SSC
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was founded in:
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Answer: Option C — September 1942
Detailed Solution
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was founded on 26 September 1942. CSIR celebrates this date as its Foundation Day.
About the founding of CSIR:
In 1940, during the Second World War, the British government in India set up a "Board of Scientific and Industrial Research" (BSIR), with Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar as its Director, to support industries needed for the war.
In 1942, the CSIR was set up as an autonomous body to coordinate scientific and industrial research.
It was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar became its first Director-General. He is called the "Father of Research Laboratories" in India.
About the CSIR:
- Its President is the Prime Minister of India, and its Vice-President is the Union Minister of Science and Technology.
- Its headquarters is in New Delhi (Anusandhan Bhawan).
- It works under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology.
- It runs about 37 national laboratories across India, covering areas such as physics, chemistry, biology, oceanography, geophysics, engineering and information technology.
Its labs include the National Physical Laboratory (New Delhi), the National Chemical Laboratory (Pune), the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (Hyderabad), the National Aerospace Laboratories (Bengaluru), the Central Drug Research Institute (Lucknow) and the National Institute of Oceanography (Goa).
Important achievements and programmes:
- Indigenous drugs, new materials and the "Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya" reference materials.
- "Aroma Mission": promotes the cultivation of aromatic plants such as lavender in Jammu and Kashmir; it is called the "Purple Revolution".
- "Jigyasa" programme: connects school students with CSIR scientists.
- "Phenome India" and the "Indian Genome Variation" projects.
- Its scientists receive the "Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar" award (now Vigyan Yuva-SSB under the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar).
In 2022, N. Kalaiselvi became its first woman Director-General.
Why not the other options?
- ✗July 1929 is when ICAR was founded.
- ✗August 1947 is when India became independent.
- ✗January 1950 is when India became a republic.
Quick tip
Remember: CSIR = 26 September 1942 (BSIR 1940; first DG Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar; President = PM; HQ New Delhi; about 37 labs; Aroma Mission = Purple Revolution); ICAR = 1929.
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This question tests your understanding of Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's scientific research institutes and organisations, such as BARC, ISRO, DRDO, CSIR and its laboratories, ICAR and ICMR, and specialised research centres for crops, animals, oceans and medicine, along with where they are located. Questions usually ask where an institute is located and what it researches. For example, BARC is in Mumbai, the Central Rice Research Institute is in Cuttack, and the National Institute of Oceanography is in Goa. A table of institute, city and field is the best way to revise this topic. Practise the research institutes questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.