The Promise of a $300 Billion Bioeconomy
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Around 32 years ago, in June 1992 to be precise, representatives of 178 countries came together in one of the world’s most glamorous cities — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — to write the script for a post-Cold War sustainable development model for the planet. It was, for all practical purposes, a most grand ambition, and to match the occasion, it had a grand name as well — The Earth Summit. To be sure, how do you get every single country in the world to agree to anything even small, leave alone a plan to save Earth? It was Mission: Impossible in the truest sense, but there wasn’t any Ethan Hunt in the room to save the day.
Born out of the Earth Summit, though, was a document called Agenda 21, which asserted that,
“biotechnology promises to make a significant contribution in enabling the development of, for example, better health care, enhanced food security through sustainable agricultural practices, improved supplies of potable water, more efficient industrial development processes for transforming raw materials, support for sustainable methods of afforestation and reforestation, and detoxification of hazardous wastes.”
Brave words, yes, but almost a decade later, in November 2001, when Calestous Juma, the renowned Kenyan scientist and Victor Konde, a senior science officer at the United Nations, sat together to write a paper on the “New Bioeconomy”, they were hopeful of the future, but not enthusiastic about the progress biotech had made since the Earth Summit.
They wrote:
“Advances in biotechnology-related fields such as genomics, genetic engineering, chemical engineering and cell technology are transforming the industrial and environmental process and management landscape. Microorganisms, enzymes or their products are replacing processes that depended heavily on chemicals, many of which are implicated in environmental damage. However, much discussion of biotechnology currently focuses on agricultural applications (and to some extent biomedical uses). The generic nature of biotechnology techniques makes it possible to create a new bioeconomy with greater prospects for the commercialization of new biotechnology products and for wider participation of the developing countries.”
It's been over 22 years since that paper, so it is time to look at what the next-gen bioeconomy is capable of. In her latest discussion document for Takshashila, Shambhavi Naik and three co-authors take a forward-thinking view on what 2030 could look like, and whether we can achieve a $300 billion bioeconomy target. In fact, the four authors recommend fifteen steps under five different heads to achieve just that in the next six, almost seven years.
Streamline Governance
Raise R&D funding
Build Capacity
Strengthen IPR, and
Promote Foreign Engagement
Together with Abhed Manocha, Roshan Valiathan and Dhritiman Borkakoti, Shambhavi breaks down each head into its Issues, Solutions and Outcomes. It is a quick, yet detailed roadmap to what India can achieve by 2030.
You must read it, of course, and share it with everyone who is even remotely interested in understanding our bioeconomy.
The Indian Navy Shows Its Mettle, And How!
If you have been scanning social media and the newspapers of late, the Indian Navy is playing an important role as a security provider in the Indian Ocean Region, with repeated operations demonstrating its capabilities, particularly in the north-western Indian Ocean, where security risks have increased due to the due to the twin problems of Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and piracy off the coast of Africa. This has strengthened the Indian Navy’s credentials and India’s reputation as a first responder and a force for peace and stability in the area.
Our resident defence and strategic affairs analyst, Yusuf Unjhawala, wrote precisely about this in his latest column for the Deccan Herald.
Yusuf writes:
“The Indian Navy must continue to be deployed in larger numbers to protect India’s interests. The Arabian Sea transports 60% of India’s oil and 50% of its overall trade. India is actively pursuing the new India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) to boost commerce and connectivity. India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have inked a framework agreement to make the IMEC operational. Despite the regional security issues, Greece, which serves as the IMEC’s point of entry into Europe, has expressed interest in moving forward with the project.”
As any public policy student knows that of all three main arms of the military, it is the Navy that is of the greatest strategic importance. Yusuf’s column explains why. You can read it here.
How The West Has Won And Will Now Perhaps Lose
“The West’s retreat from free trade and a rules-based international order has ominous prospects for the world. Simply put, it is no longer tenable to take any deal or norm at face value. Now realists will note that this has always been the case, and the West’s preference for multilateralism and international law since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been on account of its interests. Even so, there was — until perhaps a decade ago — an increasing belief that thorny issues of international politics and economics could be sorted out through international laws and institutions. This is not the case anymore.”
With these words, Takshashila co-founder and director Nitin Pai makes a strong case to understand why the West is wrong in deliberately ignoring norms for a global order. He does not seem very enthusiastic about the future either.
“I do not think the trend in Western behaviour will change in the near future. The retreat from globalism seems to be bipartisan. Right-wing arguments are weak, poorly constructed and wrapped in angry populism. The Left wraps its case in sanctimony and righteousness. The outcome is similar: restrictions on trade and immigration and disregard for international law. The rest of the world is noticing this and is bound to act accordingly.”
While the column makes strong points, it does so by using the tool of realism. Nitin does not see Western politics throwing up leaders who can rejuvenate internationalism. You can read his piece here (Statutory warning: Nitin’s fascination for Greek history can be infectious, so please, we urge you to read at your own risk) or here (non-paywalled).
What’s China Been Up To Along Its Side of the Border?
Regular readers of this newsletter know the answer to the question. The head of Takshashila’s Geospatial Programme, Dr Nithiyanandanam Yogeswaran, has been painstakingly mapping Chinese activity along its side of the border (Mainstream media, take note!).
Nithiya’s latest work was cited by two leading publications — The Hindu and The New Indian Express. The Hindu’s Diplomatic Editor, Suhasini Haider, referred to Nithiya’s piece in her Worldview video, and senior journalist Neena Gopal invited him on her video podcast along with two senior personalities — Ambassador Ashok Kantha and Lt Gen (retd) Dushyant Singh, who served as head of the Eastern Command. You can watch the passionately analysed video here.
How To Save Mumbai And Other Stories
Takshashila’s Sachin Kalbag joined hands with journalists Govindraj Ethiraj (founder and CEO of IndiaSpend and former Editor at CNBC India), Anuradha Sengupta (former editor of CNBC’s hugely successful show on branding and marketing), and passionate Mumbaikar and finance whiz Anupam Gupta to start a new video podcast series called ‘Saving Mumbai’ to put the great city at the front and centre of the policy debate.
Together, they will shoot videos with experts to devise realistic, outcome-based solutions for a city that many people say has become “unliveable.” Is it really? The series not only explores this question but also addresses some of the biggest, most urgent issues that Mumbaikars face.
The first episode is out. You can watch it here.
Sachin then sat down with Sanskriti Menon, the senior director at the Centre for Environmental Education in Pune, to talk about why the city, despite being one of the fastest growing in the country, is not given its due in terms of mobility and transportation.
Listen to another urgent issue here.
Amit Varma Speaks With Takshashila
The thing about Amit Varma’s podcasts is that you don’t know when the last four hours have passed. That is exactly the case with his latest episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur, and Pranay Kotasthane, who have recently co-authored a winner of a public policy book called “We, The Citizens”. We have been writing about the book regularly, and we urge you to buy it in case you haven’t already. It is one of the best primers to public policy in India, even if we are saying so. Listen to the episode here. We promise you you’d want the discussion to go on for another four hours.
Our Favourite Podcasts of the Week
Shrikrishna Upadhyaya hosts Surbhi Arul (Associate Director, International Innovation Corps) and Rhea Singh (Project Lead, ABDM, NHA) for a conversation on the building blocks of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the role of the National Health Authority (NHA), privacy and risk mitigation and the potential of digital healthcare. Listen to the episode here.
Our next pick is the sequel to the above episode where Akhil Siddharth (Project Associate, NHA) from the International Innovation Corps joins Shri and Rhea to discuss how the Unified Healthcare Interface (UHI) will transform the healthcare experience of patients, enable innovation by private players and create new digital governance architecture. Listen to the episode here.
Incidentally, an announcement. Your favourite policy podcast, ‘All Things Policy,’ will become part of the Dispatch newsletter, and you will receive the episode in your Inbox every day, Monday through Friday. Happy listening!
That’s all from us this week. Take care.