Government of India Ministry of Science and Technology

Department of Biotechnology ************

Monthly Cabinet Summary, April -2019

1. Important policy decisions taken and major achievements during the month:

a) Vaccine Adjuvant Science Collaborative Meeting under Indo-US VAP: Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme (V AP) is a bilateral program of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) aiming to support development of vaccine and related technologies. The first DBT-NIAID Vaccine Adjuvant Science Collaborative Meeting under Indo-US VAP was organized on 10-11 April, 2019 at National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi to identify priorities and develop a road map to advance Adjuvant Development in India. The Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT) provided consultation in this program. The meeting was attended by experts from DBT, NIH and Indo-US experts from academia and industry.

d) The third 'National workshop on regulatory compliances for accelerating innovations' was held at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bangalore on April 09, 2019;

b) Indo UK bilateral Co-operation: Visit to UK: The delegation led by Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi; visited UK to discuss the joint Indo-UK partnership. A meeting was held with Sir Mark Walport, UKRI Chief Scientific Adviser and the chief of all UKRI councils- BSSRC, SFC, MRC to discuss new collaboration opportunities.

The delegation discussed various models of joint research collaborations, to initiate high competitive joint post-doctoral fellowship grants, joint health data science centre, joint plant! crop science centre in the country and access high-end equipment facilities & infrastructure. Institutions, laboratories, innovation centres and research parks established at Edinburgh, Norwich, Cambridge and London were also visited. These organizations are in forefront of fostering cutting edge research in the field of livestock, plant sciences and human health. At Cambridge the delegation met Prof. Venki Rarnakrishnan. President Royal Society, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Prof. Stephen Toope, Vice Chancellor, Cambridge University. Establishment of joint Plant!Crop Science Centre in India and capacity building of researchers in cutting edge crop science research was discussed. Discussion with Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director, Well come Trust focused on the future strategy and a way forward for the DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance with Biomedical Research Career Programme.

Indo UK Sciences Innovation Hub: A Letter of Intent was signed between the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP: a DBT- BIRAC supported Incubator) and the Roslin Innovation Centre for the Indo-UK Life Science Sister Innovation Hub to allow start-up and entrepreneurs on both sides to interact.

c) Centre for Advanced Protein Studies (CAPS): DBT-BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) have established a Centre at Syngenes campus in Bengaluru for Advance Protein Studies (CAPS), - a shared facility under the National Biopharma Mission. The facility will house all state-of-the-art instruments for performing structure analysis, functional assays, and physico-chemical characterization required for product development. The target users for this facility include Start-ups, SMEs and academics Institutions. The facility was inaugurated on 051h April, 2019 by Secretary, DBT.

organized by B[RAC - a PSU of DBT. It was attended by participants from Research Institutes, start-ups and others.

e) Organization of Foldscope Worhshop in Aspirational Districts: A one-and-a-half day Foldscope training and Frugal innovation workshop for students of tribal and rural areas including two aspirational districts was held on April 17-18, 2019. The workshop was conducted at the Radhasoami Adivasi Higher Secondary School in the Rajaborari Village located in Tehsil Timarni, District Harda, Madhya Pradesh. Students from tribal belts of Satpura range (Mostly Gond and Korku tribes) and from Schools of neighboring Aspirational Districts, Khandwa and Barwani, were called for the workshop. Over 650 students participated in this workshop.

1) Workshop for Popularization of Biotechnology. A work shop was conducted at Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD)- Shillong, DBT Autonomous Institute to make a targeted approach for making popularization programme more effective and wider in its outreach. A one-day activity was conducted on 24th April, 2019 which included lectures by eminent scientists and panel discussion on "opportunities for science students"; followed by discussions between the students and teachers from various colleges. Around 80-100 participants from Star Colleges and near­ by schools attended the workshop.

g) The Department had constituted 9 Institutional Bio safety Committees during the period under report. The permission to conduct preclinical toxicity studies were granted for 2 biosimilar drug products and 2 [NO (Investigational New Drug) products. Preclinical toxicity study reports on 3 bio- similar drug products were recommended to Drug Controller General of India for appropriate phase of human cl in ical trials.

h) The Department had recommended 3 patent applications for prior art search and 6 patents for maintenance, to the empanel led patent attorneys.

i) There have been 42 research publications and 5 patents filed by the Autonomous Institutes of the Department during the period of report.

j) N[PGR (National Institute of Plant Genome research) - Institute of DBT in collaboration with University of Leeds, UK; JNU, New Delhi and [CGEB, New Delhi had organized India-EMBO Symposium on 'Sensing and signaling in plant stress response' during April 15-17, 2019. This meeting was attended by more than 150 delegates from India and abroad including USA, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Philippines, Netherlands, Australia, Czech Republic and Bangladesh.

k) THSTI (Translational Health Science And Technology Institute) - Institute of DBT has signed three MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the institutes as enlisted: (i) CSIR - Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute for collaborative research on products and processes pertaining to in vitro diagnostics, drug delivery, and bio-imaging. (ii) IASST (Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology) for the project entitled Characterization of high value phytochemicals of anti-diabetic and imrnunornodulatory properties in North Eastern banana varieties. (iii) Hansraj College, Delhi and Deendayal Upadhyay College, Delhi under Science Setu Program.

2. Autonomous Institutions of the Department of Biotechnology

A. Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bengaluru

• The Institute conducted 23rd meeting of the Finance Committee and the 251h meeting of the Governing Council on 3rd April and 91h April 2019 respectively.

• The following are the publications from the inStem laboratories in this month:

(i) Mittal A et al., Myocardin ablation in a cardiac-renal rat model. Sci Rep. April 20 19. (ii) Ravindran S et al., BDNF Induced Translation of Limk I in Developing Neurons Regulates Dendrite Growth by Fine-Tuning Cofilin 1 Activity. Front Mol Neurosci. April 2019.

B. National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune

• The Institute published the following papers during the period:

(i) Agrawal S et al., A reliable fluorimetric method to screen the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors in 96 well plate. Anal Biochem. April 2019.

(ii) Alai S et al., Genome Sequence of Bordetella pertussis Vaccine Strain BP 165. Microbiol Resour Announc. April 2019.

(iii) Deore S et al., Erythrocyte binding ligand region VI specific IgA confers tissue protection in malaria infection. Mol Bioi Rep. April 2019.

(iv) Kumar A et al., Structural basis of hypoxic gene regulation by the Rv0081 transcription factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. FEBS Lett .April 2019.

(v) Pan war H.S et al., Molecular engineering of an efficient four-domain DAF-MCP chimera reveals the presence offunctional modularity in RCA proteins. April 2019.

(vi) Puri D et al., Epigenetic regulation of autophagy in response to psychological stress. April 2019.

(vii) Rekadwad B et al., Production and evaluation of mono- and di-rhamnolipids produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Data Brief. April 2019.

(viii) Thamke VR et al., In vitro toxicological evaluation of ionic liquids and development of effective bioremediation process for their removal. Environ Pollut. April 2019.

C. Institute of Life Science (ILS), Bhubaneswar • The Institute study focuses to understand to restore cell death in chemoresistant OSCC

and immediate objective is to identify the causative factors those are responsible for chemoresistance. In India, OSCC is the most common cancer in male and third most common in females. In spite of having several treatment modalities, the 5-year survival rate of advance stage tongue OSCC is < 50%. Cisplatin alone or in combination with 5FU (5-fluorouracil) and docetaxel (TPF) is the most commonly used chemotherapy regimen for treatment of OSCe.

• Chemoresistance is one of the important factors for treatment failure in OSCC, which can culm inate in continued tumor growth and metastatic spread. Chemoresistance is attributed to multiple factors including decreased drug accumulation, reduced drug-target interactions, increased populations of cancer stem cells (CSCs), enhanced autophagy activity, and reduced apoptosis in cancer cells. The causative factors responsible for chemoresistance are yet to be explored.

D. Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad

• The research group in the Institute is working on the developmental genetics had made a new and novel discovery in understanding the musculoskeletal disorder called Freeman­ Sheldon Syndrome. Patients born with this disease have musculoskeletal abnormalities such as joint deformities, bent fingers, club feet, curved spine and facial anomalies, leading to compromised movement, respiratory, speech and feeding problems, as well as delayed growth and development. This work had been published m the journal Developmental Biology.

• The Institute has published four research papers namely:

(i) Singhal Ret al., Absence of Nonclassical Monocytes in Hemolytic Patients: Free Hb and NO-Mediated Mechanism Journal of Immunology Research. April 2019.

(ii) Kumariya R et al., Classification, synthesis, mechanism of action and resistance development in food spoilage causing bacteria. Microb Pathog. April 2019.

(iii) Pergu Ret al., The chaperone ERp29 is required for tunneling nanotube formation by stabilizing MSec. J Bioi Chem. April 2019.

(iv) Das S et al., Myosin heavy chain mutations that cause Freeman-Sheldon syndrome lead to muscle structural and functional defects in Drosophila. Dev BioI. April 2019.

Status of Public Grievances:

No. of Public Grievances redressed during the No. of Public Grievances pending at tnonth the end of the month 2 NIL

Status of Government c- Mal'ketplace (GeM)

mary as on (31-Mar-2019) f-=--'-'-"- __ '---'-'-="'.c....:.....:...:::c:c: Ministrv of Science and Technology Department of Biotechnology 30-60 Days >60 Days Total Due Due Amount -- -- Rs. 303289/-

Organization < 10 Days 10-30 Days Due 8

~ ~D~ue Regional Centre for Biotechnolo

E. National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi

• NIPGR in collaboration with University of Leeds, UK; JNU, New Delhi and ICGEB, New Delhi had organized India-EMBO Symposium on 'Sensing and signaling in plant stress response' during April 15-17, 2019. This meeting was attended by more than 150 delegates from India and abroad including USA, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Philippines, Netherlands, Australia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Bangladesh. In this symposium, a publishing workshop was organized and a panel discussion was conducted on food security, besides talks were delivered by various international speakers and flash/lightning talks/poster presentations by young researchers. This meeting was supported by Welcome Trust DBT alliance and EMBO, SERB, DBT, New Phytologist Trust.

• Prof. Asis Datta, Distinguished Emirates Scientist, NlPGR & former Director, NIPGR, was chosen as the recipient of the Prof. A. K. Sharma Memorial Award (20 (8) Lecture

of NASI, India. He also received "Bharat Ratna Dr. Abdul Kalam Gold Medal Award" for excellence in his field from Global Economic Progress & Research Association.

• NIPGR coordinated a brainstorming discussion meeting of experts in diverse areas of Technologies in Agriculture, at NIPGR on April 04,2019. Over 20 representatives from academia, government, public and private sectors came together to explore scalability of emerging technologies like CRISPR, Transgenics, Phenomics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Blockchains for the future of Indian Agriculture, specially with focus on small holder farmers. The focus of meeting was towards development of a National Action plan for Sustainable Agriculture, prioritised by office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to Government of India.

• The Institute had made several significant contributions in the projects aimed for improvement of chickpea, foxtail millet, rice and Brassica crop plants, during the month of April 2019. During this month, three scholars of the Institute completed their Ph.D. programme.

• The Institute has published the following research papers namely:

(i) Sharma Met al., Glucose-regulated HLPI acts as a key molecule in governing thermo memory. Plant Physiol. April 2019.

(ii) Bajpai PK et al., Heterotic patterns of primary and secondary metabolites in the oilseed crop Brassicajuncea. Heredity (Edinb). April 2019.

(iii) Basu U et al., CLA V ATA signaling pathway genes modulating flowering time and flower number in chickpea. Theor Appl Genet. April 20 19.

(iv) Prasad A et al., Recent advances in small RNA mediated plant-virus interactions. Crit Rev Biotechnol. April 2019.

(v) Verma S et al., Improved laser capture microdissection (LCM)-based method for isolation of RNA, including miRNA and expression analysis in woody apple bud meristern. Planta.Apri I 2019.

(vi) Kumari A et al., Alternative oxidase is an important player in the regulation of nitric oxide levels under normoxic and hypoxic conditions in plants. J Exp Bot. April 2019.

(vii) Kumar A et al., GAST proteins evolved through successive conjugation of novel motifs and their sub-functionalization. Plant Physiol. April 2019.

(viii) Jaiswal V et al., Genome-wide association study of major agronomic traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italic a L.) using ddRAD sequencing. Sci Rep. April 2019.

(ix) Singh P et al., Differential and reciprocal regulation of ethylene pathway genes regulates petal abscission in fragrant and non-fragrant roses. Plarit Sci. April 2019.

(x) Singh P et al., Analysis of rice proteins with DLN repressor Motif/S. Int J Mol Sci. April 20 19.

(xi) Praveen A et al., Nitric oxide alters nitrogen metabolism and PIN gene expressions by playing protective role in arsenic challenged Brassica juncea L. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. April 2019.

(xii) Gautam V et al., Improved method of RNA isolation from laser capture microdissection (LCM)-derived plant tissues. Methods Mol Bioi. April 2019.

(xiii) Meena MK et al., Decoding and relay of calcium signals by CBL-CIPK module in plants. April 2019.

(xiv) Sen B et al., Senescent hepatocytes in decompensated liver show reduced UPRMT

and its key player, CLPP, attenuates senescence in vitro. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. April 2019.

F. National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad

• II th NlAB Governing Body meeting held on April 3,2019 at DBT, New Delhi. Dr. Subeer S. Majumdar delivered inaugural talk on "Overcoming challenges for moving upwards in scientific pursuit under Indian scenario; a story about art of science" to initiate Gachibowli Research Cluster (including UOH, TIFR, NIAB, lIlT) series, at School of life Science, University of Hyderabad (AprilS, 2019).

• Dr. Nagendra Hegde attended the meetings of all the collaborators as part of the UK­ India project on studying the drivers of antimicrobial resistance in poultry in India between April 9-12, 2019 at the University of Liverpool to discuss and update on cross­ disciplinary research involving social science, service design, economics, health risk assessment, microbiology and nutrition. All the collaborating centers (5 from India and 5 from UK) participated along with research fellows from the UK.

• The Institute published the following research paper

(i) Dey J et al., Recalibrating the Existence of New Neurons in Adult Brain. ACS Chem Neurosci. April 2019.

G. National Institute of Immunology (NIl), New Delhi

• The Nil annual meeting of the Research Area Panels (RAP) and the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) was held on 03/04119 to 04/04/19. The RAPSAC consisted of distinguished scientists from within the country and abroad working in the areas of research relevant to the institute. The RAPSAC monitor the research progress of the Principal Investigators, deliberates on the various research areas being pursued at the Institute and recommends newer and multidisciplinary challenge areas of relevance. The insights by the members of RAP-SAC are of great significance in guiding the institute to maintain its excellence and strive for further achievements.

• A 'Material Transfer Agreement' (MTA) had been signed with Adgene (USA) which helped the Institute to procure biological materials needed time to time for carrying out particular biological research experiments. Such types of biological materials are generally needed to perform specific research activity which helps scientists to get envisaged R&D outcome.

• The Institute hosted a workshop "DBT-NIAID Vaccine Adjuvant Science collaboration training workshop" under NIAID and DBT sponsorship on 10104/19 to 11/04119.

• The Institute celebrated Immunology Day on 29/04/19. On this occasion, full day lectures by experts on different areas of immunology was arranged.

• During the reporting period, 3 students have joined different laboratories of the Institute for the six months training programme.

• In April, 2019, 8 following papers were published in peer reviewed journals:

(i) Kumar R et al., Hyaluronic acid - dihydroartemisinin conjugate: Synthesis, characterization and in vitro evaluation in lung cancer cells. Int J Bioi Macromol . April 2019.

(ii) Jatana N et al., Human LC3 and GABARAP subfamily members achieve functional specificity via specific structural modulations. Autophagy. April 2019.

(iii) Sevalkar RR et al., Functioning of mycobacterial heat-shock repressors requires the master virulence regulator. J Bacteriol . April 2019.

(iv) Di Somma A et al., The bifunctional protein GlmU is a key factor in biofilm formation induced by alkylating stress in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Res Microbiol. April 2019.

(v) Bhasym A et al., Altered Peripheral Blood Leucocyte Phenotype and Responses in Healthy Individuals with Homozygous Deletion of FHRI and FHR3 Genes. J Clin Immunol. April 2019.

(vi) Misra R et al., Tuning the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Alternative Sigma Factor SigF through the Multidomain Regulator Rvl364c and Osmosensory Kinase Protein Kinase D. J Bacteriol. April 2019.

(vii) Balyan Ret al., Correlation of cell-surface CD8 levels with function, phenotype and transcriptome of naive CD8 T cells. Immunology. April 2019.

(viii) Hernandez-Cuevas NA et al., Acetylation is the most abundant actin modification in Entamoeba histolytica and modifications of actin's amino-terminal domain change cytoskeleton activities. Cell Microbiol . April 2019.

H. Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad

• Dr. R. Nagender Rao had been awarded CSIR- Travel grant for attending the rMMUNOLOGY 2019 meeting to be held at San Diego, USA from 9-13 May, 2019.

• During the month of April, 2019, CDFD has received 6 cases for DNA Fingerprinting services, 230 samples for genetic diagnostic services. We also received 25 Basmati Rice sample for adulteration analysis.

• In April, 2019,2 following papers were published in peer reviewed journals.

(i) Kapshikar RM et al., Direct inhibition of transcription in vitro by the isolated N­ terminal domain of the Escherichia coli nucleoid-associated protein H-NS and by its paralogue Hha. Microbiology. April 2019.

(ii) Narayanan DL et al., Spectrum of ARSA variations in Asian Indian patients with Arylsulfatase A deficient metachromatic leukodystrophy. Journal of Human Genetics. April 2019.

• CDFD had received 5 cases for DNA Fingerprinting services, 77 samples for genetic diagnostic services. The Institute also received 6 Basmati Rice sample for adulteration analysis.

I. Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (ClAD), Mohali

• ClAB had licensed two process technologies on

(i) Processes for development of tomato based Swaad-e-Seasoning, Tomaco spice-mix and TomZesty Fizz and (ii) Iron fortified or iron added turmeric as avalue added product for improving iron nutrition and for alleviating or lesseningiron deficiency anemia and for such other healthful uses and process of itspreparation, to Mis Aamztofaamz Technosolutions Pvt. Ltd, Mohali.

• Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB). Mohali had filed a patent on a process for production of xylose, levulinic acid and lignin from spent aromatic

biomass (Patent File No. 201911013540). This invention involves an integrated and scalable process for chemical hydrolysis of palmarosa, lemongrass, and citronella spent aromatic biomass by a Brensted acid p-cymene-2-sulphonic acid dihydrate (p-CSA) to obtain xylose, levulinic acid and lignin in excellent yields.

• CIAB had published a research paper on composite edible coatings from commercial pectin, corn flour and beetroot powder minimize post-harvest decay, reduces ripening and improves sensory liking of tomatoes.

J. National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali • Dr. P.L. Gautam, Former Chairperson, PPYFRA and NBA, Govt. of India and Vice

Chancellor, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology visited NABI research farms and lab on lOth April. He had interaction with the faculty and also discussed about the ongoing R&D research program at the institute. He also discussed different provisions of plant variety protection and role of National Gene Bank in biotech research.

• NABI signed MoU with Panchkosh Healthcare Labs for a consultancy project to evaluate glycemic response of designed food products.

• New committees of SAC and PAC were constituted to review the research progress of NAB in different areas of Agribiotechnology and Food-Nutritional Biotechnology.

K. Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad

• Prof. Gagandeep Kang, our Executive Director, was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society (FRS) in recognition of her contributions to vaccine development III India and establishment of training programs in clinical translational medicine,

• The Institute signed three MOU(Memorandum of Understanding) and one NDA (Non- Disclosure Agreement) with the following institutes:

(i) MoU between THSTI and CSIR - Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute for collaborative research on products and processes pertaining to in vitro diagnostics, drug delivery, and bio-imaging. (ii) MoU between THSTI and IASST for the project entitled Characterization of high value phytochemicals of anti-diabetic and irnrnunomodulatory properties in North Eastern banana varieties. (iii) MoUs with Hansraj College, Delhi and Deendayal Upadhyay College, Delhi under Science Setu Program. (iv) NDA between THSTI and BogaR Laboratories for drug discovery.

• In April, 2019, following papers were published in peer reviewed journals:

(i) Nair NP et aI., Rotavirus vaccine impact assessment surveillance in India: protocol and methods. BMJ Open. April 2019. (ii)Bhatnagar S et aI., A Pregnancy Cohort to Study Multidimensional Correlates of Preterm Birth in India: Study, Design, Implementation, and Baseline Characteristics of the Participants. Am J Epidemiol. April 2019. (iii) Gupta A et aI., Title: Restoration of cytosolic calcium inhibits Mycobacterium tuberculosis intracellular growth: Theoretical evidence and experimental observation. April 2019. (iv) Sharma N et aI., Comparative analysis of homologous aminopeptidase PepN from pathogenic and non-pathogenic mycobacteria reveals divergent traits .PLoS One. April 2019. (v) Samal S et aI., Method to identify efficiently cleaved, membrane-bound, functional HIY­ I (Human Immunodeficiency Yirus-I) envelopes. MethodsX. April 2019.

• In April 2019, the following patent was filed by the Institute:

4. Important policy matters interministerial consultations: N/A

held up on account of prolonged

(i) Application type: Indian National Phase Patent Application Application no. and date offiling:201917016835filed on: April 27, 2019 Title: METHOD OF CONVERTING CARBON DIOXIDE fNTO CARBONYL COMPOUNDS Applicant: THSTI

(ii) Application type: Indian Provisional Patent Application Application no. and date offiling:201911015320filed on: April 16,2019 Title: METHOD OF PREPARING NUTRACEUTICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS BASED ON MUSA BALBISIANA AND USES THEREOF Applicant: IASST, Guwahati I THSTI (iii) Application type: Indian Provisional Patent Application Application no. and date offiling:201911013062filed on: April pi, 2019 Title: MUTANT HEV PORF2 BASED ANTIGENS AND USES THEREOF Applicant: THSTI

(iv) Application type: Indian Provisional Patent Application Application no. and date offiling:201911013070filed on: April 2nd, 2019 Title: ZINC CHELA TORS AS INHIBITOR OF DENGUE VIRUS REPLICATION AND USES THEREOF. Applicant: THSTI

3. Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of the Department of Biotechnology

A. Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BlRAC), New Delhi

• The Institute had conducted the third 'National workshop on regulatory compliances for accelerating innovations' at C-CAMP Bangalore on April 09, 2019. C-CAMP had signed a LOI with Roslin Innovation Centre, University of Edinburgh to foster innovations that impact both science and society. By the LOI, C-CAMP will collaborate with Roslin, the Centre that gave us Dolly the Sheep, to identify and nurture the best Agritech and Animal Biotech solutions from India and UK to address unmet needs in Agriculture and allied areas.

• The World Bank carried out in Implementation Support Mission for the "Innovate in India for Inclusiveness" project (P 156241) (referred to as National Biopharma Mission by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India_ from April 2 to April 4, 2019. The objectives of the mission were (i) review progress on commitments for all subcomponenets and the schedule for new Request for Proposals (RFPs) to be floated; (ii) discuss strategies to secure the allocation of uncommitted resources; and (iii) review compliance with Safeguards, fiduciary, legal covenants and update results and ratings matrices.

• Centre for Advanced Protein Studies (CAPS), a facility funded by the National Biopharma Mission was formally opened on 051h April, 2019 by DBT Secretary Dr. Renu Swarup

5. Compliance of Cabinet/Cabinet Committee decisions. N/A No. of COS decisions Proposed action plan/time lines for Remarks pending for compliance compliance of COS decisions

8. Status of implementation of e-Governance:

Total No. of active e-files : 6000 Total No. of e-files generated during April: 147

6. No. of cases of 'sanction for prosecution' pending for more than three months: N/A

7. Particulars of cases in which there has been a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules or established policy of the Government: NI A

9. Status of Public Grievances:

No. of Public Grievances redressed during the No. of Public Grievances pending at the month: 21 end of the month: 131

10. Information on the specific steps taken by the Ministryl Department for utilization of the Space, Technology based tools and application in Governance and Development: NIL

11. (i). Confirmation that the incumbency details of all posts in the MinistrylDepartment and its organizations falling under the purview of the ACC have been updated on A VMS: It is confirmed that the incumbency details of all the posts in the Ministry/Department (both Autonomous Institutes and PSUs under DBT) falling under the purview of the ACC have been updated on A VMS.

(ii), Status regarding compliance of the directions of ACe. A paragraph on Cases in which the ACC directions have not been compiled with distinct heading: It is also confirmed that the directions of ACC are complied with.

(iii). Status of cases where recommendations from PESB have been received but the proposals are yet to be submitted to the ACC Secretariat: It is stated that the same may be treated as 'Nil".

(iv). Status of Government e- Marketplace (GeM): Nil report for the month of April, 2019.