Cabinet okays Bill on Regional Centre for Biotechnology

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for introduction of a Bill to provide legal status to the Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad.
The objective of the bill is to provide a legal status to the Centre so as to function independently as an autonomous body and also an 'institution of national importance' for education, training and research in the areas of biotechnology, a statement here said.
The Centre has already been established by an executive order of the Government of India in November, 2008 after the approval by the Union Cabinet. It is currently operational at the NCR Biotech Science Cluster, Faridabad and the enactment does not involve any financial implications at this stage, the statement added.

The Centre is a regional hub for interdisciplinary education, training and research in biotechnology with emphasis on novel education programmes relevant to industry, including bio-drug discovery science, nano-science and medicine, imaging techniques, designer crops, bioengineering and biomaterials, intellectual property, technology transfer and regulation to fulfil and overcome the acute shortage of skilled human resources in India.
It would be a hub of biotechnology expertise in the countries in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region, and more generally in the Asia region, and to address human resources needs in the region, the statement said.
The Centre is an inter-disciplinary institution in life sciences and biotechnology and offers novel educational and training courses in the interdisciplinary and related areas of biotechnology, it added.

It would also address designing of new and novel programmes for education and training which could then be assimilated by the existing universities in India and the Region.