition parties have no base in the State as all their leaders one by one are joining BJP all over the country.
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Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said impressed by the work culture of Narendra Modi Government, the opposition leaders are one by one joining BJP not only in Gujarat but entire country including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr Jitendra Singh said BJP will win the MCD elections again as the party has majority in last MCD and it will get the same once again this time.
The Union Minister said that during his campaigning in Gujarat in previous elections there were some doubts among traders about GST but this time there is no such issue and party will get record majority this time in the State under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister, Amit Shah. He said those who opposed BJP in last elections are now with the party.
Maintaining that future belongs to J&K and other Himalayan States, Dr Jitendra Singh said these States including, J&K Himachal, Uttrakhand and Arunachal Pradesh will be value addition to economy of India. He regretted that the Himalayan resources which are exclusive treasure to India remained unexplored for years together.
Dr Jitendra Singh, while referring to Aroma and Medicinal plants said they are products of exclusive exports and create lucrative entrepreneurship. The J&K and other hill States can be major contributors to Indian economy in the coming 25 years, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that in last 70 years most of the India’s economy was dependent on Western States like Gujarat and Maharashtra but next 25 years will see boom in bio manufacturing for which resources are available in J&K and other hill States of country.
The Union Minister said that it was for the first time that India has attended to bio economy while earlier the country was dependent on manufacturing industry like vehicles, two wheelers etc.
Earlier delivering inaugural address at the 3-day “International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology/ Biosciences and Chemical Technology- 2022” here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said India’s bio-economy has grown 8 times in the last 8 over years under Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, from $10 billion in 2014 to over $80 billion in 2022.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Biotech Startups have grown 100 times in the last 8 years from 52 odd Startups in 2014 to 5300 plus in 2022. He said, three Biotech Startups were incorporated every day in 2021 and a total of 1,128 biotech startups were set up in 2021 alone, signalling the rapid growth of the sector in India.
The conference is being organized by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, School of Biotechnology, Jammu in collaboration with CSIR-IIIM Jammu and The Biotech Research Society of India, from 3rd – 5th December 2022.
There are 14 international participants like USA, Greece, South Korea, Scotland, Singapore, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam and 24 National keynote and invited speakers and around 300 participants from almost every State of India who are presenting their work in the form of Oral and Poster Presentations.
Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that from a paltry investment of Rs 10 crore in Bio-economy in 2014, the fund growth saw 400 times hike to Rs 4200 crore in 2022, creating over 25,000 high skilled jobs. He said, the number of Biotech incubators have increased from 6 in 2014 to 75 now, while Biotech products have increased from 10 products to more than 700 today.
Dwelling on the growth of India Bio economy, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that India administered nearly four million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per day and a total of 1.45 billion doses in 2021. Similarly, we conducted 1.3 million COVID-19 tests each day in 2021 and overall 507 million tests in 2021.
Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that the Biotech industry crossed one-billion-dollar R&D spend, thanks to Covid economy and it almost trebled within a year from 320 million dollars in 2020 to 1,02 billion dollars in 2021. The Minister said, India will soon enter the league of top-5 countries in Biotech’s global ecosystem.
Dr Jitendra Singh quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to point out the five big reasons why India is being considered a land of opportunities in the field of biotech. First- diverse population and diverse climatic zones. Second, India’s talented human capital pool, Third, increasing efforts for ease of doing business in India. Fourth, the demand for Bio-Products is increasing continuously in India and fifth- India’s Biotech Sector and its track record of success.
Referring to the growing reputation and profile of Indian professionals on the global stage, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is growing trust in the skill and innovation of Indian IT professionals in the World and in this Bio-economy decade, the same will be true for the Bio Professionals of India.
Scientific sessions of the conference have been divided under different themes on Health Sciences, Enzymology and Molecular biology, Synthetic Biology, Material Science and Nanomaterial, Natural Products and Green Chemistry, Environmental Sustainability and Development and Plant & Animal Science.
Noted participants included Prof. R K Sinha, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu, Prof. Ashok Pandey, Distinguished Scientist, Centre for Innovation & Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research Lucknow and Dr. Ratna Chandra, Head, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU.
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