Science, technology pillars of country’s development: Amit Shah

Gandhinagar, Jan 13: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility of the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat.
Addressing the gathering, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from the soil of Gujarat today, we are beginning a new era of India’s health security, bio-safety, and development of the bio sector.
He said that with the laying of the foundation stone of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre, it will emerge in the coming days as a strong protective shield for the health sector of the entire country. He added that this initiative is based on Prime Minister Modi’s vision that science and technology should not remain limited to research and development (R&D) alone, but should become a foundational pillar of the nation’s overall development.
Shah said that after the National Institute of Virology in Pune, this will be India’s second high-level laboratory. However, this is the first such lab in the country being built by a state government, and the credit for this goes to Gujarat. At a cost of Rs 362 crore, a vast complex covering 11,000 square metres is being built, which will become a strong fortress of the nation’s bio-security.
He said that we had lagged behind the world in cutting-edge research for many years, but with the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility, young people working in the biotechnology sector will get new opportunities and India will be able to move ahead in this field. This facility will provide scientists with a platform to conduct research on highly infectious and deadly viruses in a safe environment.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility is being developed after studying BSL laboratories across the world. There will also be world-class arrangements here to study diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans.
Shah said that according to a study, 60 to 70 per cent of diseases spread from animals to humans, and therefore India has launched the One Health Mission to ensure the safety of both humans and animals. He said that now our scientists will no longer have to depend on foreign countries to test samples of dangerous viruses. Ending this dependence on foreign countries will speed up testing and make us self-reliant. The Home Minister said that the BSL-4 facility will meet all requirements. We need research-based permanent security, and this laboratory will fulfill all our needs.
Shah said that over the past 11 years, there has been unprecedented growth in the field of biotechnology. We have achieved significant success in the bio sector and there is immense potential in this area. He said that in 2014, India’s bio-economy was worth USD 10 billion, and by the end of the financial year 2024 it had grown to USD 166 billion. He added that a 17-fold growth in just 10 years shows that India’s youth and entrepreneurs can achieve great success in the bio-economy sector, provided they receive support from the government and the necessary infrastructure.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that in 2014, there were fewer than 500 startups working in the biotechnology sector, which has increased to over 10,000 by 2025. The number of bio-incubators was 6 in the year 2014, and it has risen to 95 by 2025. We had 60,000 square feet of incubation space earlier, which has increased 15 times to 9 lakh square feet today. Earlier there were only a few products in the market, but now more than 800 products have been launched.
He said that if we want to assess the future of any sector, the country’s potential, and the interest of its youth in it, patent filings are a good indicator. He noted that in 2014, India filed 125 patents in this sector, and by 2025 this number has reached 1,300. Earlier, private funding was Rs 10 crore, but now investments in this sector have reached Rs 7,000 crore. Shri Shah said that the future is bright for young people who wish to build a career in biotechnology. The youth working in this field have shown that our young people are not job seekers, but job creators.
Amit Shah said that India is, in a way, the world’s largest vaccine-producing country. Sixty percent of the world’s vaccines are manufactured in India. The country’s first indigenous cervical cancer vaccine, Cervavac, and the world’s first DNA-based COVID-19 vaccine were developed in India. These are indicators that India has immense potential to move far ahead in this field.
He said that the Government of India has decided to promote biotechnology by implementing the Bio E-3 (Economy, Environment and Employment) policy, which will take us a long way forward. Shri Shah added that under the Genome India Project, we have stored the genome sequencing data of more than 10,000 individuals, which is a major achievement for us.
Union Home Minister said that a few years ago, COVID-19 had shaken the entire world. At that time, our health infrastructure was not as strong as that of developed countries. He said that India fought COVID-19 better than any other country in the world. India vaccinated its population of 1.4 billion people twice, and everyone received their certificates instantly on their mobile phones with the smiling face of Prime Minister Modi—this was a marvel of technology.
Shah said that when the world was in turmoil and India had fewer than 300 COVID cases and our testing facilities were still underdeveloped, Prime Minister Modi had already formed a team to develop vaccines. As a result, two vaccines were developed in India, the entire population of 1.4 billion was vaccinated, and India also supplied vaccines to 70 countries around the world. He said that earlier, even vaccines developed abroad used to reach India after 11–12 years, and getting people vaccinated was a distant dream. The Home Minister added that India was the first to develop vaccines, the first to administer them, and also helped protect many countries of the world from COVID-19.