Lok Sabha Question No. 96 (STARRED), answered on 2016-11-22
Subject: Promotion of Genetic Research
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 96 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22/11/2016

## PROMOTION OF GENETIC RESEARCH

## *96.  SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE d`f'k ,oa fdlku dY;k.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether adequate  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  to  encourage Genetic Engineering particularly in the fields of agriculture, floriculture, fisheries during the last three years and the current year and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  quality/standards  are  maintained  for  assessing  the safety  and nutritional quality of genetically engineered food and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether workshops/seminars were conducted by the Government  for awareness of the same and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the funds allotted for the genetic research during the last three years along with the outcomes of the research thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f'k ,oa fdlku dY;k.k ea=h (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

(a) to (d)

: A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) to (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 96 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22/11/2016 REGARDING 'PROMOTION OF GENETIC RESEARCH'

(a) To encourage Genetic Engineering particularly with a view to enable development in  the  fields  of  agriculture,  floriculture  and  fisheries,  the  Government  is  providing technical  and  financial  support  through  schemes  and  research  projects  of  various Ministries/  Departments  and  also  evolved  necessary  guidelines  and  standing  operating procedures (SOP). In addition, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has launched  a  Plan  Scheme  entitled  'Network  Project  on  Transgenics  in  Crops'  (NPTC) wherein  a  total  of  67  projects,  37  on  functional  genomics  and  30  on  transgenic development, have been sanctioned and implemented through ICAR institutes and State Agricultural  Universities  (SAUs).  These  projects  are  involved  in  development  of transgenic  rice,  sorghum,  watermelon,  tomato,  papaya,  sugarcane,  groundnut,  mustard, brinjal, castor, potato etc., and field trials were conducted for evaluation of insect, fungal and viral  resistance,  abiotic  stress  tolerance,  reduction  of  cold-induced  sweetening  and delayed  fruit  ripening. In  fisheries  science,  during  last  3  years  ICAR  has  undertaken research  in  the  areas  of  RNA  interference  based  methods  for  promoting  captive maturation  of  marine  tiger,  controlling  morphotype  differentiation  in  giant  freshwater prawn  Macrobrachium  rosenbergii,    shrimp  Penaeus  monodon,  promotion  of  captive spawning in indigenous catfish Clarias magur, development of biocistronic DNA vaccine construct  against  Edwardsiella  tarda,  development  of  White  Spot  Syndrome  Virus (WSSV)  and  Macrobrachium  rosenbergii  nodavirus,  (MrNV)  vaccines  for  shrimp, Myostatin gene disruption studies  of Indian major carps for improving skeletal  muscle growth  and  gene  characterization  to  develop  ornamental  transgenic  of  freshwater indigenous fish species.

(b) India  has  well  defined  regulatory  mechanisms  for  assessing  for  food,  feed  and environmental safety of GM food. Strict rules and guidelines are followed for bio-safety evaluations  of  GM  crops.   Institute  Biosafety  Committee  (IBSC)  at  the  institute  level, Review  Committee  on  Genetic  Manipulation  (RCGM)  under  Ministry  of  Science  & Technology and Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under Ministry of Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  look  after  evaluation  of  GM  crops  and implementation of rules and guidelines.

During entire research and development process, all Genetically Engineered (GE) crops undergo elaborate Food and Environmental safety assessment following regulatory guidelines and Standard Operating  Procedures  under  Rules-1989  of  Environment (Protection)  Act-1986.  GM  foods  are  also  regulated  under  Food  Safety  and  Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates laws for manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to  ensure  availability  of  safe  and  wholesome  food  for  human  consumption  and  for matters connected herewith or incidental thereto.

(c) Department  of  Biotechnology  (DBT)  and  ICAR,  in  association  with  Biotech Consortium India Ltd. (BCIL), regularly conduct workshop for the awareness on Genetic Engineering.  ICAR  launched  a  web  portal  (http://biosafety.icar.gov.in)  on  GM  crop biosafety, and designates two scientists from research institutes as 'Biosafety Officer' to acquire  and  disseminate  knowledge  on  GM  crop  biosafety.  DBT conducts  regular workshops for creating awareness on Genetic Engineering to officials of State Agriculture Departments, Faculties of State Agriculture Universities and other organizations involved in recombinant DNA (rDNA) research.

(d) It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  details  of  funds  earmarked  year-wise  to  research facilities by various agencies for genetic engineering activities since genetic engineering is  an  integral  part  of  many  major  programmes/  schemes  involving  other  conventional approaches  and  technologies.  Department  of  Biotechnology,  Government  of  India  has allocated  Rs.  650  lakhs  to  ICAR  during  the  last  three  years  for  genetic-engineering research  towards  development  of  transgenic  plants  for  both  abiotic  and  biotic  stress tolerance,  improvement  of  fruit  quality  and  shelf  life,  generation  of  male  sterility,  to understand  the  mechanism  of  plant  developmental  pathways  in  crop  plants  such  as tomato, chilli brassica and wheat and for development of rose cultivars and determining the diversity and genetic relationship in order to strengthen the rose breeding programme. So  far  as  Department  of  Agricultural  Research  and  Education  is  concerned,  Under the 'Network  Project  on  Transgenics  in  Crops',  ICAR,  about   Rs.  959  lakhs,  Rs.  850 lakhs  and  Rs.  750  lakhs  were  utilized  for  the  FY  2013-14,  2014-15  and  2015-16, respectively  and,  there  are  two  institutes  working  exclusively  on  Genetic  Engineering/ Bio-technology,  namely  Indian  Institute  of  Agriculture  Biotechnology  (IIAB),  Ranchi and  National  Research  Centre  for  Plant  Biotechnology  (NRCPB),  New  Delhi  function under  the  aegis  of  the  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  and  their  fund allocations are given below:

Table-1: Budget provided by ICAR for two Biotechnology based Research Institutes during last three years and the current year

| Rs. in Lakhs     | Rs. in Lakhs   | Rs. in Lakhs   | Rs. in Lakhs   | Rs. in Lakhs   |
|------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| Institute        | RE (2013-14)   | RE (2014-15)   | RE (2015-16)   | BE (2016-17)   |
| IIAB, Ranchi     | 243.00         | 294.33         | 183.00         | 1105.00        |
| NRCPB, New Delhi | 450.00         | 430.00         | 600.00         | 520.00         |

As regards the outcome of the research, in mustard crop, based upon the biosafety measures and biosafety research level -I trial (BRL-I), GEAC permitted to conduct BRLII trial of DMH 11. The said BRL -II trial of transgenic mustard hybrids DMH 11 was conducted  during  2014-15  season  at  IARI,  New  Delhi,  PAU,  Ludhiana  and  PAU Regional Research Station Bhatinda. The test hybrid DMH- 11 out  yielded the checks and had an average 25-30%yield superiority.

The status  of  the  other  crops  ready  for  the  Biosafety  Research  Level-  I  trials  is given in the following table:

Table: 2: Status of crops ready for BRL-I trial:

|   Sl. No. | Crop    | Gene      | Trait                            |
|-----------|---------|-----------|----------------------------------|
|         1 | Sorghum | Cry 1 B   | Stem borer resistance            |
|         2 | Brinjal | Cry 1 Ac  | Fruit and shoot borer resistance |
|         3 | Banana  | Ace-AMP 1 | Fusarium wilt resistance         |
|         4 | Tomato  | Cry1 AC   | Fruit borer resistance           |
|         5 | Tomato  | BcZAT12   | Abiotic stress tolerance         |
|         6 | Castor  | Cry 1 Aa  | Insect pests resistance          |

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