Union Minister Jitendra Singh says Country’s Bioeconomy to grow from 70 billion to 150 billion US dollars by 2025.

• Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that the country’s Bioeconomy will grow from 70 Billion to 150 Billion US dollars by 2025. He stressed that this can only be achieved with active participation of all the stakeholders in the biotechnology Sector. Dr. Singh said this today during the announcement of 75 “Amrit” Grants for Biotech initiatives involving StartUps, industry, academia and research bodies in integrated collaboration.
• Singh described that the Biotechnology sector has been recognized as one of the key drivers growing exponentially and it will be the main torch bearer of the country’s developed economic status in the Amrit Kaal period of next 25 years.
• Highlighting the 75 Amrit grants Dr. 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 in Public-Private Partnership mode.
• The Minister said that Startups, Industries, Academia and Research Bodies can form Team Science Grant in a Public-Private Partnership mode to avail grant of ten to fifteen crore rupees over a period of two to three years for inter-disciplinary, high-quality research.
• He said the grants also would be broadly provided in the areas of health, agribiotech, climate change, synthetic biology and sustainable bioresource management in order to address national priorities to propel India as a global leader in biotechnology.

What is Bioeconomics?

• As per, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bio-economics could be defined as the production, use, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation to provide information, products, processes, and services to all economic sectors with the aim of moving towards a sustainable economy.

Historical Background:

• The term bioeconomy became popular in the first decade of the 21^st century following its adoption by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a framework for promoting the use of biotechnology to develop new products and markets.

Examples:

• Food systems occupy the largest niche in the bioeconomy. To these systems, which include Sustainable agriculture, Sustainable Fishing, Forestry and aquaculture, Food and feed manufacturing.