Is Atmanirbhar Bharat Holding Up India s Genome Sequencing Program?
India s newly launched programme to widely and rapidly sequence genomes of the novel coronavirus has already run into major hurdles.
Illustration: ColiN00B/pixabay
Bengaluru: Rakesh Mishra, the director of Hyderabad’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), is frustrated. CCMB has been sequencing SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes since the COVID-19 pandemic began â initially as part of its own research program and since December 2020 as part of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a group of ten labs the government put together to ramp up sequencing across to India.
To do its work, Mishra’s team needs specialised plastic containers and reagents that go into sequencing machines. But buying them has become needlessly complicated in the last year, taking time away from his lab’s core jobs, according to Mishra.
The Biden administration has told the US Congress that India's recent emphasis on import substitution through the ''Make in India'' campaign has "epitomised" the challenges facing the bilateral trade relationship.
Beyond the Bezos vs Ambani battle for India’s retail market
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A bruising battle for supremacy between two of the world’s richest men is hogging the limelight, but the silent changes in India’s retail landscape deserve equal attention. The ongoing digital transformation of kirana stores, tens of millions of shops catering to 1.3 billion consumers, will matter for everyone from Unilever and Procter & Gamble to State Bank of India. It will also be important to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
The two billionaires are circling each other over an Indian retailer in crisis. The founder of Future Group took Bezos’s money, but sold his debt-laden business to Ambani when the pandemic pressure became too much. Amazon is in India’s courts to scuttle the $3.4 billion sale, which could end up making Reliance’s dominance over the consumer economy unshakeable.
India’s policies trade-restrictive, Make in India epitomises challenges to trade relationship: US
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In its trade agenda for 2021, Washington said that the recent Indian emphasis on import substitution through the Make in India campaign has “epitomized the challenges” facing the bilateral trade relationship though India’s large market and economic growth make it “an essential market” for many American exporters.
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The US has said that India’s general and consistent trend of trade-restrictive policies has inhibited the potential of the bilateral trade relationship.
In its trade agenda for 2021, Washington said that the recent Indian emphasis on import substitution through the Make in India campaign has “epitomized the challenges” facing the bilateral trade relationship though India’s large market and economic growth make it “an essential market” for many American exporters.
The campaign epitomises the challenges facing bilateral trade ties, U.S. Congress told
The U.S. tried to resolve “long-standing market access impediments affecting U.S. exporters” with India during 2020, says the 2021 President’s Trade Agenda and 2020 Annual Report an annual report submitted by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to Congress. The report terms India’s policies “trade-restrictive” and saying the “Make in India” campaign epitomises the challenges to the trade relationship.
“While India’s large market, economic growth, and progress towards development make it an essential market for many U.S. exporters, a general and consistent trend of trade-restrictive policies have inhibited the potential of the bilateral trade relationship. Recent Indian emphasis on import substitution through a “Make in India” campaign has epitomized the challenges facing the bilateral trade relationship,” the report says. The Make in India campaign was launched by Pri