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 ₹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. At the onset of
World War II in 1939, the bureau was proposed to be abolished. Arguably,
Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar became the most instrumental in the creation of CSIR in India. 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 ₹5,00,000 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 ₹10,00,000 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 to establish five national laboratories — the National Chemical Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, the Fuel Research Station, the Glass & Ceramics Research Institute and the
National Metallurgical Laboratory. In 1944 in addition to its annual budget of ₹10 lakh, CSIR received a grant of ₹1
crore for the establishment of these laboratories. The
Tata Industrial House donated ₹20 lakh for the chemical, metallurgical and fuel research laboratories. All the five establishments were completed by 1950. == Organisation Structure ==