Lok Sabha Question No. 3013 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC)
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Eatala Rajender, Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, Smt. D K Aruna, Shri Suresh Kumar Shetkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3013

ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025

## Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC)

## 3013.   Smt. D K Aruna:

Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy:

Shri Suresh Kumar Shetkar:

Shri Eatala Rajender:

Will the Minister of Science and Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  India  has  completed  and  made  available  a  year-long  compilation  of  10,000 human genomes representing 83  population  groups,  making  up  about  2%  of  the  country's 4,600 population groups as a data base and this collection will serve as a template of future investigations into disease and drug therapy and will now be available to researchers across the world for investigation and is housed at the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) and this paved  the way  for India strengthening the biotechnology economy  as  well as biotechnology-based manufacturing, if so, the details thereof;

(b)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  experts  said  that  while  only  a  small  fraction  of India's population groups were studied and the door was open to expanding the database to a million genomes and though costs are a limiting factor, a million would dramatically scale insight into India's genetic diversity; and

(c) if so, the details thereof in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY & EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) Department  of  Biotechnology  has  created  the  national  resource  data  of  whole  genome sequencing  of  10,074  healthy  individuals  from  83  heterogeneous  populations  from  99 different sites, under the "GenomeIndia" project, to create a library of genetic variations. This data  aims  to  serving  both  scientific  and  medical  community,  fostering  genomic  research. Hence, the data has been archived at the Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC), a National Repository set up by this Department. The data can be used for developing indigenous chips, diagnostics  and  therapeutics,  benefiting  healthcare  system  of  the  country  and  thus  will contribute  to  the  bioeconomy  of  the  country.  The  Department  has  planned  to  fund translational  research  in  which  this  dataset  will  serve  as  a  template,  thus  maximizing  the benefits of the data generated under 'GenomeIndia' project. This data will be disseminated to the  researchers  under  the  provisions  of  the  Biotech-PRIDE  (Promotion  of  Research  and Innovation  through  Data  Exchange)  Guidelines  and  'Framework  for  Exchange  of  Data (FeED) Protocols.

(b) and (c) Under the 'GenomeIndia' project, the study has been carried out throughout the length  and  breadth  of  the  country  and  ensured  equitable  sampling  across  linguistic,  social, and regional groups in India. Approximately, 36.7% of the samples were collected from rural, 32.2 % from urban and 31.1 % from the tribal populations. It is imperative that maximum benefit  should  be  accrued  from  the  large  data  base  already  created.  Hence  the  Department initially  focuses  on  translational  research  using  the  already  available  dataset,  for  which proposals are being sought throughout the country and the process is still on; hence state wise data in this regard is not available.

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