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Tuberculosis: The Good, The Bad and The Unfinished!

Tuberculosis (TB) has been with humans since time immemorial. We have been trying to get rid of TB since centuries. Have we done enough? Of course not! TB is still the leading cause of death. What can be done to eliminate TB? This could be a wrong question to ask. We must ask ourselves, what have we done till date and what more can be done to prevent huge loss to mankind from TB. This article gives an account of what has been done so far (the good!); where did we go wrong (the bad!); and what must be done (the unfinished!) to decrease the burden of TB, in India. Let’s start with the progress made thus far, or the “good”. India has come a long way from starting a National TB Program in 1962 (mainly for hospitalizing treatment) to rolling out Revised National TB Program (RNTP) in 1993 and Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) in 1997 to achieving its nationwide coverage by 2006.  The national programs imbibed the WHO’s Direct Observed Therapy Shortcourse (DOTS) Str
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Ecosystem for scientific research: Is it there in India


Very often I am asked this question as to why Indian scientific genes are expressed in Silicon Valley and not in India. Is it because we have a lack of appropriate ecosystem….ecosystem for scientific research…ecosystem for scientific innovation?


I have had the privilege of doing research in a country which has been very poor. Gradually it became a developing country and now it has come up as an emerging economy striding steadily on the path of being a multi trillion dollar developed economy.

Historically, science was popular in the eastern and southern parts of India and under the British rule; individual driven science thrived to a large extent. The nation produced many great physicists and chemists during this era. In independent India, with the clarion call of Pandit Nehru and under the leadership of visionaries like Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, Dr. Homi Bhaba, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and many more, organized science developed which often became branded as government science. Individual driven science took a back seat, except in a few institutions in the country. However it is interesting to note that even under such conditions, excellent individuals in mad pursuit of science created their own ecosystem around them as a silkworm does for itself. These ecosystems have been location and time specific. Such glorious examples of individual excellences are around us be it Prof. G.N. Ramachandran or Prof. C.N.R Rao. These individuals not only created a favorable scientific ecosystem for themselves but also created small units of excellence wherever they went. Be it in a university system, at IIT, at IISc or in a national laboratory. I have indeed been fortunate to be a part of that ecosystem. It was also with this belief and hope that I moved from Bangalore to Delhi in 1997 with a passion to build an ecosystem with focus on excellence and commitment, where genomics research could be integrated with strong informatics to understand the biological systems and to place India in the world genomics map. Mission was large and believers gathered around. I am glad to see that it has been possible to create a new ecosystem at CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology where younger generation could pursue their dreams, albeit many complain of lack of ecosystem in the country. I think if we believe in ourselves, we can make a difference.

Learning’s from life’s experience

Ecosystems are created by individuals and it requires high commitment, passion, pursuit of excellence and a big mission focus.






 

   
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