Biotechnology

India has been the forerunner among the developing countries in promoting multi-disciplinary activities in this area, recognizing the practically unlimited possibility of their applications in increasing agricultural and industrial production, and in improving human and animal life. The nucleus of research in this area is the National Biotechnology Board, constituted in 1982.

A Department of Biotechnology was created in 1986. Recently, the Biotechnology Consortium India Ltd. was set up. It will play the role of a catalyst in bridging the gap between research and development,  industrial and financial institutions. Some of the new initiatives taken include developing techniques for gene mapping, conservation of biodiversity and bio-indicators research, special biotechnology programmes for the benefit of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and activities in the area of plantation crops.

The areas which have been receiving attention are cattle herd improvement through embryo transfer technology, in vitro propagation of disease resistant plant varieties for obtaining higher yields, and development of vaccines for various diseases.