Uttarakhand – the land of the gods, home of the Himalayas and a paradise on earth, attracted everyone from everywhere. The origin of the Ganges, fresh air, pure water, snow paralysing adversing mountains, fertile tarai land, scenic beauty, small villages, simple people and a more difficult way of life is what distinguishes Uttarakhand rest of the world. Also known as Dev Bhumi, Uttarakhand is a bo
on for the pilgrim tourists. The Maha Kumba Mela, the Char Dham Yatra and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra give Uttarakhand an international recognizance. The major pilgrim places include Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Devprayag, Nandadevi and Purnagiri. Uttarakhand was born on 9th November 2000 as the 27th State of India, when it was carved out of northern Uttar Pradesh. Situated at the foothills of the Himalayan mountain ranges, it is largely a hilly State, having international boundaries with China (Tibet) in the north and Nepal in the east. On its north-west lies Himachal Pradesh, while on the south is Uttar Pradesh. It is rich in natural resources especially water and forests with many glaciers, rivers, dense forests and snow-clad mountain peaks. Dehradun, the Capital of Uttarakhand is one of the most beautiful resorts in the submountain tracts of India, known for its scenic surroundings. The town lies in the Dun Valley, on the watershed of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. Uttarakhand blessed with rich biodiversity but fragile eco-systems, harbors rich flora and fauna, including a large number of rare medicinal and aromatic plants and a plethora of land races and agri-climatic zones. The diversification of agriculture and the immense wealth of medicinal and aromatic plants are very important. Commercial cultivation of these rare plants on one hand will uplift the socio-economic status of the farmers and serve as the source of raw material to pharmaceutical/ nutraceutical industries, on the other hand it will give importance to conservation of rare biodiversity of Uttarakhand. At the same time efficient and sustainable exploitation of enormous bioresources will contribute a lot for the overall development of the state. Biotechnological applications/tools have a wide range of applicability in all walks of human life, and thus there is urgent need to intensify R&D work in the potential areas of biotechnology for commercial exploitation and to keep pace with recent developments. Towards this end, besides improving existing infrastructure facilities in the state, National and International collaboration with advanced Labs/Institutions be encouraged for capacity building and knowledge enhancement, keeping the specific need of the Uttarakhand in mind. Biotech education and R&D Institutions will be made competent to take up specific need based task in the state with particular emphasis on setting up biotech park encompassing biotechnology based industries, incubation centre and institutional R&D facilities. To achieve this national and international funding will be sought through industrial invitation and skilled human resource generation. One of the major concerns of the Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology (UCB) is to create awareness on biotechnology packages for income generation and better health care in both urban and rural areas and disseminate the use of biotechnological processes and tools for creating new avenues of employment in rural areas, particularly for women and weaker section of the society. Trainings and demonstrations in various areas such as wasteland utilization, vermiculture and vermicomposting, mushroom cultivation, floriculture, biofertilizer, aqua farming, medicinal & aromatic plants including natural dye plants cultivation, bioenergy etc. would be taken up by the Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology for raising socio-economic status and standard of living beings in the state. To undertake this ambitious plan of the Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology and to put this ‘vision’ on a practical platform as well as to boost the education, modern research & development in the field of biotechnology, Initially known State Biotechnology Programme has now been restructured in the name of Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology since November 2014 under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Cabinet Minister, Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of Uttarakhand. This council is an autonomous body of Government of Uttarakhand and is working under the guidance of apex body of UCB and functioning as “Nodal Agency” of Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for Biotechnology education, research and development in the state of Uttarakhand.
