Padma Shri Scientist

Born: 7 July 1947
Birthplace: Kalwari, Uttar Pradesh

India has one of the largest human biodiversities in the world. There are 4,635 well-defined populations representing various ethnic groups, castes and tribes. There is diversity in our language, social structure, clothing, food habits, wedding practices, physical appearance and genetic architecture. The diversity in the plant, animal and microbial kingdoms, as well as geography and climate, is unique. It may be freezing in one region while it is flooding in another, and almost boiling in yet another part of the country.

I was born to a farmer’s family from a village in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. I did my primary education in the local government school and walked 7 km (each way) to reach my high school and intermediate college. Eventually I got the opportunity to do a BSc in Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, where I had a freeship. I also got a scholarship for a PhD at the same university. My entire education, therefore, was almost free. This speaks volumes about our country.

After my PhD from BHU, I went on a Commonwealth Fellowship to the UK, initially for nine months, which then got extended over 13 years. I was invited by Dr P M Bhargava, founder and former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, to join as a senior scientist. I was provided with every piece of equipment and any number of PhD students I needed to begin my work. Thus I can say, considering India is a poor country, she gave me everything I deserved.

For a scientist, the facilities and grants to carry out research matter most. At CCMB, I was able to establish facilities and conduct research that was published in top-ranking scientific journals, like Nature. My work has even been put on the cover of Nature. It was very satisfying to achieve this.

The greatest drawback in our country is that our system does not work. If the top person in an organisation is outstanding, things work well. But if the next person is appointed owing to considerations other than merit, things start to crumble.

This is true for our governments too. We take one step forward and one step backward because of which we oscillate in the same place and progress is very slow.

I hope in future we will see a system that works, one through which only deserving people reach the top. I hope we can create a conducive atmosphere for innovation so the genes for innovation are expressed in India itself and not Silicon Valley in the US where fresh talents go to prove their worth.

Perhaps people like me are good examples to compare with India’s progress since Independence. Democracy and equal opportunity for all are our biggest assets. Had this not been so, it would not have been possible for me, having been born in a poor family in a small village having the least education, to reach where I am today. Today, the widening gap between rich and poor, rural and urban populations makes me very sad. Despite technological breakthroughs, our rural population is not only becoming poorer but regressing in knowledge owing to the lack of electricity, Internet connectivity and good schools, colleges and teachers.

This is a big concern for me. I say this with a heavy heart because I am still connected to my village. To promote education and skills, I have established a degree college in the village, which is very difficult to sustain because the people don’t have the income to pay the fees. Similarly, healthcare facilities are very poor. If we do not overcome this disparity, we will create two Indias: one that lives in villages and urban slums, which will be riddled with genetic disorders and be knowledge-backward; and the other India that lives in the cities, which has everything available, and will be knowledge-rich and relatively free from genetic disorders because of genetic screening.

I have some hope because the present Government has recognised this problem and started taking steps to create these facilities in rural India. However, I am also concerned about the commercial exploitation of education and health. These are harmful to the unity of the rural and urban populations and their peaceful coexistence.

In 2004, I established the non-profit, Genome Foundation, to take genomic, precision, and individualised medicine based on individual genotypes to rural populations. Owing to its high cost, such treatment would otherwise never reach our villages. The dream of Bapuji, the father of our nation, is also my dream. He said: “I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it’s their country, in whose making they have an effective voice; an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.” We should all participate in this sacred endeavour of building our nation and secure for it the well-deserved encomium of being a unique place in the world: a caring nation.

Milestones

1974: Awarded the Commonwealth Fellowship to carry out research at Edinburgh University, UK

1995: Founded the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Hyderabad

1998: Served as Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

2001: Appointed Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University

2004: Set up the Genome Foundation

Current occupation: Managing Director, Genome Foundation

Illustration by Sanjhi Shah
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
August 2016

FLAVIA AGNES

AMAL ALLANA

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DR PREM SHANKAR GOEL

V K B NAIR

DR S Y QURAISHI

DR HIMANSHI SHELAT

SHUVAPRASANNA

DR L SUBRAMANIAM