Viksit Bharat @2047 and the Governance of Bioterrorism: A Critical Analysis of India's Legal, Constitutional and Institutional Framework for Biosecurity

Abstract India's aspiration to become a Viksit Bharat, a developed nation, by the centenary of its independence in 2047 rests on the premise of a secure, resilient and self-reliant State. Among the non-traditional security threats that could derail this trajectory, bioterrorism occupies a uniquely dangerous position because of its capacity for silent, borderless and exponential harm. This paper undertakes a critical examination of India's existing legal, constitutional and institutional architecture for biosecurity governance and asks whether it is adequate to the demands of the Viksit Bharat vision. It begins by situating bioterrorism and biosecurity within a conceptual framework that distinguishes deliberate biological attacks from natural epidemics and accidental laboratory releases. It then traces the constitutional foundations of public health and security governance under Articles 21, 47, 246 and 253 and the relevant entries of the Seventh Schedule, before undertaking a systematic audit of the statutory landscape, including the colonial-era Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Biological Diversity Act, 2003, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, 2005. The paper maps the institutional architecture spanning the National Disaster Management Authority, the Department of Biotechnology, the National Centre for Disease Control and allied defence agencies, and evaluates India's compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention and allied international regimes. Drawing on comparative material from China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union, the paper identifies structural gaps, including fragmented jurisdiction, the absence of a dedicated biosecurity statute, weak dual-use research oversight and inadequate civil-military-scientific coordination. It concludes by proposing a reform roadmap, anchored in a unified Biosecurity Act, a National Biosecurity Authority and a One Health approach, as a precondition for realising the security dimension of Viksit Bharat @2047.