Bioscience community hails Dr Renu Swarup’s appointment as secretary of DBT

New Delhi: The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on 10th April has approved the appointment of Dr Renu Swarup to the post of Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.

Dr Swarup has been appointed to the post for a period of two years or until she attains 60 years of age, the ministry said. She had been previously serving as the Senior Adviser to DBT besides holding the charge of Managing Director, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

Her predecessor, Prof K Vijay Raghavan has recently been appointed as the new Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India following his retirement from the post in February this year. Since the exit of Dr Raghavan, the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Dr Ashutosh Sharma was also taking care of the DBT as its acting Secretary.

Dr Swarup’s new role widely appreciated

Once the order was out, the news broke on the Twitter and was quickly lapped up and hailed by the stakeholders from biotechnology, agriculture, medical technology sectors. The congratulatory messages flew in from top academicians, scientists and industry leaders.

Dr K VijayRaghavan congratulated Dr Swarup and expressed happiness that he would continue working with her in the new role. “Congratulations and all best wishes to Dr Renu Swarup, the new Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology for a productive and effective tenure! Renu comes with the full support of all stakeholders across the country. We look forward to working with her,” he stated.

In her message, Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw mentioned: “Congrats to Dr Renu Swarup as she takes over as Secretary DBT. Look forward to working with you to take Indian biotech to the next frontier.”

Dr Swarup has a great deal of rich experience behind her back 

During her career spanning 29 years, Dr Renu Swarup has spearheaded many initiatives, projects and programs on variety of topics at the DBT. Dr Swarup has played a key role in getting BIRAC created and making it operational. She has been heading BIRAC since last 6 years when it was incorporated by the Government of India to nurture and promote innovation research in the Biotech Enterprise with special focus on Start-ups and SMEs.

A PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Dr Renu Swarup completed her Post Doctoral at The John Innes Centre, Norwich UK, under Commonwealth Scholarship and returned to India to take up the assignment of a Science Manager in the DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, in 1989. She was actively engaged in the formulation of the Biotechnology Vision in 2001, National Biotechnology Development Strategy in 2007 and Strategy II, 2015-20 as the Member Secretary of the Expert Committee.