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| Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka, lighting the lamp at the inauguration of Bangalore INDIA BIO 2014 |
A 3d movie about the new BioTech Incubator centre was the high point of the inaugural ceremony of the 14th edition of Bangalore India Bio, at Bangalore. The event was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah in the presence of SR Patil, Minister for Information Technology, Bio-Technology and Science and Technology, nobel laureate Prof Sir John Gurdon, World Food Prize Laureate Em Prof Dr Marc Van Montagu, Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Bio Technology, Roshan Baig, Minister for Infrastructure Development, Information & Haj, Govt of Karnataka, K Govindaraj, Member of Legislative Council, General Secretary, KPCC, Kaushik Mukherjee, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson, Vision Group on Biotechnology and Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon; Srivatsa, Secretary to Government, Department of Information Technology, Bio Technology and Science and Technology.
The chief minister n his inaugural address said, “The State is home to about 52 per cent of the core Biotech companies in the country. In the past decade, Karnataka State Government has taken proactive Policy initiatives, which have significantly contributed to the growth of the sector. The first Biotech Policy in the country was announced by Karnataka in 2001. The Policy, to a large extent, has achieved the objectives. Keeping in view the changing needs of the Biotech Sector, State Government revised and announced ‘Millennium Biotech Policy version 2’ in December 2009.”
Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Bio Technology said, “Science and technology are the tools to tackle the socioeconomic problems of the country. Vaccines are essential and should be free from western activitism and wrong morale. True benefit of universal immunisation needs effective communication.”
All the dignitaries spoke about the future of biotechnology and the emergence of Bangalore as the biotech hub of the world.
On the second day, a keynote lecture was given by by Montagu. The other dignitaries were Srivatsa Krishna, IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology and DPAR (e-Governance), Government of Karnataka, GV Krishna Rau, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Government of Karnataka and Dr KK Narayanan, Managing Director, Metahelix Life Sciences.
In the opening talk Srivatsa Krishna said, “I’ve previously invested in many a biotech projects during my tenure in world bank. But the knowledge on the intricacies of science and agriculture was just about fair.”
Narayanan, added saying, “The importance of agriculture cannot be over emphasized in India or Karnataka, as majority of the population are concentrated in villages. More than the half of the population has itself engaged in agriculture. Development which is equitable in terms of agriculture is not one sided, where only a few developments happened; but instead it should happen in both ways like people and productivity.”
Montagu, in his talk on “The Social and Economic importance of plant biotechnology,” said, “In 1904, a rare disease affected the plant which in those days didn’t have a name and the cause was unknown. Now we know that the disease is Crown gall which was caused by the bacteria called Agrobacterium tumifaciens. In 1974 it was discovered that Ti plasmid from the above bacteria is responsible for that disease. In 1990s they were able to isolate the genomics and create a product (pesticide) which is resistant to specific pest.”
He concluded by saying, “Genetically modified food is safe for consumption and it is certificated by AAAS and American medical association, European commission and have stated that it is safe for consumption. Misinformation about GM creates havoc among people. Public awareness of science is a social responsibility.”
EP News Bureau – Mumbai
