STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: 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 on Friday released the world’s largest cattle Genomic Chip “IndiGau’, developed by India. On the eve of 75th Independence Day, the Minister also released the special issue of “Science Reporter” highlighting 75 years of India’s progress in the field of Science.
Present on the occasion were eminent scientists from different fields, led by Principal Scientific Advisor Dr Vijay Raghavan, Secretary S&T Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary Biotechnology Dr Renu Swaroop and DG CSIR Dr Shekhar Mande.
This is the first Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) based chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
This indigenous chip was developed by the concerted efforts of scientists of National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology.
In his address, Dr Jitendra Singh said, this is an occasion for triple celebrations, that is, celebration of India’s Cow and Cattle, celebration of the calibre of India’s Scientists and above all, celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Dr Jitendra Singh said that IndiGau is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip of the world. It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) more than that placed on 777K Illumina Chip of US & UK breeds. The Minister said, this CHIP of our own indigenous cows is a great example of self-reliant India. He said, this chip will have practical utility in the Government’s schemes to achieve the goal of conservation of our own breeds with better characters and help towards doubling of farmers’ income by 2022.