Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh  has recently launched 'Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines' developed by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology.

On the occasion, Dr RenuSwarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, other senior officials from the government and researchers from various institutions were also present. The minister also launched the website of the Indian Biological Data Centre, IBDC.

Initially, these guidelines will be implemented through the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Centre for Biotechnology supported by the Department of Biotechnology. Other existing datasets/ data centres will be bridged to this IBDC which will be called Bio-Grid.

"The Bio-Grid will be a National Repository for biological knowledge, information and data and will be responsible for enabling its exchange, developing measures for safety, standards and quality for datasets and establishing detailed modalities for accessing data", Dr Jitendra Singh said. 

The Biotech PRIDE Guidelines will enable the exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country. The guidelines aim at providing a well-defined framework and guiding principle to facilitate and enable sharing and exchange of biological knowledge, information and data and is specifically applicable to high-throughput, high-volume data generated by research groups across the country.

These guidelines do not deal with a generation of biological data per se but are an enabling mechanism to share and exchange information and knowledge generated as per the existing laws, rules, regulations and guidelines of the country.