The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, was formed on April 4, 1978. Today, it administers 26 science centres and museums spread all over India. Science City, Kolkata; Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata; Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai; Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM), Bangalore; the National Science Centre, Delhi; and the National Science Centre, Guwahati, are national-level centres of NCSM. Except Science City, Kolkata, all have regional and sub-regional/district science centres called Satellite Units (SUs).
As per the recommendation of the Task Force constituted by the Union Planning Commission in the early 1970s to assess the activities of the science museums, NCSM initiated the process to set up national-level science museums and centres, regional science centres, and district science centres located in metropolises, state capitals, and district headquarters, respectively. NCSM, with its headquarters in Kolkata, has its own network of 26 science museums and centres spread across the country and a Central Research and Training Laboratory (CRTL) in Kolkata. CRTL is the Council’s central hub for research and development and for imparting training to museum professionals. In addition, NCSM, the implementation agency of the Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPoCS) of the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, develops science centres/museums for different states and Union Territories of India. NCSM has also developed several centres and galleries for different government organisations, such as ONGC, BEL, and ICAR, and has also collaborated internationally for the development of museums and science centres or galleries such as the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre, Mauritius, the ‘India’ gallery on Buddhism at the ‘International Buddhist Museum’, Kandy, Sri Lanka, etc. Today, NCSM forms the largest network of science centres and museums in the world that functions under a single administrative umbrella.
In addition to the development of science centres/museums, NCSM strives to communicate science to empower people through its Mobile Science Exhibitions, Lectures and Demonstrations, Training and Workshops, Publications etc. NCSM has also sent exhibitions to various countries like USA, USSR, France, Bulgaria, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom and the journey continues.