People’s health in 2047 will be key to Viksit Bharat: Jitendra

Bhubaneswar: Union Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said health of India’s people in 2047, when the country will celebrate 100 years of freedom, will be the key to ‘Viksit Bharat’. 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 on Thursday.

“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 understand 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 emphasised that with nearly 70 per cent of the population under 40, India must prioritise 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 said 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.