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The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which maintains Indian Standard Time, is situated in:
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Answer: Option D — New Delhi
Detailed Solution
The CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is located on Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg in New Delhi.
About the National Physical Laboratory:
- It is one of the earliest national laboratories set up under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
- Its foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 4 January 1947, and its main building was formally opened in 1950.
Its first director was the physicist Dr. K. S. Krishnan, a collaborator of C. V. Raman in the discovery of the Raman Effect.
It is India's "National Metrology Institute" (NMI), responsible for establishing and maintaining the national standards of measurement for the seven base SI units: metre (length), kilogram (mass), second (time), ampere (electric current), kelvin (temperature), candela (luminous intensity) and mole (amount of substance).
These standards are linked to international standards maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in France.
It is called the "Timekeeper of India", because it maintains Indian Standard Time (IST) using atomic clocks. IST is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
IST is based on the longitude 82.5 degrees East, which passes near Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh).
NPL also produces "Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya" (BND), Indian certified reference materials used to calibrate instruments and test the quality of products.
It carries out research in areas such as materials science, electronics, superconductivity and atmospheric science.
In 2024, NPL and ISRO began working on a "One Nation, One Time" system to distribute IST accurately across India.
Other CSIR laboratories:
- National Chemical Laboratory (NCL): Pune.
- Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI): Lucknow.
- Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI): Mysuru.
- National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL): Bengaluru.
- National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI): Hyderabad.
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB): Hyderabad.
- National Institute of Oceanography (NIO): Goa.
- The CSIR was set up in September 1942 and its headquarters is in New Delhi.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bengaluru has the National Aerospace Laboratories.
- ✗Pune has the National Chemical Laboratory.
- ✗Kolkata has the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR).
Quick tip
Remember: National Physical Laboratory = New Delhi (CSIR; foundation stone 1947; first director K. S. Krishnan; maintains national measurement standards and Indian Standard Time, 82.5 degrees E); NCL = Pune.
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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.