Please find below a representative sampling of submissions from February - April, 2000. Some submissions have been edited for length. Only those submissions which were not accompanied by a name, location, and valid e-mail address have been omitted.

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The biotech revolution will certainly do wonders for India. But it won't be something after which everybody will run, like people are after information tech. For biotech research and education will always be a costly affair, requiring sophisticated labs. Taking biotechnology from the lab to the market is always going to be a time consuming and expensive affair. It wont be like creating software, sitting on your computer. After all you are not going to find a biotechnology training institute on every street corner!!

Gaurav Das
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
dasgaurav@hotmail.com

Biotechnology will be a natural outcome of the rising levels of Capitalism and the booming economy across the globe. Though IT has so far been in the forefront, Biotechnology will ultimately take the front seat when mankind realises that Biotechnology can not enhance the quality of life unlike IT but the life itself.

My personal opinion is that the world is not in great need for inputs from biotechnology as is the hype created around it, but the only thing in fact needed is proper management of our natural resources by conventional means which can answer all our present problems. But then Money demands luxury. So welcome to this world Biotechnology. After all the investors at the stocks will like to make more money.

Samuel solomon
Germany
solomon_samuel@hotmail.com

I do agree that in the coming days, biotechnology will play a major role. It will be the only field which can provide solutions to problems associated with humans, the environment and agriculture.

Vinay Gupta
Indore
Gupta_bob@usa.net

We have seen 19th century dominated by chemistry, 20th century dominated by physics and we will see 21st century dominated by biotechnology.

Hemant Lodha
Indonesia
hemant@irs.co.id

Biotech in India has a long way to go as compared to booming infotech industry. Biotech is an industry where lots of intial investment is required and no skilled scientist on his own can support such an establishment unless supported by venture captalists or government in itself.

Another difference between infotech and biotech lies in the fact that it normally takes 5 - 10 years for a drug to come out of laboratory at low success rates. so the financial burden is huge and the necessary investment does not give you assurance of the product. But India does have skilled manpower...... all that is needed is either venture captalists to support the inovative ideas or huge government spending to promote this sector

Anil Koul
Martinsried , Munich
anilkoul@hotmail.com

I think this merger will help answer Vivek Joshi's concern.

Monsanto has understood that the Indian stock market will give it a pretty good valuation, as compared to the US market, once it shows that it is comitted towards the Indian listed subsidiary. With the aquisition of R&D divisions of wholly-owned subsidiaries, Monsanto can now give valuable stock options to employees, giving the BEST that India can produce great incentive to join the new Monsanto (a.k.a. the wealth creator).

If Monsanto executes this strategy correctly, the Indian unit might churn out more winners than the US unit.

S. Ganesh
USA
SGanesh@Techie.com

Let us compare India and China in IT and biotech achievements since the challenge for both these countries is to feed the ever increasing population. India's advantage in IT has been the qualified human resources coupled with good English language to get a firm hold in the US and European markets, edging past China in IT industry. But when it comes to Biotechnology it is the will of the Govt. which decides the direction and pace of economic breakthroughs. As of now India lags far behind China in Biotech acievements because the Chinese Govt. has been committed to Biotechnology ever since its commercial implications were realized by the world.

Kini A V
Bangalore
avkini@monsanto.com

I am interested in tech matters related to Biotechnolgy research in India and abroad. I guess this site will provide me the latest information in the field and help me in upgrading my knowledge and teaching my students.

Girish Chandel
Raiupr, India
girishchandel@yahoo.com

I personally feel that India, as an emerging knowledge economy, should try to harness and apply its IT potential in areas which are of great significance to its growth. Medical Science and Agriculture are two such areas. It has been time and again proved how these two sectors have witnessed growth, when cutting-edge technology is applied.

So, here is a tool, IT, which can work wonders for us and we have two areas which require such tools for their improvement. Companies should work towards building such Informatics software to improve R&D in these two areas. We might in effect witness not the IT revolution giving way to Biotech revolution, but the former blending in to and enabling the latter.

Arvind.N.Ramakrishnan
Pune
arvind_92@hotmail.com

I agree that biotechnology has a great role to play for India in future. But the way the graduates in agriculture are treated in india is just not acceptable. Government is not ready to utilize their potential as young scientists as it does for the engineers and the doctors. When a young man dosen`t find good future in his own field he looks for green pastures. You have very well compared IT and biotech but don't you see that the IT graduates from even mediocre institutes are being sold as hot cakes, and an ag graduate even from a reputed institute has nothing to do in the public sector, or else he does the job of a salesman with a reputed company like Monsanto.

The young blood which is full of ideas has to slog in the field. Imay sound materialistic but the best brains in an agriculture college do not remain there for research work. They look for a better place such as a good business school, thus all their and the nation's resources go to waste. Now its all responsibility of the companies like Monsanto to give proper incentives to the agriculturists to really bring biotech to the standards of IT.

Vivek Joshi
Pune
vivekjoshi@mail.com

120% right in saying biotech will play a major role in India's future as IT industry. Through biotechnology and latest developments, we will be able to forge ahead in our agricultural aspect. The anti-biotech campaigns shouldn't dampen the efforts of the scientists and biotech companies for their endeavour. India, with its growing intellects in every field should welcome biotech with open hands. This will definitely reduce malnutrition, food scarcity, etc.

Roshni
India
Roshni_4@yahoo.com

Yes, indeed biotechnology is going to reign the millenium but a lot also depends upon how we channel our precious young brains towards the making of the technology within India and not allowing it to become susceptible to the vicious hands of brain-drain.

I think if India has to compete at International levels then the standards of Indian research has to be brought parallel to that of US, Germany and Switzerland. And Indians should work with the same sincereity and dedication as they do abroad. Without this attitude I do not think India can catch up with the changing trends in Biotechnology.

Dipika tuteja
New Delhi
dipikatuteja@hotmail.com

I think Biotech will go far ahead of IT industries.

J K Saraff
Calcutta, India
jkscal@cal3.vsnl.net.in

Biotech is surely the answer to the major food problems arising in the developing countries, and moreover healthy and high quality food, whose advantages need not be told. As far as infotech is concerned it is about gaining information and sharing the same at a rather quick pace, but it does not solve the problem of health and nutrition, and is thus short lived. Infotech, especially to the concern of developing countries with its characteristics, is of interest to a limited audience and hence does not hold recognition beyond a point, as compared to solving the food problem or developing health food, which is going to be of prime importance in the days to come.

Rajesh Singh
Bihar
singhrajesh_@hotmail.com

Yes, the biotechnology has a great potential to become a big industry in India. The need of the hour is that research in biotechnology should be application oriented and should suit the local needs, and it should not be the blind follower of the research being done in the other parts of the world. In India the research in the field of biotechnology is being done for a long time but now it's high time that the products of biotech reach the common people and that they can use it and feel it in their daily lives.

There should be more cooperation and collaboration between biotech companies and academics, and the bureaucratic hurdles in this process should be removed. Biotechnology and Information Technology can reall make India prosper in a big way, but only if guided through properly and with vision.

Sheo Mohan Singh
Munich, Germany
sheomohan@hotmail.com

Biotechnology is the new horizon for the future. The information age has taken off to an outstanding start and will reach the culmination in another decade or so. Biotech will be the new tool for sustaining the information age. The information and its wide applications derived from Biotechnology will be put to use for curing the deadly diseases, creating well bred crops and improving the bioassay of the human life.

India, with her large proportion of poverty struck farmers who barely survive the natural disasters as the shortage of water and a large infestation of crops by insects, is certainly in need to put biotechnology at her service for creating a better life. The human genome is being studied to generate information about the human body. Curing diseases with gene therapy is an efficient way of curing the widespread diseases. This needs a lot of research in this field to keep up with the developments around the globe. Biotechnology is the next information technology for the whole globe.

Harshal Deshpande
USA
harshald@yahoo.com