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 DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018


Why in News -: 
  • The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018.

Relevance of the Bill -: 


  • The primary intended purpose for enactment of "The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill"  is for expanding the application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen the justice delivery system of the country.

  • The utility of DNA based technologies for solving crimes, and to identify missing persons, is well recognized across the world.

  • By providing for the mandatory accreditation and regulation of DNA laboratories, the Bill seeks to ensure that with the proposed expanded use of this technology in the country, there is also the assurance that the DNA test results are reliable and the data remain protected from misuse or abuse in terms of the privacy rights of our citizens.

  • Speedier justice delivery.

  • Increased conviction rate.

  • Bill's provisions will enable the cross-matching between persons who have been reported missing on the one hand and unidentified dead bodies found in various parts of the country on the other, and also for establishing the identity of victims in mass disasters.

BACKGROUND Analysis -:
  • Forensic DNA profiling is of proven value in sesolving cases involving offences that are categorized as affecting the human body (such as murder, rape, human trafficking, or grievous hurt), and those against property (including theft, burglary, and dacoity). 
  • The aggregate incidence of such crimes in the country, as per the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2016, is in excess of 3 lakhs per year. 
  • Of these, only a very small proportion is being subjected to DNA testing at present. 
  • It is expected that the expanded use of this technology in these categories of cases would result not only in speedier justice delivery but also in increased conviction rates, which at present is only around 30% (NCRB Statistics for 2016).

DNA :- 

What is DNA?

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA.
 Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). 
Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people.
 The order, or sequence, of these bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences.
DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G, to form units called base pairs.
 Each base is also attached to a sugar molecule and a phosphate molecule. 
Together, a base, sugar, and phosphate are called a nucleotide. 
Nucleotides are arranged in two long strands that form a spiral called a double helix.
 The structure of the double helix is somewhat like a ladder, with the base pairs forming the ladder’s rungs and the sugar and phosphate molecules forming the vertical sidepieces of the ladder.
An important property of DNA is that it can replicate, or make copies of itself. Each strand of DNA in the double helix can serve as a pattern for duplicating the sequence of bases. This is critical when cells divide because each new cell needs to have an exact copy of the DNA present in the old cell.

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