Future-proofing Pharmacy of the World

The world witnessed India’s quest to combat COVID-19 not just strategically, economically, socially and with regard to health provisions and hospitality, but also bio-technologically as it came up with many successful vaccines. This is no mean feat for a country which had been considered very poor in the domain of research, especially bio-technology and medicine. Now, it seems it is a different world out here. Today, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the two-day Bio-Tech Startup Expo 2022 being held in New Delhi. Further, India recently saw inauguration of the National Facility for Gene Function in Health and Disease (NFGFHD) in Pune. In Parallel, North India’s first biotech park was inaugurated in J&K’s Kathua along with the launch of a Single National Portal For Biotech Startups by Union Minister of State For Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh. In a recent development, IISC scientists have also designed a new class of artificial peptides or miniproteins that they say can render viruses like SARS-CoV-2 inactive. With such a motivated and encouraging developments, India is beaming with bio-technological breakthroughs, slowly forming a favorable ecosystem for both research and innovation in the country.

Prospects are galore for the sector as it is one of the most demand driven sectors. The campaigns for ease of living in India over the years, have opened up new possibilities for the biotech sector. The developments in health, agriculture, energy, natural farming, bio-fortified seeds are creating new avenues for it. However, we still need to work on the efficiency and productivity and cost-effectiveness of agriculture, nutritional security, molecular medicine, environmentally sustainable technologies, scientific and technological empowerment of human resource, a strong infrastructure for research and commercialization, the relevant knowledge base, nurturing the leads of potential utility and bringing the bio-products to the market place to take the sector to new heights.

Five big reasons why India is being considered a land of opportunities in the field of biotech are- its diverse population and diverse climatic zones, talented human capital pool, increasing efforts for ease of doing business, the demand for bio-products and the track record of its success. Furthermore, to transcend government-centric approach, the Centre is encouraging a culture of providing new enabling interfaces. Platforms like BIRAC are being strengthened. The government, through new institutions, is bringing together the best minds of the industry on a single platform. Trust in the skill and innovation of India’s IT professionals in the world is at new heights. The country gets new breakthroughs from research and academia, with the industry helping in what is a real world view and the government providing the necessary policy environment and necessary infrastructure.

The encouraging initiatives being continuously taken by India for the sector, has manifested in creating robust startup ecosystem in biotech sector also. In the last 8 years, the number of biotech start-ups in the country has increased to more than five thousand. While, the total number of startups of all kinds, has risen to 70 thousand from a few hundreds in last 8 years (operating in about 60 different industries). This way every 14th startup operates in the bio technology sector with more than 1100 such biotech startups emerging last year itself. The shift of talent towards the sector induces a great deal of investment, resulting in the number of investors being risen by 9 times and biotech incubators and funding for them being increased by 7 times. The number of biotech incubators has increased from 6 in 2014 to 75 now. Biotech products have also increased from 10 to more than 700 today.

A frontline area of science with immense potential for the benefit of the human kind, biotechnology sector is helping to heal the world by harnessing nature’s unfathomable potential and people’s very complex genetic makeup. By reducing rates of infectious disease, it is saving millions of lives and changing the odds of life-threatening conditions by tailoring treatments to minimize the health risks and side effects by creating more precise tools. These are the reasons why India’s bio-economy has grown 8 times in the last 8 years and from 10 billion dollar to 80 billion dollar. More importantly, India is not too far from reaching the league of top-10 countries in Biotech’s global ecosystem.

Managing Inflation – Handling Global Troubles Locally

NRIs report price of gas in Bay Area spiking from around $1.3/gallon in March this year to current rate of around $6/gallon. The lingering conflict between Russia and Ukraine has thrown nagging challenges which accentuate the existing supply chain disruptions, causing food, energy and commodity prices being elevated, inflation to hit decadal highs and persistence of demand-supply imbalances. This globalisation of inflation makes it mandatory for the central banks across the globe to reorient and recaliberate their monetary policies. Emerging market economies are facing even bigger challenges from increased market turbulence, monetary policy shifts in advanced economies and their spillover effects, which slow the process of economic recovery in emerging economies like India as is seen by the GDP growth forecasts of World Bank, Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings, Fitch, IMF, ADB and RBI.

The protracted conflict in Europe and the accompanying sanctions being increasingly imposed by the western world have kept global commodity prices elevated across the board, exerting sustained upward pressure on consumer price inflation, well beyond the targets in many economies. The ongoing conflict is also turning out to be a dampener for global trade and growth. The steps taken by the advanced economies are also leading to heightened volatility in global financial markets, causing corrections in major equity markets, sizeable swings in sovereign bond yields, US dollar appreciation, capital outflows from emerging markets like India. Globally, stagflation concerns are also growing, which also spurs volatility in global financial markets.

Navigating through difficult times makes it necessary to be sensitive to the new realities and incorporate them into thinking and actions. After much debate and discussions over all possible dimensions of macroeconomic situations and newer challenges being thrown upon by different geo-political and economic happenings globally, today the RBI took a unanimous decision to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90% with immediate effect. Inflationary pressures going much beyond the upper tolerance level- a gradual, orderly and calibrated rise in repo rates, is something that the RBI is required to take account of, without losing sight of the growth requirements and disturbing macroeconomic stability. However, despite these challenging times, the Indian economy has remained resilient, ably supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and buffers. The recovery has gained momentum despite the pandemic and the conflict in Europe.

As the RBI is of the opinion that inflation is likely to remain above the upper tolerance band of 6% through the first three quarters of 2022-23. The reduction in excise duties on petrol and diesel will certainly help in mitigating the inflationary pressures to some extent, however further monetary policy measures appeared necessary to anchor the inflation expectations. According to the provisional estimates released by the NSO on May 31, 2022, India’s real GDP growth in 2021-22 is estimated at 8.7%. The level of real GDP in 2021-22 has exceeded the pre-pandemic (2019-20) level. The recovery in domestic economic activity also remains firm, with growth impulses getting increasingly broad-based. Manufacturing and services PMIs for May point towards further expansion of activity, corroborated by encouraging movements in railway freight and port traffic, domestic air traffic, GST collections, steel consumption, cement production and bank credit. While urban demand is recovering, rural demand is also gradually improving. The contact-intensive services related to trade, hotels and transport have also recovered substantially. Capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector increased further to 74.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021-22, which is likely to increase further in 2022-23, which is sure to spur the investment activities. Government’s capex push, pick-up in bank credit, persisting growth in imports of capital goods, buoyancy in merchandise exports with double digit growth for the fifteenth successive month in May and high growth of non-oil and non-gold imports are the indications of a sustained recovery in the Indian economy. Hence, there appears no trouble even when RBI raises repo rates in a calibrated fashion.

Tribal Research for Conservation and Meaningful Development

India has established ‘National Tribal Research Institute (NTRI) in Delhi to focus on the development of tribes and conservation of their art, culture and heritage. The newly built institute is positioned as to become the nerve centre of tribal research issues and matters in academic, executive and legislative fields as around 10.4 crores tribals living in different parts of the country love their art, craft and cultural threads to be preserved and promoted. Scheduled Tribes (ST) constituting approximately 8.6% of the population of India, also have very close relations with nature and forest geography of the country and may provide great insights.

Realising the importance, the Government of India has recently, focused much on the development of tribes and conservation of their heritage and culture as a priority. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs in line with this vision and its enduring commitment for welfare of tribals, geared itself to ensure sectoral development through enhanced allocation of financial resources, convergence of efforts, re-engineering of planning and implementation mechanism of the Ministry. With an enhanced availability of resources the Ministry is now charting out a new progress path with greater commitment to ensure holistic development of tribal communities. Presently, Tribal Research Institute (TRI) is the research body of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs at the state level, however it focuses more on gathering knowledge and research and less as a think tank for tribal development and preservation of tribal cultural heritage.

NTRI and similar institutions of national eminence have a great role in nation-building as collaboration and networking with reputed research institutes, universities, organizations, academic bodies and resource Centres is essential to further the cause effectively. Monitoring projects of tribal research institutes, centres of excellence and research scholars of NFS and setting up the norms for improvement in the quality of research and training, will pave the way for better understanding of socio-cultural dynamics of the society, history, nature and geography, as tribals are widely considered to be the original inhabitants of the land.

The new institute would also provide policy inputs to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as well as state welfare departments, design studies and programs that improve or support socio-economic aspects of tribal lifestyles and help in creating and maintaining the database of PMAAGY. It will also provide guidelines in setting and running of tribal museums and showcasing rich tribal cultural heritage of India under one umbrella.

In recent years, tribal artisans, tribal produce and tribal dance troupes have attracted attention as they are invited to showcase their indigenous products and performances across the country. The scheme of Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP covers various activities. Hence, expanding knowledge base about tribals, their art, culture, heritage and produce is the need of the hour.

Harnessing Digital Strength for Credit Delivery

Launch of recent digital platforms by the government like DigiLocker, eNAM (e-trading platform for the National Agriculture Market), AI-driven research portal SUPACE (Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency), CoWIN platform, National Single Window Platform, etc. which have worked wonders as far as information delivery, public use, notice circulations, availing services, bookings and record-keeping, etc, is concerned. These have also become a means of transparency and accessibility and even grievance addressal in some cases. The National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) that was launched by NITI Aayog for free public use recently, ensures the same. It makes data accessible, interoperable, interactive, and available on a user-friendly platform, which intends to democratise access to public government data. ‘Jan Samarth’ portal is yet another skyrocketing idea of the Government to cut the clutter and establish a direct connect with public.

Launching of the national portal for credit linked government schemes – ‘Jan Samarth’, may prove to be a game changer for the economy, as it gives a big boost to the inclusive growth and development of various sectors by guiding and providing the beneficiaries with the right type of government benefits through simple and easy digital processes. It promises to improve the ease of living for those who presently have to face much hassle in the lending process. In absence of human interventions in the approval – red tap, human eccentricities and corruption would cease to exist in the process, paving way for a transparent setup, greater growth of the economy and judicious and rational utilization of the human resources.

Being first of its kind platform, ‘Jan Samarth’ is a one stop digital portal linking government credit schemes, which directly connects beneficiaries to lenders. The portal ensures end to end coverage of all the linked schemes by bringing all kinds of government schemes on a single platform, making them easily accessible for the people and without much puzzle. The portal is a universal platform for delivery of various schemes being run by the various ministries and departments of the government. Working on the ideals of minimum government maximum governance, this nationwide portal plans to initially onboard 13 credit linked government schemes and the offerings will gradually be expanded, which will depend on compatibility, since a few Centre sponsored welfare and credit linked schemes involve multiple government departments/agencies/ministries.

The portal uses smart analytics and technologies that provide guidance to beneficiaries for checking subsidy, eligibility and the auto recommendation system that recommends the suitable schemes as per the requirements and credentials of the beneficiaries. The entire lending process is automated and based on digital verifications to make it simple, speedy, and hassle-free. Being integrated with the governments’ Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), the new portal helps in receiving in-principal approval of loans for MSMEs and after receiving in-approval, the loan is expected to be disbursed in a few days as the loan application process doesn’t have any human interventions, rather it depends on advanced algorithms to analyse data points from sources like income tax return, GST data, banks accounts among others.

Jan Samarth Portal has multiple integrations with UIDAI, CBDT, NSDL, LGD and other such organisations to make the processes smooth for both beneficiaries and lenders. It does enable beneficiaries to choose from multiple options being offered by various lending financial institutions on the portal. Presently, the platform has more than 10 nodal agencies and over 125 lenders with four broad loan categories – education, business, livelihood and agriculture related infrastructure loan. To avail the loan, beneficiaries first need to check their eligibility by providing answers to few simple questions under the selected loan category. When found eligible, they can proceed to provide the required details and documents. Upon submitting the details, people are recommended to select the schemes based on their needs and then they need to proceed to apply online for the selected scheme to receive digital approval.

India’s 5 prong action to save soil

‘Save Soil’ is turning into a global movement. Projected data due to loss of biodiversity, poor top soil linked food shortage and malnutrition is very scary. It is an urgent requirement for leaders of the world to rejuvenate 15-20inches of top soil of the planet. In this context, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the occasion of the World Environment Day, he also stressed on the efforts that have been taken in last few years in order to rejuvenate the soil of India. PM Modi conveyed that to save the soil, the government has focused on five main things. First- How to make the soil chemical free. Second- How to save the organisms that live in the soil, which are called Soil Organic Matter in technical language. Third- How to maintain soil moisture, how to increase the availability of water till it. Fourth- How to remove the damage that is happening to the soil due to less groundwater. And fifth, how to stop the continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests.

All these five focal points have helped in health retention of soil through innovative schemes and initiatives which are based on collaboration, education and mordernisation. In 2015, the government launched the Soil Health Card, which is a printed report that is extended to the farmers for all their land or holdings. The card provides every farmer with soil nutrient status of his land and teaches him accordingly about the dosage of fertilizers and essential soil amendments that should be maintained for good soil health. Government also employs experts to help the farmers in carrying out the corrective measures. Thanks to this scheme, many Indian farmers now get a proper soil health record which assists them to undertake planned cultivation and largely prevents risks of crop failure that used to be very common before. So far, a total of 22,71,21,456 Soil Health Cards were issued to farmers between 2015-2019 across the country, whereas 11,531 new soil testing labs (491 static, 107 mobile, 8811 minilabs and 2122 village level labs) and strengthening of 829 labs have been sanctioned to the states. The massive success is indicated in the fact that since 2015, around 6.04 lakh demonstrations, 36,928 farmers’ trainings and 7,425 farmers’ melas have been organized/conducted under the programme. Village level rural development workers like Krishi Sakhis, Pasu Sakhis are even involved in educating farmers on right use of fertilizers.

The government has also been endorsing organic farming and use of Nano fertilizers that play a vital role in enhancing the efficiency of nutrients and in reducing soil contamination. The concept of ‘Low cost organic farming’ under the Schemes Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) & Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), is also being promoted for quite some time. Apart from financial support, capacity-building for organic farming through trainings and seminars / awareness camps has been integral part of these schemes. For maintaining soil moisture, mega promotion of intiatives like PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana, ‘Per drop more Crop’ campaign, etc. have worked wonders. Mass awareness through these has resulted in increasing water use efficiency at the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies, i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Use of drones for irrigation and controlled fertilizer spray is a recent addition in the newfound efforts to preserve soil nutrients and maintaining balance.

Lastly, for controlling continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests, the government has rolled out strict initiatives to educate people and motivate them to go green. Some heartfelt initiatives also include the ‘Har Med Par Ped’ scheme to encourage tree plantation on farm land along with crops/ cropping system to help the farmers get additional income and make their farming systems more climate resilient and adaptive. Further, while National Afforestation Programme (NAP) is being implemented for afforestation of degraded forest lands, Green India Mission (GIM) aims at improving the quality of forest and increase in forest cover besides cross sectoral activities on landscape basis. In order to reclaim and develop barren lands, several location specific bio-engineering measures have also been developed to check soil erosion due to run-off of rain water. Concerned Indian Institutes have also developed reclamation technology, sub-surface drainage, bio-drainage, agroforestry interventions and salt tolerant crop varieties, etc. to improve the productivity of saline, sodic and waterlogged soils in the country.