The remarkable march of India into the world of bio-sciences and technological advances began in 1986. That year, the then Prime Minister of the country, late Rajiv Gandhi accepted the vision that unless India created a separate Department for Biotechnology, within the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India the country would not progress to the desired extent. This was because many of our macro-economic issues of growth were subsumed within that science’s development.
That decision has made India one of the first countries to have a separate department for this stream of science and technology. However the initiation of deliberations to establish the department started much earlier In 1982, after detailed deliberations with the scientific community, and on the basis of recommendations by the then Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet, a National Biotechnology Board (NBTB) was constituted by the Government to identify priority areas and evolve long term perspective for Biotechnology in India. It was also responsible for fostering programme and strengthening indigenous capabilities in this newly emerging discipline.
The NBTB was chaired by the formidable scientist Professor MGK Menon, the then Member (Science) of India’s Planning Commission. All the Secretaries to the various departments of the government dealing with science were appointed as Members of this Board. A separate Department of Biotechnology (DBT) was finally set up in February, 1986 and the NBTB selected Dr S Ramachandran as the first Secretary of the department. The DBT constituted a ten member Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) with heads of various scientific agencies and a seven member Standing Advisory Committee for North America SAC (0) to ensure that the Department kept abreast of global developments in the field of Biotechnology.
Dr S Ramachandran, says that Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi recognized that the pace at which biological sciences were growing globally, that “unless we leap forward, there is no way of catching up with the rest of the world”. So space was allocated to a small team to sit in the now sprawling and modern CGO Complex, at Lodhi Road, New Delhi, to set up the DBT. According to Dr Ramachndran the Department started with a modest beginning of around Rs 4 to 6 crores as its first budget.
