K'taka to revisit biotech policy

Karnataka, which had formulated the first biotechnology policy in the country in 2001 and had amended it in 2009 to meet the changing needs of the industry, is set to revisit the policy yet again.

With the Millennium Biotech Policy version 2' completing five years, the state government has now proposed to revisit the policy this year with a 'version 3' of the policy. For the version 3 of the policy, inputs of the Vision Group on Biotechnology would be taken into account.

The state is home to about 52 per cent of the core biotech companies in the country and accounts for 26 per cent of the biotech revenues of the country in export terms.

One of the chief initiatives of the government is to address the talent shortage being faced by the industry by setting up biotechnology finishing schools. The state government's 12 biotechonology finishing schools, according to the chief minister, is doing well and the Centre has noticed the performance of the schools. The Centre has now sanctioned Rs 5,000 per student per month and the scheme is valid for three years.

The state, with financial support from the Centre, is also setting up an incubation centre. The officials further added they had begun work on setting up a Nutraceutical-Phyto-Pharmaceutical Park (N2P2) in Mysore in collaboration with the CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute).

Also, a feasibility study was being carried out with the aim of starting an agri-biotech park in Dharwad in collaboration with University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. The officials further noted that a Bio-Venture Fund of $10-million would be set up to cater to certain hi-tech research activities such as transgenics and stem-cell biology.