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Indian army to store DNA profile of soldiers
April 23, 2013, 8:23 am

[Getty Images]

The Indian Army has around 1.1 million soldiers on active duty [Getty Images]

Soldiers in the Indian Army will have their DNA profile stored in a data bank under a project launched by the Armed Forces Medical Services that will facilitate identification of bodies during any operation, attack or mishap.

A K Antony, India’s defence minister, in a written reply in the lower house of the Indian Parliament on Monday said a pilot project is in progress at the Indian Armed Forces Medical College to conduct DNA profile of soldiers and develop necessary protocol for identifying them from their body tissues.

“The objectives of the project are to devise a protocol for collection, preservation and transportation of blood samples of the soldiers, maintain absolute accuracy in personal information and tagging of specimen and to devise protocol for procedure for identifying service personnel from any fragment of body tissue,” said the defence minister.

The Indian Army has around 1.1 million soldiers on active duty.

The project ‘Development of Protocol for DNA Profiling (Identification) and Repository of Personal of Armed Forces’ has been approved by the Indian Armed Forces Medical Research Committee and the pilot project will be completed by 2014.

The armed forces in the United States and Israel are known to use such facilities.

Source: Agencies