Bhubaneswar: Union Science & Technology Minister Jitendra Singh stated Thursday that the health of India’s population in 2047, when the nation marks its centenary of independence, will be fundamental to achieving the Viksit Bharat vision.
Singh said this while inaugurating the two-day national conclave on ‘Longitudinal Cohort Studies: Cohort Connect 2025’ at Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) here.
“When we talk of Vikas Bharat 2047, the health of India is going to be the basic parameter. India’s health in 2047 will be the key to Viksit Bharat,” he said.
Highlighting the national cohort’s scope, he noted that it focuses on four critical determinants of health, biological, environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors, each shaped by the country’s extraordinary diversity in diet, environment, and genetic makeup.
“We are going through an era of metabolic disorders like type-2 diabetes…and our new initiation would be in the area of genes—genetic regimes of prevention and genetic therapy for cure,” the union minister said.
Singh explained that metabolic disorders in India often emerge as clusters of interconnected conditions and cannot be separated from the broader landscape of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
He said studies like Phenome India were essential to understanding the complex interplay of genetics, lifestyle, and environment in Indian health.
Referring to the reciprocal link between tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes, he said India must move away from siloed disease responses.
Drawing on decades of clinical experience, he remarked that the Indian phenotype carries a distinct metabolic vulnerability, a pattern observed even in Indians settled abroad for multiple generations.
While such trends were known historically, he said, large-scale scientific validation is now becoming possible through comprehensive cohort studies.
Cautioning that new therapies and modern drugs must be assessed through long-term data, he stressed that with nearly 70 per cent of the population under 40, India must prioritize prevention, early intervention and technology-driven health solutions.
The ministry, supported by the Department of Biotechnology, has already come up with the first-ever successful genetic therapy trial in hemophilia, a bleeding disorder, he told reporters.
He informed that the central government is working on stem cell and genetic solutions for diabetics.
“I am glad that unlike in several other sectors, India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always ahead of many other nations in every new initiative,” Singh said.
Stating that the next generation is going to be recycling, regeneration, genes, biotechnology, he said, “We are already into it.”
“Indian treatment for Indian Patients, Indian prevention strategy for Indian subjects, Indian data for Indian solutions should be our mantra”, Singh said while addressing the gathering.
The Cohort Connect conclave brought together scientists, clinicians, public health experts, and cohort investigators from across the country to discuss the expanding landscape of longitudinal cohort research.
