India needs to follow its own model of innovation: Dr Krishna Ella

New Delhi: In his talk at the BIRAC’s 6th Foundation Day celebrations on 20th March, Dr Krishna Ella, Founder and Chairman, Bharat Biotech International mentioned that India has not done enough on novel innovations that could create affordable solutions to benefit larger chunk of its population.

“India ranks 46th on the world’s innovation map. Not an encouraging thing,” remarked Dr Ella, adding further “Challenge is that the society doesn’t respect science.”

On GM Crops, he was critical of what he called the mis-information campaign against the technology. “While the Indians proudly buy the Canola oil which actually is the mustard from abroad, they don’t want the GM Mustard to be approved. Isn’t it sad?” he asked.

“Instead of following the West blindly, we should rather have an own model for India,” Dr Ella said adding, “Let us not compare our startup ecosystem with the Silicon Valley. We need to find our own indigenous model.”

He advised the startups to update their regulatory knowledge when they are developing the products.

Commending the spirit of Indian entrepreneurs, he said that it is the never say die attitude that has made the once infamous cobra valley of Hyderabad as the famous genome valley now.

On the biodiversity bill, Dr Ella remarked that the bill is highly draconian. “For Indian startups it will be a nightmare. The bill in the present form will hurt the interests of biotech industry,” he said.

On the agricultural front, he gave an example about the wrong choices of farming. “Why is Kollam famous for better production than Nagpur despite same soil types? While Kollam has opted for allied agriculture, the Nagpur is using conventional one. The wrong choice of agriculture practices,” he said.