India is a developing country, and for a country like this, focusing on healthcare is a necessary thing. A big part of the country’s growth is associated with Health. Keeping this in mind, India has put two national-level programs into the spotlight. That includes building genomic data of population and crops. As this genomic data will provide a platform through personalized drugs can be created, and the problem regarding crop yield can be solved.
Based on data existing in the world, the country has attempted to create genomic data of South Asians. The initiative of genetic mapping started back in 2018. It was an approach by professor K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, who appealed Prime Minister for pre-proposals from researchers in India.
Vijay Chandru, founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based Strand Life Sciences along with the team, showed up their first pre-proposals to the Prime Minister’s Science, technology, and Innovation Advisory council. Chandru said that these proposals might evolve into national schemes, and the government will fund this scheme. It is an essential aspect of health care, drug discovery, and agriculture.
Genetic data mapping is an excellent area of interest for a scientist. Although it’s a cumbersome process, it’s advantages are countless. It would provide many solutions to future problems. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the Biocon founder, called it an investment in technology to reach the competitive edge for the country.
The mapping of genome data is under great concern by the government. Nirmala Sitaraman, Finance Minister, announced about the national level science scheme in the budget. In 2019 ET had reported that India would launch its human genome mapping project. Department of Biotechnology (DBT) instrumented this project, Ministry of Science and Technology. It is working with a vision of scanning 20,000 Indians genomes in 5 years and thus works on a personalized level. All of this will take our healthcare to the next level.
This idea would bring forth many aspects of healthcare and help to work at genetic profiles. This success of this project would bring a significant and positive change in the field of healthcare and a clear and bright future for the same.