Research, innovation needed to deal with malnutrition, hunger, says Union minister Harsh Vardhan

Union minister Harsh Vardhan. (Source: AP Photo)

Union minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday urged scientists in the country to address the problem of hunger and malnutrition through biotechnology research and innovation. Vardhan, the minister for science & technology, inaugurated the new administrative and research buildings of two institutes — the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) and the Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) at Mohali. These institutes are under the administrative control of his ministry. Vardhan emphasised the need for quality research work and output with optimal utilisation of state-of-art equipment and infrastructure that can reach the common man in a form that can be easily perceived in proper perspective.

He encouraged scientists and students to use the biotechnological tools to address the problems related to quality of food and malnutrition with full enthusiasm.

The Union minister also urged both the institutes to work towards bringing a nutritional revolution in the country through biotechnology research and innovation for food and nutrition security.

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He counselled researchers to shift from routine to out-of-the-box thinking and to dream big to translate their efforts to greater innovations.

There should be a method for scientists to work to set time-frames to achieve their targets. NABI is the first agri-food and nutritional-based biotechnology institute, Vardhan said.