# National Council of Science Museums

National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is an autonomous scientific organization functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for science communication through its network of science museums or science centres spread across India. It is the largest chain of science centers/museums under a single administrative umbrella in the world. There are 24 own science centers or museums and one R & D laboratory and training centre. The NCSM has been built to co-ordinate all informal science communication activities in the museum space in the country.

## History

The first science museum, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata under CSIR43, was opened on 2 May 1959. In July 1965, the second science museum of the country, the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM) was opened in Bangalore. After Kolkata and Bangalore, the work for the third centre in Mumbai was taken up in 1974. As the popularisation of science and technology through the science museums grew in scope and size, the Union Planning Commission constituted a task force in the early 1970s to assess the activities of the science museums. The task force recommended to set up science museums in different parts of the country at national, state and district levels and also recommended formation of a central coordinating agency. In 1978, it was decided by the Government of India to delink from CSIR the two science museums already operating at Kolkata and Bangalore and also the one being set up at Mumbai and put them under a newly formed society registered on 4 April 1978, as National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).

## List of centres
### National Level Centres

* Science City, Kolkata, fully operational since 1 July 1997
* Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata, inaugurated on 2 May 1959
* Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, inaugurated on 11 November 1985
* Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore, operational since 1965
* National Science Centre, Delhi, inaugurated on 9 January 1992
* Central Research and Training Laboratory, Kolkata, R & D laboratory and training centre of NCSM. Operational since 1 January 1988 and dedicated to the nation on 13 March 1993

### Satellite Units

* Bardhaman Science Centre, Babur Bagh, inaugurated on 9 January 1994
* Digha Science Centre & National Science Camp, New Digha, inaugurated on 31 August 1997
* Dhenkanal Science Centre, Orissa, inaugurated on 5 June 1995
* District Science Centre, Purulia, inaugurated on 15 December 1982
* Kapilas Science Park, Dhenkanal, inaugurated on 5 June 1995
* North Bengal Science Centre, Matigara, inaugurated on 17 August 1997
* Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar, inaugurated on 18 September 1989
* Srikrishna Science Centre, Patna, inaugurated on 14 April 1978
* North Bengal Science Centre, Siliguri, inaugurated on 17 August 1997
* Regional Science Centre, Guwahati, inaugurated on 15 March 1994
* Regional Science City, Lucknow, operational since 1989
* Kurukshetra Panorama & Science Centre, Haryana, operational since 2000
* District Science Centre, Dharampur, operational since 1984
* Goa Science Centre, Panjim, operational since 2002
* Raman Science Centre & Planetarium, Nagpur, operational since 1992 & 1996 respectively
* Regional Science Centre, Bhopal, operational since 1995
* District Science Centre, Gulbarga, operational since 1984
* District Science Centre, Tirunelveli, operational since 1987
* Regional Science Centre, Tirupati, operational since 1993
* Regional Science Centre and Planetarium, Kozhikode, operational since 1997

## Centres developed for states/UTs

The following are the list of science centres/museums developed by NCSM for various state governments and union territories across India.
| Science museums/centres | State/UT | Date of inauguration |
| Regional Science Centre, Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh | 12 January 1995 |
| Science Centre, Port Blair | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 30 May 2003 |
| Mizoram Science Centre, Aizawl | Mizoram | 26 July 2003 |
| Nagaland Science Centre, Dimapur | Nagaland | 14 September 2004 |
| Manipur Science Centre | Manipur | 18 May 2005 |
| Arunachal Pradesh Science Centre, Itanagar | Arunachal Pradesh | 3 December 2005 |
| Shillong Science Centre, Shillong | Meghalaya | 27 February 2006 |
| Sikkim Science Centre, Gangtok | Sikkim | 22 February 2008 |
| Sub-Regional Science Centres, Kalimpong | West Bengal | 2 October 2008 |
| Sub-Regional Science Centre, Solapur | Maharashtra | 14 February 2010 |
| Regional Science Centre, Ranchi | Jharkhand | 29 November 2010 |
| Dharwad Regional Science Centre | Karnataka | 27 February 2012 |
| Chhattisgarh Science Centre, Raipur | Chhattisgarh | 13 July 2012 |
| Regional Science Centre, Jaipur | Rajasthan | 29 December 2012 |
| Pimpri Chinchwad Science Centre, Pune | Maharashtra | 8 February 2013 |
| Jorhat Science Centre & Planetarium | Assam | 6 July 2013 |
| Regional Science Centre, Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | 6 May 2013. |
| Sub Regional Science Centre, Jodhpur | Rajasthan | 17 August 2013 |
| Regional Science Centre, Pilikula | Karnataka | 1 October 2014 |
| Sub Regional Science Centre | Puducherry | 3 May 2015 |
| Regional Science Centre, Dehradun | Uttarakhand | 3 February 2016 |
| Bargarh Science Centre, Bargarh | Odisha | 21 January 2020 |
| Regional Science Centre, Chalakudy | Kerala | February 2021 |