Agriculture Minister Dedicated Biosafety Laboratory to the Nation

Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture, dedicated Biosafety laboratory (BSL) one of its kind in southern India along with administrative building established at ICAR - National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Yelahanka, Bengaluru, a frontier Institute to the nation here today. Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Shri T. B. Jayachandra, Minister for Law, Justice & Human Rights, Parliamentary Affairs & Legislation, Animal Husbandry, Govt of Karnataka, Shri S. R. Vishwanath and Shri Appaji Nadagouda, Members of Legislative Assembly, Karnataka, were also present on the occasion.

Shri Radha Mohan Singh congratulated the ICAR and NIVEDI for setting up of this kind of laboratory in IT-BT city, Bengaluru and urged the scientists to work towards the disease-free livestock production and economic upliftment of small and marginal farmers. He insisted that NIVEDI should collaborate with other national and International agencies like ISRO, CDC, FAO, USDA and OIE to facilitate quality data collection on animal disease information at par with the world. Agriculture Minister released a pen-size diagnostic kit, Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) kit for quick diagnosis of brucellosis and a book entitled “Brucellosis – A Zoonotic Disease”.

While releasing a publication on research highlights of NIVEDI, Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda appreciated immense contribution of NIVEDI in improving animal health through development of diagnostic kits, strategies for effective control of zoonotic and emerging diseases, and national level disease information.

Shri T. B. Jayachandra expressed his happiness over the establishment of world class infrastructure for the development of technologies useful to the farmers and stressed on importance of disease prevention measures and the economic losses incurred due to animal diseases.

Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary DARE and Director General, ICAR expressed gratitude to Union Minister for Agriculture for dedicating the Biosafety Laboratory to the nation. He highlighted the importance of epidemiology and disease surveillance in disease control in the country. He also stressed on the One Health program initiated in the country.

Dr. K M L Pathak, Deputy Director General (Animal Sciences), ICAR welcomed the guests and stressed that the country is facing a great challenge in terms of controlling several livestock diseases like FMD, HS, BQ, Brucellosis, Leptospirosis, some of which are transferred from animal to human.

Dr. H. Rahman, Director NIVEDI highlighted the research on animal disease eradication, forecasting and forewarning of animal diseases and role of the institute in empowering the science in terms of training veterinarians, researchers and farmers.

Dr. M.G. Gajendragad, Principal Scientist, NIVEDI proposed vote of thanks.

(Source: ICAR - National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics Bengaluru)