Petition to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal to draw its attention towards biotechnology and related life-sciences sector in Nepal
- Biotechnology Society of Nepal
- Closed on
- Target:
- Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal
- Region:
- Nepal
This petition is closed.
It is needless to re-iterate that Nepal is rich in biodiversity and natural resources. Unfortunately, Nepal is also rich in communicable diseases and burden of chronic diseases is gradually rising. This has given biotechnology and related life-sciences sector, an incredible potential for its development. However, less than 1% of national GDP is spent on overall science and technology field. A major fraction of the budget gets spent on salaries of the employees and very less is actually spent on doing research. Furthermore, we haven’t been able to tap the big-biotech boom in our two neighbouring countries and this gap is widening by every day.
Although, in the recent past, there has been some minimal efforts, from the government, to uplift the life-sciences sector in Nepal, the situation has not improved very much. This is because of following main reasons:
1. Lack of vision and planning in the leaderships of government owned organizations.
2. Lack of funding opportunities for life-sciences research.
3. Lack of implementation of projects approved by government or concerned authorities.
4. Lack of monitoring and proper evaluation of research-projects that has been funded.
5. Lack of new job-creation (demand) in life-sciences sector while hundreds of life-sciences graduates from Nepal are in supply every year.
We, Biotechnology Society of Nepal (BSN), believe that addressing following issues may improve the situation of biotechnology and related life-sciences sector.
1. Accelerating the project to establish National Biotechnology Centre (NBC) which was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal in 2011/12 and aimed to establish the centre within 5 years of approval. Very minimal progress has been made since then. (Complete report on NBC development project: http://moste.gov.np/final_draft_of_report_for_development_of_the_national_biotechnology_center )
2. Establishment of long-term research grants to emerging university faculties and scientists.
3. Establishment of long-term research grants (3 years +) to attract Nepalese scholars/scientists trained abroad to work in Nepal as research and teaching faculties in universities across Nepal.
4. Promotion of need-based research projects in grant-funding competitions.
5. Prioritization of research-activities based on federal and provincial interests in policy-level, as per new federal-governance structure in Nepal.
6. Impact assessments of the research-projects already funded.
7. Proper acknowledgement and definition of a biotechnologist in Public-Service Commission (Lok-Sewa Aayog) exams and public-service positions across the country.
8. Establishment of an autonomous organization to oversee, implement and monitor policies regarding bio-ethics, bio-hazards and intellectual-property rights (IPR) in Nepal.
BY PROVIDING THE PERSONAL INFORMATION, I HEREBY ACCEPT THAT I HAVE UNDERSTOOD AND I AGREE WITH ALL ISSUES MENTIONED ABOVE. I AM WILLING TO GIVE MY FULL SUPPORT TO THE MOVEMENT ON MY OWN WILL.
The Petition to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal to draw its attention towards biotechnology and related life-sciences sector in Nepal petition to Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal was written by Biotechnology Society of Nepal and is in the category Science & Technology at GoPetition.