• The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019.
• It was implemented by CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
• IndiGen programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.
• The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
• The outcome of project will have applications in a number of areas such as predictive and preventive medicine with faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases.

The whole-genome data will be important for building the knowhow, baseline data and indigenous capacity in emerging area of Precision Medicine.

Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism's DNA. The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters.