The Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push agri research. [...] All these goodies come from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme, or Birap, a special partnership created by DBT with ABLE, the representative organisation of the biotech industry, and the public sector Biotech Consortium India Ltd (BCIL). With a kitty of Rs 350 crore to disburse during the 11th Plan, DBT says it expects to promote ”innovation, pre-proof-of-concept research and accelerated technology and product development” in the areas of agriculture, health and energy.