Meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Recently a meeting of the ‘Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-CSIR’ Society was organized, this meeting was held through virtual medium, which was presided over by the Prime Minister of India.
Key Points:
- It may be noted that some time ago CSIR had approved the implementation of ‘Floriculture Mission’ in 21 states and union territories of India.
- In addition, CSIR is also working on a plan to perform genome sequencing of a sample of about 1000 rural youth to determine the unique genetic trait, susceptibility (and immunity) to the COVID pandemic.
About CSIR:
- The ‘Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’ is India’s largest organization dedicated to Research and Development (R&D). This organization was established in September 1942 in New Delhi. It has a total network of 37 national laboratories, 39 remote centres, 3 innovative campuses and 5 units in India through which it conducts its research activities.
- According to the ‘Scimago Institutions Rankings World Report’ 2021, it is ranked 37th out of 1587 government institutions in the world. And is the only Indian organization among the top 100 government institutions globally. CSIR is ranked seventh in the Asia continent.
- The Prime Minister of India is the ex-officio chairman of this organization, and the Union Minister of Science and Technology is its vice-chairman.
- CSIR is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of India, and is registered as an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
Objective of CSIR:
This institute works for scientific and industrial research of national importance to India. It mainly conducts research in the fields of Radio and Space Physics, Oceanography, Geophysics, Chemicals, Drugs, Genomics, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology to Mining, Aeronautics, Instrumentation, Environmental Engineering and Information Technology.
Apart from this, it also works in the field of important technological upgradation in the environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, agriculture-sector and non-farm sector for the upliftment of social sector.
Some of the major initiatives of CSIR:
Related to COVID-19:
CSIR has released 5 technology verticals to deal with the situation of COVID-19 pandemic:
- Digital and molecular surveillance.
- Rapid and cost-effective diagnosis.
- Repurpose drugs, vaccines and convalescent plasma therapy
- Hospital Accessories and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
- Supply chain and logistics support system.
In the strategic area:
In the strategic field, CSIR has developed ‘Heads-up-Display’ (HUD) for India’s light combat aircraft Tejas. The ‘heads-up-display’ assists the pilot in critical flight maneuvers, including aircraft flight and weapon marking accuracy.
In the field of energy and environment:
In the field of energy, invention of devices like Lithium-ion battery and Solar Tree. CSIR made India’s first indigenous Lithium Ion battery with ‘4.0 V/14 h’ standard capacity.
In agriculture:
- Rice Variety: The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in collaboration with ‘ICAR’ has developed an improved bacterial blight resistant variety of ‘Sambamsuri rice’. Also developed rice variety “Muktashree”, which prevents absorption of arsenic beyond the required limit.
- A transgenic cotton variety was developed which is resistant to whitefly.
In the health-care sector:
GOMED (Genomics and other Omics Technologies for Enabling Medical Decision) has been developed by CSIR to provide a platform for disease genomics in the context of solving clinical problems.
In the field of food and nutrition:
- Ksheer-scanner has been invented by CSIR to detect adulteration level and adulteration in milk in 45 seconds at a cost of 10 paise.
- CSIR has developed Double-Fortified Salt with Iodine and Iron, which can cure anemia in people.
Source – PIB
