THE HINDU EDITORIAL : JANUARY 4, 2017
THE HINDU EDITORIAL : JANUARY 4, 2017
- a) Towards a genomics revolution
In 1865, Gregor Mendel discovered the two laws of inheritance that are now named after him. Almost 90 years later in 1953, the work of James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, deciphered the structure of the molecule — DNA — that stores our hereditary information and gets transmitted from parents to children over generations.
Personalised medicine
At this point, in principle, the prospect of building individualised medicine based on the precise information stored in each human’s DNA (their genome) had come into view. But the human genome has around 3 billion base pairs and in 1953 it wasn’t possible to imagine extracting genetic information on the molecular scale and of this collective size. Technological advances in sequencing methods have made the possibility glimpsed 60 years ago a reality today. Already by 2001 the human genome project and its private competitor, Celera Genomics, showed that an entire genome could be sequenced. Since then the cost of doing so has plummeted — currently it is something like $1000 per person and becoming cheaper — and the age of genomics-informed medicine is now within sight. Perhaps this will also make interventional treatments feasible, in the not too distant future, thanks to the revolutionary advances brought about by the discovery of new gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR.
Surveying Indian variation
What implications do these developments have for India and are there deliberate choices that would shape this coming future more advantageously for the country and its people? Are there strengths that India can bring to this task? To gain fully from the genomics revolution, India needs to collect information about the genetics of its population and train manpower capable of interpreting it. The information that is needed has to come from a large and sustained collection of data — fully sequenced individual genomes along with medical histories for the individuals who volunteer for this effort. This kind of longitudinal study is what would allow actual physical manifestations relevant to health, e.g. specific illnesses, to be related to features in the genome. To pick an ambitious but not impossible number, a data bank that collects this kind of information on one million Indians over the coming decade would be a feasible effort of the right magnitude. We note that the China Kadoorie Biobank has been studying half a million people since their recruitment in 2004-2008. As India is much more genetically diverse — with something like 5,000 ethno-linguistic and religious groups (castes and others), all of which probably have some degree of genetic distinctiveness — it needs a larger survey to do justice to all Indians. The genetic distinctiveness of different Indian groups is in part the result of endogamy. While we cannot know the full impact of endogamy in advance of a proper survey, some recent research has shown that endogamy is very likely to be medically significant. Castes are not just “of the mind”. The genetic implication of this is that there are likely to be many recessive diseases stemming from single genes specific to individual groups that can be identified.
Decreasing disease burden
This knowledge could then also be quickly applied to the task of managing diseases in these groups as well as be used for genetic counselling that could reduce their incidence in future generations. As an example elsewhere, the founder group of Ashkenazi Jews have almost eliminated Tay-Sachs disease from their population by such means. Looking ahead a bit more, with large samples the technique of “genome-wide association studies” that compare genomes of cases and controls could be used to identify genetic risk factors related to common diseases (such as heart disease that stem from many genes) that affect the health of many more individuals. We would like to emphasise that much of this is simply a question of applying existing methods and could all be done fairly quickly. This is a good point at which to note that such a survey of Indian genetic diversity will be an important asset, beyond disease genetics. The data collected as part of these efforts will also help to uncover the basic biological function of genes and their interactions, which are not yet fully understood. This knowledge will be useful to humanity worldwide and also offer India a chance to claim a piece of the global medical and scientific frontier. As a large part of the enterprise would be the application of information technology or “bio-informatics”, the prospects of establishing viable commercial enterprises with synergies to existing IT champions are also promising.
What then is to be done?
As things stand there is certainly progress under way. There has been path-breaking work in using genomics to shed light on Indian history, a small number of hospitals are using genetic information to help patients, and there is at least one private sequencing company in India. But all of this activity is on a much smaller scale than needed and is currently not generating the manpower required to equip the next generation of medical and research activities in the area. What is needed is a coherent push at the national level that involves government, academic institutions, the existing health-care industry, the IT industry and the nascent biotechnology industry. This coherent push should aim to set an ambitious but realistic objective of creating an Indian genetic data bank, to promote academic programmes that train scientists, technicians and doctors in this area and to create a regulatory framework that promotes broad objectives for both public and private sectors without being self-defeating. The fact is that both genetic data and biological samples are easily transported across borders and if Indian regulation is shortsighted, it will simply cause Indian genomics to move abroad to places such as Singapore. In this context it is worth mentioning that the Genome Asia 100K Initiative based in Singapore plans to sequence 100,000 Asian genomes, including some from South Asia. While this is eminently worthwhile as it will provide a broader pan-Asian set of data, it would be important to make similar investments at a national scale quickly to avoid the situation that this is one of the only enterprises to which Indians can turn to. All in all, the time is ripe for India to begin its own genomics revolution. The technical understanding and will needed to launch this is present in India’s scientific leadership, in medicine and in industry. What is needed is a vision and leadership at the national level to leverage this and seize the day. Nothing less than the very health of the nation is at stake.
- b) Citizen count: on Assam’s draft NRC
Prodded by an unrelenting Supreme Court Bench, Assam met its December 31 deadline for publication of the first draft of the updated National Register of Citizens. In the event, the list proved to be a draft of a draft, with 13.9 million cases remaining under scrutiny and names of only 19 million of the 32.9 million applicants making the cut. It is to the government’s credit that its repeated clarifications that missing out on the list is no reason to panic kept people’s anxieties in check. The bigger challenge lies ahead when the contours of the draft assume a firmer shape, and there is a clearer sense of the numbers that do not make it to the Draft Consolidated List of the NRC — by implication, people who are illegal immigrants in Assam. The process will be protracted, with claims and contestations even after the final draft. But, when completed, one can only hope the exercise will bring some closure to the vexed issue of foreigners in the State, one that had triggered the six-year-long Assam Agitation that ended in the mid-1980s but has continued to roil its politics. The promise of detection and expulsion of aliens has propelled two parties to power 31 years apart, the Asom Gana Parishad in 1985 and the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016. While the scale is debatable, border crossings into Assam and West Bengal are a reality, and political parties are to blame for turning a blind eye to the situation over the decades in order to cultivate vote banks. The issue has, however, become much larger than a cut-and-dried question of who is an Indian citizen and who is not. There are important humanitarian concerns at play, concerns that go beyond identification and numbers. Nearly five decades have elapsed since the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, and individuals who have sneaked in illegally have children and grandchildren by now. Since India is the only country they have ever known, where are they expected to go? The conditions under which some 20,000-odd doubtful, or ‘D’, voters have been confined in Assam do not inspire confidence. That the list of aliens will only increase is daunting given the absence of a deportation treaty with Bangladesh. The situation has been muddied with the Centre’s intent to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and make Hindu illegal migrants and those from certain other minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. Part of the BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 general election, the Bill, with a cut-off date of December 31, 2014, undermines the process of the NRC, which is denominationally agnostic. The BJP would do better to focus on its campaign promise of sealing the India-Bangladesh border and explore the possibility of provisions such as transparent work permits for foreigners, rather than push for this politically contentious legislation.
WORDS/VOCABULARY
1) Deciphered
Meaning: Succeed in understanding, interpreting, or identifying (something).
Example: “visual signals help us decipher what is being communicated”
Synonyms: Discern, Perceive
2) Hereditary
Meaning: (of a characteristic or disease) determined by genetic factors and therefore able to be passed on from parents to their offspring or descendants.
Example: “cystic fibrosis is our most common fatal hereditary disease”
Synonyms: Genetic, Inborn
3) Glimpsed
Meaning: See or perceive briefly or partially.
Example: “he glimpsed a figure standing in the shade”
Synonyms: Sight, Notice
4) Plummeted
Meaning: Fall or drop straight down at high speed.
Example: “a climber was killed when he plummeted 300 feet down an icy gully”
Synonyms: Plunge, Hurtle
5) Deliberate
Meaning: Careful and unhurried.
Example: “a conscientious and deliberate worker”
Synonyms: Careful, Unhurried
Antonyms: Careless, Hasty
6) Longitudinal
Meaning: (of research or data) involving information about an individual or group gathered over a long period of time.
Example: “a longitudinal study of ten patients”
7) Linguistic
Meaning: Relating to language or linguistics.
Example: “a child’s linguistic ability”
Synonyms: Semantic, Lingual
8) Endogamy
Meaning: The fact or custom of having marriage only between members of the same group.
Example: Village endogamy is still common in the region.
9) Recessive
Meaning: Relating to or denoting heritable characteristics controlled by genes which are expressed in offspring only when inherited from both parents.
10) Stemming
Meaning: Originate in or be caused by; stop or restrict (the flow of something).
Example: “many of the universities’ problems stem from rapid expansion”
Synonyms: Stop, Halt
11) Emphasise
Meaning: Give special importance or value to (something) in speaking or writing.
Example: “his father emphasized the wrong words in his sentence”
Synonyms: Stress, Accent
12) Viable
Meaning: Capable of working successfully; feasible.
Example: “the proposed investment was economically viable”
Synonyms: Workable, Feasible
Antonyms: Impracticable
13) Synergies
Meaning: The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Example: “the synergy between artist and record company”
14) Equip
Meaning: Prepare (someone) mentally for a particular situation or task.
Example: “I don’t think he’s equipped for the modern age”
Synonyms: Prepare, Qualify
15) Nascent
Meaning: (especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.
Example: “the nascent space industry”
16) Short-sighted
Meaning: Showing a lack of thought for what might happen in the future.
Example: It’s shortsighted to spend all your money on having a good time.
Synonyms: Narrow, Improvident
Antonyms: Far-sighted, Imaginative
17) Leverage
Meaning: The power to influence a person or situation.
Example: “the right wing had lost much of its political leverage in the Assembly”
Synonyms: Influence, Power
18) Prodded
Meaning: Stimulate or persuade (someone who is reluctant or slow) to do something.
Example: “they attempted to prod the central bank into cutting interest rates”
Synonyms: Spur, Stimulate
19) Unrelenting
Meaning: not giving way to kindness or compassion.
Example: “unrelenting opponents”
Synonyms: Constant, Continuous
Antonyms: Intermittent, Spasmodic
20) Scrutiny
Meaning: Critical observation or examination.
Example: “every aspect of local government was placed under scrutiny”
Synonyms: Inspection, Survey
Antonyms: Glance
21) Anxieties
Meaning: A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.
Example: “he felt a surge of anxiety”
Synonyms: Worry, Concern
Antonyms: Calmness, Serenity
22) Contours
Meaning: An outline representing or bounding the shape or form of something.
Example: “she traced the contours of his face with her finger”
Synonyms: Outline, Shape
23) Protracted
Meaning: Prolong.
Example: “he had certainly taken his time, even protracting the process”
24) Contestations
Meaning: The action or process of disputing or arguing.
Example: “ideological contestation over social policy in the European Union”
25) Vexed
Meaning: (of a problem or issue) difficult and much debated; problematic.
Example: “the vexed question of how much money the government is going to spend”
Synonyms: Contentious, Debatable
Antonyms: Undisputed, Resolved
26) Triggered
Meaning: Cause (an event or situation) to happen or exist.
Example: “an allergy can be triggered by stress or overwork”
Synonyms: Precipitate, Prompt
27) Expulsion
Meaning: The action of forcing someone to leave an organization.
Example: “his expulsion from the union”
Synonyms: Removal, Dismissal
Antonyms: Admission
28) Propelled
Meaning: Spur or drive into a particular situation.
Example: “fear propelled her out of her stillness”
Synonyms: Spur, Prompt
29) Turning a blind eye
Meaning: To ignore something that you know is wrong.
Example: Management often turns a blind eye to bullying in the workplace.
Synonyms: Neglect, Ignore
30) Cultivate
Meaning: Try to acquire or develop (a quality or skill).
Example: “he cultivated an air of indifference”
Synonyms: Pursue, Foster
31) Cut-and-dried
Meaning: Already decided and unlikely to be changed; simple and easy to understand.
Example: We need a cut-and-dried decision by the end of the week.
Synonyms: Certainty, Assurance
32) Elapsed
Meaning: (of time) pass or go by.
Example: “weeks elapsed before anyone was charged with the attack”
Synonyms: Proceed, Progress
33) Cut-off
Meaning: A point or level which is a designated limit of something.
Example: “2,500 g is the standard cut-off below which infants are categorized as ‘low birthweight’”
34) Sneaked
Meaning: Move or go in a furtive or stealthy way.
Example: “I sneaked out by the back exit”
Synonyms: Steal, Edge
35) Daunting
Meaning: Make (someone) feel intimidated or apprehensive.
Example: “some people are daunted by technology”
Synonyms: Intimidate, Abash
Antonyms: Encourage, Hearten
36) Deportation
Meaning: The action of deporting a foreigner from a country.
Example: “asylum seekers facing deportation”
Synonyms: Expulsion, Banishment
Antonyms: Admission
37) Muddied
Meaning: Make (something) hard or harder to understand.
Example: “the first year’s results muddy rather than clarify the situation”
Synonyms: Obscure, Confuse
Antonyms: Clarify
38) Manifesto
Meaning: A public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.
Example: “he may fudge key issues in the Labour manifesto”
Synonyms: Platform, Declaration
39) Agnostic
Meaning: A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.
Example: “he was an agnostic, but his notebooks reveal a kind of religious attitude to the universe”
Synonyms: Doubter, Disbeliever
Antonyms: Believer
40) Contentious
Meaning: Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial.
Example: “a contentious issue”
Synonyms: Controversial, Disputable
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