The vast economic potential of biotechnology in India has created some interesting alliances. At the Indian Science Congress held recently in New Delhi, the Confederation of Indian Industry (cii), the Union government's department of biotechnology (dbt), and a delegation of lawyers from the us joined hands to convince the public regarding the benefits of biotechnology.

"Whether we like it or not, we are in the century of biotechnology. Looking at the way the biotechnology industry is progressing, in just a few years, it is going to overtake industrial developments,' asserted Manju Sharma of the dbt . Franklin M Zweig, president of the us-based Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts made a presentation during the public forum on genetically modified organisms and genomics (see