RAS question
India's first state-funded BSL-4 bio-containment laboratory foundation stone was laid in January 2026. In which city is it being built?
Correct answer: (D) Gandhinagar.
India's first state-funded BSL-4 bio-containment laboratory is being built at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Explanation
Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, on 13 January 2026. The official PIB release frames the facility as a major step for India's health security, bio-safety and biotechnology capacity. The laboratory will give scientists a safe platform to research highly infectious and deadly viruses, reduce dependence on foreign countries for testing dangerous virus samples, and speed up such testing. The facility is also linked to the One Health approach because it will support study of diseases transmitted from animals to humans. That is why the city asked in the question is Gandhinagar, not an older biotechnology or virology hub elsewhere.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Pune is associated with the country's existing BSL-4 laboratory, but the new BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility whose foundation stone was laid is at GBRC in Gandhinagar.
- (B) Hyderabad is not the location named in the official release; the Press Information Bureau places the facility at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar.
- (C) Bengaluru is not the site of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility; Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, is the site.
Concept
This tests current Science and Technology, especially biosafety infrastructure, pandemic preparedness and the One Health framework. Such questions recur in RAS because they connect national science capacity with public health governance and state-level institutional locations.