Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today released “Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines” developed by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology.On the occasion, Dr.RenuSwarup, Secretary Department of Biotechnology, other senior Officials from Government and researchers from various Institutions were also present. The Minister also launched the website of Indian Biological Data Centre, IBDC.Dr Jitendra Singh said that in a large population of over 135 crore and heterogeneous character of the country, India needs its own exclusive database for Indian Research and Solutions. He said, there is no dearth of talent in the country and the indigenous database will have huge enabling mechanism for exchange and adoption of data by young scientists and researchers for the benefit of Indian Citizens.The Minister said that in the last 6-7 Years, Modi Government has given huge impetus and priority to Science and Technology and particularly in the Space Technology, where the world is looking up to India for win-win cooperation and collaboration.Describing the release of Biotech-PRIDE as 1st of its kind by the DBT, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India ranks number 4 amongst the top 20 countries contributing biological databases1. The Government invests a large amount of public funds to generate data in various sectors, including in the biosciences for knowledge generation, to gain deep insights into intricate biological mechanisms and other processes and for translation, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, advances in DNA sequencing and other high-throughput technologies along with a steep drop in DNA sequencing cost have enabled government agencies to fund research towards generation of large volumes of biological data in various sectors of Biosciences. He said, sharing a wide range of large scale data advances the understanding of the molecular and biological processes that will contribute to human health on agriculture, animal husbandry, fundamental research and thus will extend to societal benefits.Dr Jitendra Singh said, initially, these Guidelines will be implemented through Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Centre for Biotechnology supported by Department of Biotechnology. Other existing datasets/ data centres will be bridged to this IBDC which will be called Bio-Grid. This Bio-Grid will be a National Repository for biological knowledge, information and data and will be responsible for enabling its exchange, developing measures for safety, standards and quality for datasets and establishing detailed modalities for accessing data, the Minister added. The Biotech PRIDE Guidelines will facilitate this and enable exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country. The Biotech-PRIDE (Biotech Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) guidelines aim at providing a well-defined framework and guiding principle to facilitate and enable sharing and exchange of biological knowledge, information and data and is specifically applicable to high-throughput, high-volume data generated by research groups across the country.
These guidelines do not deal with generation of biological data per se but is an enabling mechanism to share and exchange information and knowledge generated as per the existing laws, rules, regulations and guidelines of the country. These guidelines will ensure data sharing benefits viz. maximizing use, avoiding duplication, maximized integration, ownership information, better decision-making and equity of access. These guidelines are the enabling mechanism for sharing the data publicly and within a reasonable period of time after data-generation, thus the utility of the data will be maximal. Resultantly, accrual of benefit of public investment for data generation will not be compromised.The PRIDE Guidelines will be helpful to harmonize, synergize and encourage the data sharing for research and analysis in the country and to promote scientific work and foster progress by building on previous work. These guidelines will also be advantageous in avoiding duplication and wasteful expenditure of resources on research. Initially, these Guidelines will be implemented through Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Centre for Biotechnology supported by Department of Biotechnology. On the occasion, Hon’ble Minister also launched the web-portal for submission of Biological data to IBDC. Other existing datasets/ data centres will be bridged to this IBDC which will be called Bio-Grid. This Bio-Grid will be a National Repository for biological knowledge, information and data and will be responsible for enabling its exchange, developing measures for safety, standards and quality for datasets and establishing detailed modalities for accessing data.