The Hindu Business Line : Pushing a new frontier

Last week it was time for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram to once again pop the champagne bottle cork. Its proposal for a business incubator facility was cleared in principle by the State Biotechnology Commission. Earlier, the Centre was accorded the status of autonomous national institute.

Presenting this fiscal's budget, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, announced more allocation for research in biotech, saying that "biotechnology is the new frontier that India will conquer." Mr Chidambaram proposed a Rs.521 crore outlay, an increase of Rs 76 crore over the previous year, to boost research in the field.

The Finance Minister said the money would go for programmes in agriculture, animal sciences, aquaculture, basic research, biodiversity, bio-resources, bio-prospecting, environment, product and process development in biotechnology. Healthcare would remain the main focus, he added. Mr Chidambaram clarified that the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology was being "upgraded" at the request of the Ministry of Science and Technology. (Until now, the institution was under the Kerala State Council for Science and Technology.)

The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Ocean Development, Mr Kapil Sibal, said the move was meant to allow the Centre to undertake more research as well as train more young scientists.

All these moves augur well for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, which has 29 full-time scientists and doctoral students. They also come at a strangely coincidental time, when the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is happening at Curitiba, Brazil. That United Nations body defined biotechnology as "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."

Given the interest worldwide in employing biotechnology to improve human development, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology can be expected to attract more than mere curiosity. According to Minister Sibal, some overseas universities and organizations have shown interest in collaborating with Indian biotech institutions to research and develop products. As such, enhancing the facilities at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre would not only help the institution itself but also go some way in projecting India as a potential destination for biotech research and business.

Meanwhile, Mr M. Radkakrishna Pillai, Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, told The Hindu that the RGCB Incubator Facility (RIF) would function as a non-profit unit to help young scientists who have the technological and organisational capacity to design and develop biotech products and processes but lack the financial resources to start an enterprise. According to Mr Pillai, one entrepreneur has already approached the Centre for permission to use the proposed RIF.

Perhaps that will trigger a stream of fresh enterprise in Kerala. It may be unrealistic to expect hyperactivity in what is essentially still a nascent industrial niche but if it plays its cards well, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology may well turn out to be the dark horse in the State's repertoire. So far it has managed to thrive without much fanfare and publicity, in a relatively low-key atmosphere. Perhaps it is now time for a new lift-off.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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