Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launches Single National Portal for Biotech researchers and Startups
The
Portal BioRRAP will cater to all those seeking regulatory approval required for
biological research and development activity in the country.
The Minister says, India poised for becoming a Global Bio-manufacturing Hub and
will figure among the top 5 countries of the world by 2025
Dr Jitendra Singh says, “Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal
(BioRRAP) will help in ease of doing science, scientific research and ease of
Start-ups in India
Over 2,700 biotech start-ups and more than 2,500 biotech companies working at
present in the country
The contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry in the global
biotechnology market to grow to 19% from a mere 3% in 2017 by 2025: Dr Jitendra
Singh
In keeping with the spirit
of "One Nation,One Portal", Union Minister of State (IC) Ministry of
Science and Technology; Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS
of Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances &
Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh today launched Single National Portal for Biotech
researchers and Start-ups.
The Portal
"BioRRAP" will cater to all those seeking regulatory approval for
biological research & development activity in the country and thus offer a
huge relief for "Ease of Science as well as Ease of Business.
Speaking after the launch
of Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP), Dr Jitendra Singh
said, India is poised to become a Global Bio-manufacturing Hub and will figure
among the top 5 countries of the world by 2025.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the
Portal will also allow stakeholders to see the approvals accorded against a
particular application through a unique BioRRAP ID. He described this unique
portal of DBT as a step towards Ease of Doing Science and Scientific research
and Ease of Start-ups in India. The Minister said, Bio-technology has fast
emerged as an academic and livelihood avenue for youngsters in India. He also
pointed out that there are over 2,700 biotech start-ups and more than 2,500
biotech companies working at present in the country.
Describing the launch of
Portal as whole of Govt approach in tune with Prime Minister Modi’s vision, Dr
Jitendra Singh said, this portal will strengthen interdepartmental synergies
and bring accountability, transparency and efficacy in functioning of agencies
regulating various aspect of biological research and issuing permission.
Congratulating the Department of Biotechnology for launching of BioRRAP portal,
the Minister suggested that the Department should endeavor to evolve further
mechanisms to make the procedures simpler and effective.
Dr Jitendra Singh pointed
out that other than biotechnology, biological work related to biodiversity,
latest methods of conservation and protection of flora and fauna, forest and
wildlife, bio-survey and bio-utilization of biological resources are also
gaining momentum in India due to effect of climate change on them. He added
that research in the various biological fields is continuously expanding its
vista in India supported by the grants from various public and private sector.
Many of these research falls under the purview of one or more regulatory
agencies which first approve the research proposal after which researcher
undertakes that specific research.
The Minister further added that
at present there is no mechanism to track the requisite regulatory approval for
a research proposal on a single portal and therefore, to provide more
credibility and recognition to such biological researches, Government of India
has developed a web system under which each research, requiring regulatory
oversight, will be identified by a unique ID called “BioRRAP ID”. He said, the
portal will serve as a gateway and will help researcher to see stage of
approval of their applications for regulatory clearances and to see preliminary
information on all the research work being undertaken by the particular
researcher and/or organization.
Dr Jitendra Singh directed
the DBT officials for wider publicity of this unique National Portal and asked
them to make short duration films capturing all the nuances of the registration
and regulatory approval through the portal.
Coming back to India
emerging as a Global Bio-manufacturing Hub, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that
India is among the top 12 destinations for biotechnology globally and 3rd
largest biotechnology destination in the Asia Pacific region. The Minister said
that by 2025, the contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry in the
global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19% from a mere 3% in 2017.
He also added that the Bio Economy’s contribution to the national GDP has also
grown steadily in the past years to 2.7% in 2020 from 1.7% in 2017 and will
touch new heights after 25 years of Bio-economy journey in the Centenary year
of 2047.
Referring to COVID
pandemic, Dr Jitendra Singh lauded the strength of Indian Scientific
organization and enterprises and said that our institutions have come out with
various vaccines, diagnostics and other tools which helped us to fight with
Covid 19 situations. Further, our regulators be it Department of Biotechnology,
Indian Council of Medical Research or Central Drugs Standard Control
Organization worked tirelessly to streamline the regulatory processes and
reducing the timelines for approvals, the Minister added.
The Minister underlined
that during pandemic, it was observed that there is need to link the
applications submitted to various regulatory agencies for approval so as status
of application may be seen at one place. Further, it was also felt that as a
country we should have repository of the research works being undertaken by our
researchers working in public and private sector. This will not only help us in
understanding our scientific strength and expertise but also in formulation of
enabling policies to garner the fruits of scientific research.
In
his address, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Dr Rajesh S Gokhale said
that BioRRAP has been developed that generates BioRRAP ID for all the research
applications submitted on this portal and using this BioRRAP Id, further
submission process to respective regulatory agencies has to be initiated based
on the research application. He said, this portal is dedicated only for
research related activities and not for product development.