New Delhi [India], July 28 (ANI): Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said India has a target of USD 300 billion in bioeconomy by 2030.

New Delhi [India], July 17 (ANI): First Indian elected as Regional Director of World Health Organization (WHO)'s South-East Asia Region, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh on Sunday congratulated India for setting a 'new record' by administering two billion vaccine doses within months.

New Delhi Jan 18 PTI Union minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday called for collaboration between India and the UK on issues of mutual concern such as achieving the goals of food security and zero hunger Addressing a joint India-UK meet on Sustaining Food Production under Environmental Stress through virtual mode Singh said the two countries must invite global collaborations in various dimensions of science like agriculture medicine food pharma engineering or defense The workshop is being organised jointly by National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute NABI Mohali an institute under the Department of Biotechnology University of Birmingham in the UK and supported by Newton Bhabha Fund and British Council He called for collaboration between the two nations on issues of mutual concern like achieving the goals of food security and zero hunger He said Indias efforts to safeguard the food security needs of every citizen in the country have been unprecedented as Prime Minister Narendra Modi even ensured that no person goes hungry during the pandemic time Moreover policies have been framed to protect interests of small and marginal farmers and conserve local food cultures which in turn will significantly contribute to food security the minister added Singh said India-UK joint collaboration may include programmes like students exchange basic research technology development product development as well as productprocess demonstration and their implementation in joint collaboration The minister said the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that science is the only major key tool to find solutions and to give solutions for tough times to be faced by the mankind He pointed out that Indian science has proved the capability to produce vaccines for such a high riskdevastating disease in a very limited time and added We should not restrict our ideas to Indian perspectives rather there should have a global horizon Dwelling on the issue of sustainable food production Singh said the South Asian region is facing the shrinking arable land besides the problem of global climate change that needs to be addressed Quoting World Bank data the minister pointed out that arable land in South Asia was reported at 4318 per cent in 2018 which has been stagnant since the early 1970s and recently declining He said growth in yields and more intensive use of land will account for all of the growth in crop production and will also compensate for losses in the arable land area Underlining that the global pattern of food production and distribution may need to shift significantly as climate change progresses Singh called for joint funding to develop a coherent and stakeholder-relevant RD programme that will address this challenge He said the initiative by the British Council to support such interactive meet among the researchers with a common goal will draw attention from stakeholders and nurture young investigators to provide them with an excellent platform to share and rear the ideas PTI UZM SMN SMN

India on Monday got a pat on the back from the World Health Organisation as the country’s cumulative vaccination coverage against Covid-19 surpassed the 75 crore-mark.  The WHO South-East Asia regional director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh congratulated India for achieving the feat at an ‘unprecedented pace.’In a tweet Dr Khetrapal quoted as saying that while it took 85 days to administer the […]