{"id":31549,"date":"2025-03-29T07:09:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T01:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31549"},"modified":"2025-04-16T12:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T07:21:07","slug":"gene-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gene-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Gene Bank Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Establishment of Second National Gene Bank<\/p>\n<h2>Why in the News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Government of India<\/strong> has announced the establishment of the <strong>Second National Gene Bank<\/strong> to <strong>conserve 10 lakh crop germplasm<\/strong> for ensuring <strong>future food and nutritional security<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This initiative is part of the <strong>\u201cInvesting in Innovations\u201d<\/strong> theme of the <strong>Union Budget 2025-26<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is a Gene Bank?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>Gene Bank<\/strong> is a <strong>storage facility<\/strong> that preserves <strong>seeds, pollen, and plant tissues<\/strong> to <strong>protect plant species from extinction<\/strong> and ensure their availability for future use.<\/li>\n<li>These stored samples help in <strong>crop breeding, scientific research, and biodiversity conservation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Gene banks play a crucial role in maintaining <strong>genetic diversity<\/strong>, essential for <strong>climate resilience and food security<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s First National Gene Bank<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Established:1996<\/strong> by the <strong>Indian Council of Agricultural Research &#8211; National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR)<\/strong> in <strong>New Delhi<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Current Status:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Second-largest Gene Bank globally<\/strong> after the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.<\/li>\n<li>Houses <strong>4,71,561 accessions<\/strong> of <strong>2,157 species<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Provides plant genetic resources for use by both the <strong>public and private sectors<\/strong> involved in <strong>crop improvement and genetic conservation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Apex Institution<\/strong> under the <strong>Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong> Conservation, evaluation, and utilization of <strong>plant genetic resources<\/strong> for <strong>sustainable agriculture and food security<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Headquarters: New Delhi<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>National Gene Fund<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Established Under: \u00a0Section 45<\/strong> of the <strong>Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers\u2019 Rights Act, 2001 (PPVFR Act)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Ensures <strong>fair distribution<\/strong> of benefits derived from <strong>genetic resources<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Supports <strong>conservation efforts<\/strong> and promotes <strong>sustainable farming practices<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Provides <strong>financial incentives<\/strong> to <strong>farmers and institutions<\/strong> engaged in biodiversity conservation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Gene Bank FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is the National Gene Bank?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The National Gene Bank in India is a repository for conserving plant genetic resources, managed by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What is the purpose of the National Gene Bank?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> It preserves crop diversity, wild plant species, and rare genetic material to ensure agricultural sustainability and food security.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>How does the National Gene Bank store genetic material?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The bank stores seeds in cold storage at sub-zero temperatures, using cryopreservation, field gene banks, and in-vitro conservation techniques.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>How does the National Gene Bank help in climate resilience?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> By preserving climate-resilient crop varieties, the gene bank helps in developing drought-resistant and disease-resistant crops to combat climate change.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>What is India\u2019s global position in genetic conservation?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> India is among the few countries with an advanced gene bank system and collaborates with international gene banks like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2116216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PIB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Gene Bank in India is a repository for conserving plant genetic resources, managed by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}