The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) & Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for mutual collaboration in the field of Polar Biology (Biology of Polar regions).
- Under the agreement, both organizations will work under one roof and work jointly to address relevant questions in Polar Biology.
- The centre point of collaboration between the 2 entities will be the biotechnological applications of polar microbes.
- The MoU was signed by Renu Swarup, Secretary of DBT & Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary of MoES.
Key Points
i.Under the MoU, the two entities will collaborate in mutually agreed areas of research in POLAR sciences.
ii.The two entities will set up DBT-MoES Polar Research Center (Joint Laboratories) at MoES stations in Polar Regions to strengthen the collaboration and speed up the research.
- Joint Laboratories will enable researchers to perform the experiments on the site and reduce the need to transport the samples to parent laboratories in India.
- It will generate valuable information and novel products from these unique environments.
iii.The initiative will be taken-up in mission mode through networking with the elite institutions in India.
Polar Region
The Polar Region which includes the Antarctic, Arctic, Southern Ocean and Himalayas remains an unexplored system.
- The region has a unique ecosystem. They experience extreme climates compared to the rest of the world.
MoES’s 2021-26 Plan
MoES’s 2021-26 plan includes a weather forecasting programme for wind and solar energy sectors, in which weather plays a crucial role.
- The 2021-2026 plan has an outline of the major projects that the ministry will undertake during this period.
Recent Related News:
March 4, 2021, The 2nd edition of Global Bio-India 2021 was held virtually from New Delhi on March 1-3, 2021 which was inaugurated by Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Science & Technology.
About Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
It comes under the Ministry of Science & Technology
Secretary – Renu Swarup
Head Office – New Delhi
About Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Dr. Jitendra Singh (Udhampur – Jammu and Kashmir)
