Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal today told captains of the bio-tech industry that generation of one million jobs by 2010.
Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal today told captains of the bio-tech industry that generation of one million jobs by 2010, that the industry projected in the sector, may not be possible.
'One million jobs by 2010 will never happen. It is a far cry,' Sibal said at the inauguration of 'Bio 2006', a three-day annual event billed as India's biggest biotech show.Unlike the IT sector based on services, biotechnology sector required a lot of capital investment and 'it (BT) is different,' he said. 'I don't expect the job creation that the industry expects by 2010.' Sibal also asked multinational companies to change their model of drug development to make drugs affordable to the poor and focus on diseases that afflict the less developed world.
'There is something wrong with the model the West has adopted in drug development. That model must change. It is time that the West and MNCs realised that it must change.' Sibal told the meet, attended by delegations from India and abroad, that only 25 per cent of the drugs developed by multinational companies related to diseases afflicting the less developed world.
'Priorities of India are different from those of the Western world,' he said, emphasising that investments must be made in controlling diseases which 'are the burden of the poor' to ensure that the drugs were affordable and accessible for them.
Sibal asked the Indian companies to 'start innovating and investing' in controlling diseases that affect Indian population.
(Source:PTI News)
