On 10th July 2020, the Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr.Harsh Vardhan released a White Paper on “Focused Interventions for Make in India Post COVID 19” & “Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: Status, Issues, Technology Readiness and Challenges” prepared by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) in New Delhi over a virtual platform.
Key People:
Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Chairman of Governing Council of TIFAC, Prof. Pradeep Srivastava , Executive Director of TIFAC.
White Paper:
The White Paper apprehends the specific strengths, market trends and opportunities with reference to the supply and demand, self-sufficiency and mass-scale production capacity in the critical sectors like healthcare, machinery, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), agriculture, manufacturing, and electronics.
Features of White Paper:
i.The White Paper provides a map of sectors, technology and strategies of high priority which will support to increase the growth of the economy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
ii.This identifies the policy options in the Public health system, MSME sector, Global relations: FDI, recalibrated trade alignments, new-age technologies, etc.
iii.This states the importance of identifying and supporting the startups and collaborating with incubators of Israel, Germany and to promote the importance of evolving platforms in developing technologies.
iv.The White Paper will support to understand, evaluate and define the impacts of COVID-19 on Indian Economy and will provide the guidelines for the policy makers and general public to reduce the economic shock and support to increase the economy and to prepare the ground for development using the self-reliance policy.
Key Points:
i.The White Paper supports the steps towards increasing Indian Economy with the new mantra “Local Solutions to Global Challenges – Policy and Technology Imperatives”
ii.Harsh Vardhan stated that the measures like Policy support to unconventional strategies, leveraging into new international partnerships in important sectors of Agriculture, Electronics, Health, ICT and Manufacturing and providing new technology stimulus will support in recovering the national economy.
iii.The recommendation in White paper will speed up the development of Indian economy and help towards achieving “ATMANIRBAR”.
iv.Harsh Vardhan also released a paper on “Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: Status, Issues, Technology Readiness and Challenges” which deals with the technological preparedness of the Pharmaceutical industries.
About Ministry of Science and Technology:
Union Minister– Harsh Vardhan
Department under the ministry– Department of Science & Technology(DST), Department of Biotechnology(DBT), Department of Scientific & Industrial Research(DSIR)
