Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Not to be confused with CSIRO.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Director Shekhar Mande

General

Budget 3098 Crore as of 2013 [1]

Subsidiaries 38 laboratories

39 outreach centers

3 Innovation Centers

Location Anusandhan Bhawan,

2 Rafi Marg,
Founder(s) Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar andShanti New Delhi-110 001.
Swaroop Bhatnagar
Website www.csir.res.in

Established 26 September 1942

President Prime Minister of India

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna
pariṣada)abbreviated as CSIR was established by the Government of India in September of 1942 as an
autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and development organisation in India.
As of 2013, it runs 38 laboratories/institutes, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Centers and 5 units throughout
the nation, with a collective staff of over 14,000, including a total of 3987 scientists and 6454 technical and
support personnel.[2]Although it is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it operates as an
autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.[3]
The research and development activities of CSIR include aerospace engineering, structural engineering, ocean
sciences, life sciences, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environmental science.[3]
Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of DST took additional charge as director general of CSIR, with effect from
August 24, 2018.[4]
In terms of Intellectual property, CSIR has 2971 patents in force internationally and 1592 patents in force in
India.[2]
In late 2007, the Minister of Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal stated, in a Question Hour session of
the Parliament, that CSIR has developed 1,376 technologies/knowledgebase during the last decade of the 20th
century.[5]

Contents
 1History  5Research laboratories under CSIR
 2Organization Structure  6Journals
 3CSIR achievements  7See also
 4Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and  8References
Technology  9External links
History[edit]
In the 1930s, the need for establishing research organisations for the development of natural resources and new
industries in India began to emerge. Eminent citizens such as C. V. Raman, Lt. Col. Seymour Sewell and J. C.
Ghosh had proposed the creation of an advisory board of scientific research. Sir Richard Gregory, then editor
of Nature, was among the first people who officially reported to the British Government. After visiting
scientific departments and universities in India in 1933, Gregory submitted to Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State
for India, regarding the need of scientific organisation similar to the DSIR in Britain. Indian scientists
at Calcutta and Bangalore initiated schemes to launch a National Institute of Sciences and an Indian Academy
of Sciences, respectively. At the Fifth Industries Conference in 1933, the Provincial Governments
of Bombay, Madras, Bihar and Orissa unanimously reiterated their demand for a co-ordinating forum for
industrial research. Hoare advised the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, to support the demand. However, in May
1934, Willingdon replied to Hoare saying, "The creation of a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
in India to promote the application of research to natural resources does not appear to be necessary." While the
Indian DSIR was rejected, the colonial government provided a small concession. It instead offered to create an
Industrial Intelligence and Research Bureau, which came into operation in April 1935 under the Indian Stores
Department. The Bureau's limited resources (with a budget of INR 1.0 lakh per annum) made it impossible to
initiate major research and industrial activities as had been hoped for; it was mainly concerned with testing and
quality control.[6]
At the onset of World War II in 1939, the bureau was proposed to be abolished. Arguably, Arcot Ramaswamy
Mudaliar became the most instrumental in the creation of CSIR in India.[7] As a member of Viceroy’s executive
council, and also of Commerce, he recommended that the Bureau should be terminated, not as a measure of
economy, but to make room for a Board of Scientific and Industrial Research, which should be endowed with
greater resources and wider objectives. It was by this persistence that the Board of Scientific and Industrial
Research (BSIR) was created on 1 April 1940 for a period of two years. Mudaliar became the chair of the board.
It was at this point that Bhatnagar was appointed to pilot the board, as the Director. The BSIR was allocated an
annual budget of INR 500,000 under the Department of Commerce. By the end of 1940, about 80 researchers
were engaged, of whom one-quarter was directly employed. Major achievements of BSIR included
development of the techniques for the purification of Baluchistan sulphur anti-gas cloth manufacture, vegetable
oil blends as fuel and lubricants, plastic packing cases for army boots and ammunition, dyes for uniforms and
the preparation of vitamins, and the invention of a pyrethrum emulsifier and cream. In early 1941 Bhatnagar
persuaded the government to set up an Industrial Research Utilisation Committee (IRUC) for translating results
into application. The government then agreed to make a separate fund out of the royalties received from
industry for further investment into industrial research. Mudaliar recommended that an Industrial Research
Fund should be constituted, which would have an annual grant of INR 1,000,000 (one million) for a period of
five years. This was accepted by the Central Assembly in Delhi at its session on 14 November 1941.
Then the constitution of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as an autonomous body was
prepared under Mudaliar and Bhatnagar. Thus, CSIR came into operation on 26 September 1942. The BSIR and
IRUC were incorporated into the advisory bodies to the governing body of the CSIR. In 1943 the governing
body of CSIR approved the proposal of Bhatnagar, though the initiative of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to
establish five national laboratories — the National Chemical Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, the
Fuel Research Station, and the Glass and Ceramics Research Institute. In 1944 in addition to its annual budget
of INR 1 million, CSIR received a grant of INR 10 million for the establishment of these laboratories. The Tata
Industrial House donated INR 2 million for the chemical, metallurgical and fuel research laboratories. [6] The
foundation for the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute at Kolkata was the first to be laid, in December
1945; and that for the National Chemical Laboratory at Pune was the last, on 6 April 1947, four months
before India became independent.[8] All the five establishments were completed by 1950.[7]
Organization Structure[edit]
President : Prime Minister (Ex-Officio) [9]

1. Vice President : Minister of Science & Technology, India (Ex-Officio)

 2. Governing Body : The Director General is the head of the governing body. The other ex-officio
member is the finance secretary (expenditures). Other members' terms are three years.
3. CSIR Advisory Board : 15-member body composed of prominent members from respective fields of
science and technology. Its function is to provide S&T inputs to the governing body. Member terms are
three years.

CSIR achievements[edit]

 Developed India's first synthetic drug, methaqualone in 1950.[10][11]

 Developed first Indian tractor Swaraj in 1967 completely based on indigenous know-how.[12]
 Achieved the first breakthrough of flowering of Bamboo within weeks as against twenty years in
nature.[13][14]
 First to analyse genetic diversity of the indigenous Andamanese tribes and to establish their origin out of
Africa 60,000 years ago.[15]
 Developed the first transgenic Drosophila model for drug screening for cancer in humans.[citation needed]
 Invented, once a week non-steroidal family planning pill Saheli and non-steroidal herbal pill for asthma
called Asmon.[16]
 Designed India's first ever parallel processing computer, Flosolver.[17]

 Rejuvenated India's one-hundred-year-old refinery at Digboi using the most modern molecular distillation
technology.[18]
 With TCS, developed a versatile portable PC-based software 'Bio-Suite' for bioinformatics.[19]
 Design of 14 seater plane 'SARAS'.[20]
 Established first ever in the world 'Traditional Knowledge Digital Library' accessible in five international
languages, English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.[21]
 Successfully challenged the grant of patent in the USA for use of haldi (turmeric) for wound healing
and neem as insecticide.[22]
 In 2009, completed the Kulwant sir.[23]
 In 2011, successfully tested India's 1st indigenous civilian aircraft, NAL NM5 made in association
with National Aerospace Laboratories and Mahindra Aerospace.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology[edit]

Main article: Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize was established by CSIR in 1958. The prize is named after the Founder
Director Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.
The nominees for the award are filtered out from the research categories of - Biological Sciences, Chemical
Sciences, Earth Sciences, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, Medical
Sciences & Physical Sciences.
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize comes up with a Citation, a Plaque & a Cash Award of 5 Lakh Rupees with
the addition of a stipend of 15,000/- per month (till the age of 65).
Every year, the Award Selection Committee of CSIR presents the award to maximum 2 individuals from each
research category. As per the stats, the SSB Prize has been awarded to 525 individuals for their exemplary work
in Science & Technology.
The candidates must be:

 Indian Nationality
 Overseas citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) working in India
 The awardee must have made conspicuously important and outstanding contributions to human knowledge
and progress – fundamental and applied – in the field of endeavor, which is his/her specialization.
 Upper Age Limit – 45 years.
The above criteria help CSIR Committee to select the eligible candidates for the award but the selection will be
based on the results of selection procedure which is conducted by the Advisory Committee of CSIR.
About CSIR
The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting edge R&D
knowledgebase in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organization. Having a pan-India
presence, CSIR has a dynamic network of 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation
Complexes and 5 units. CSIR’s R&D expertise and experience is embodied in about 4600 active
scientists supported by about 8000 scientific and technical personnel.
CSIR covers a wide spectrum of science and technology – from radio and space physics,
oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining,
aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology. It provides
significant technological intervention in many areas with regard to societal efforts which include
environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farm sectors. Further,
CSIR’s role in S&T human resource development is noteworthy.
Pioneer of India’s intellectual property movement, CSIR today is strengthening its patent portfolio to
carve out global niches for the country in select technology domains. CSIR is granted 90% of US
patents granted to any Indian publicly funded R&D organization. On an average CSIR file about 200
Indian patents and 250 foreign patents per year. About 13.86% of CSIR patents are licensed - a
number which is above the global average. Amongst its peers in publicly funded research
organizations in the world, CSIR is a leader in terms of filing and securing patents worldwide.
CSIR has pursued cutting edge science and advanced knowledge frontiers. The scientific staff of CSIR
only constitute about 3-4% of India’s scientific manpower but they contribute to 10% of India’s
scientific outputs. In 2012, CSIR published 5007 papers in SCI Journals with an average impact factor
per paper as 2.673. In 2013, CSIR published 5086 papers in SCI journals with an average impact
factor per paper as 2.868.
CSIR has operationalized desired mechanisms to boost entrepreneurship, which could lead to
enhanced creation and commercialization of radical and disruptive innovations, underpinning the
development of new economic sectors.
CSIR has put in place CSIR@80: Vision & Strategy 2022 – New CSIR for New India. CSIR’s mission
is “to build a new CSIR for a new India” and CSIR’s vision is to “Pursue science which strives for
global impact, the technology that enables innovation-driven industry and nurtures trans-disciplinary
leadership thereby catalyzing inclusive economic development for the people of India”.
CSIR is ranked at 84th among 4851 institutions worldwide and is the only Indian organization among
the top 100 global institutions, according to the Scimago Institutions Ranking World Report 2014.
CSIR holds the 17th rank in Asia and leads the country at the first position.