Correct Answer : 27 Organisations
* The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched India’s first mega consortium on ‘One Health’, in post-COVID times.
* The ‘One Health’ project was launched by Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT through video conferencing.
* The Consortium comprise of 27 organisations, and will be led by DBT-National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad.
* Some other members of the One health consortium consists of AIIMS-Delhi, AIIMS-Jodhpur, IVRI-Bareily, GADVASU-Ludhiana, TANUVAS-Chennai, MAFSU-Nagpur, Assam agricultural and veterinary university, and many more ICAR, ICMR centres and wild life agencies.
* The ‘One Health’ is “where man, animal, plants and environment are considered complimentary to each other for maintaining ‘health of all’”.
* The project aims to encourage collaborations in research and sharing of knowledge at multiple levels across various disciplines like human health, animal health, plants, soil, environmental and ecosystem health so as to improve, protect and defend the health of all species, and to minimize the damage caused by future pandemics.