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CSIR-NIScPR held a Platinum Jubilee Ceremony on 22 August 2026 marking 75 years of Vigyan Pragati, the Hindi popular-science magazine it publishes, which was launched in 1952.
The ceremony released the August 2026 special issue of the magazine along with the CSIR-NIScPR publications 'Manav Swasthya Aur Nirogi Jeevan' and 'Romanchak Vigyan Kathayen' and the institute's bilingual information booklets; results of the 'Vigyan Pragati @75' science story and science cartoon competitions were announced.
An inaugural workshop on 21 August 2026 drew more than 50 school students from Delhi for science poetry, cartooning and the science quiz 'Jigyasa'; the main event carried a panel discussion on '75 Years of Vigyan Pragati: Legacy, Discourse and Future' and dialogue sessions on cartoons in science and on artificial intelligence in science writing.
CSIR laboratory for science communication and science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research; publishes CSIR's popular-science magazines including Vigyan Pragati (Hindi) and Science Reporter (English). Formed by merging CSIR-NISCAIR with CSIR-NISTADS - announced 14 January 2021, in existence from 1 April 2021.
India's largest publicly funded R&D organisation, set up on 26 September 1942 as an autonomous society; functions under the Ministry of Science & Technology through the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). The Prime Minister of India is its President and the Union Minister of Science and Technology its Vice-President.
National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, created on 30 September 2002 by merging the National Institute of Science Communication (NISCOM, successor of the Publications and Information Directorate) and the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC). Merged into CSIR-NIScPR in 2021.
Autonomous society under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), registered on 12 October 1989 to popularise science and foster a rational outlook; publisher of the magazine 'Dream 2047'. Its closure was decided by the Cabinet on 6 September 2023 and completed on 21 October 2023, with residual work handed to the National Innovation Foundation, Gandhinagar. Note it belonged to DST, not to CSIR - a common confusion with CSIR-NIScPR.
Central university at Rajgir, Bihar, whose Vice-Chancellor was Chief Guest at the ceremony and spoke on the Nalanda knowledge tradition and science in Indian culture.
Carry science to a general Hindi readership in simple, accessible language and build scientific awareness.
Key: CSIR's Hindi popular-science magazine, launched in 1952 and published today by CSIR-NIScPR; completed 75 years in 2026.
Popularise science in English among students and general readers.
Key: CSIR's English popular-science magazine, launched in January 1964 through the then Publications and Information Directorate; also published today by CSIR-NIScPR. The Hindi title preceded the English one by twelve years.
Nationwide science popularisation and promotion of a scientific outlook.
Key: Autonomous DST society registered 12 October 1989; published 'Dream 2047'. Wound up in 2023 following a Cabinet decision of 6 September 2023, with closure completed on 21 October 2023.
Connect school students and teachers directly with working scientists and national laboratories.
Key: CSIR student-scientist connect programme launched on 6 July 2017 under an MoU between CSIR and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), designed to link Kendriya Vidyalayas with CSIR's national laboratories. A science quiz of the same name was run for school students at the Vigyan Pragati jubilee workshop.
Places on every citizen the Fundamental Duty 'to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform'. This is the constitutional mandate that science-communication bodies such as CSIR-NIScPR invoke.
Inserted Part IV-A and Article 51A, adding the original ten Fundamental Duties - including clause (h) on scientific temper - on the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. Fundamental Duties are non-justiciable.
Added the eleventh Fundamental Duty, Article 51A(k), on providing education opportunities to a child between six and fourteen years - the only later addition to Article 51A, and a standard distractor against the 42nd Amendment.
The statute under which CSIR is registered as an autonomous society - it is not a statutory body created by its own Act, a distinction exams test.
Scientific temper is a habit of mind rather than a body of knowledge: forming beliefs from evidence, holding them provisionally, and revising them when better evidence appears. The Indian Constitution is one of very few in the world to make cultivating it a citizen's duty, through Article 51A(h) inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Because the duty is non-justiciable, it is advanced through institutions and outreach - popular-science magazines, student-scientist programmes and public exhibitions - rather than through the courts.
Simple Analogy: It is the difference between owning a map and knowing how to read one. Memorising scientific facts is the map; scientific temper is the ability to check whether the map matches the ground and to redraw it when it does not.
| Aspect | CSIR-NIScPR | Vigyan Prasar |
|---|---|---|
| Parent | Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), under DSIR | Department of Science and Technology (DST) |
| Status | A CSIR laboratory, currently functioning | Autonomous society; wound up in 2023 |
| Set up | Announced 14 January 2021; in existence from 1 April 2021 (merger of CSIR-NISCAIR and CSIR-NISTADS) | Registered 12 October 1989 |
| Flagship magazines | Vigyan Pragati (Hindi, 1952) and Science Reporter (English, 1964) | Dream 2047 |
| Also does | Science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research | Science popularisation through print, radio and television outreach |
Article 51A(h) is the clause most often cited in science-policy contexts; the 42nd Amendment that inserted it, the Swaran Singh Committee behind it and the 86th Amendment that later added clause (k) form one compact, high-yield block.
Vigyan Pragati is a Hindi-language government publication, and its jubilee links science communication to the Union's promotion of Hindi in technical and scientific writing.
CSIR runs a national network of laboratories across disciplines; NIScPR is its communication and policy-research arm, which is why the 2021 merger folded a documentation institute (NISCAIR) into a policy-studies institute (NISTADS).
Vigyan Prasar's closure in 2023 and the 2021 NISCAIR-NISTADS merger belong to the same governance trend - consolidating overlapping autonomous bodies and laboratories under fewer institutions.
GS Paper 2 > Polity > Fundamental Duties; GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Institutions
General Awareness > Static GK > Institutions and Publications
General Awareness > Science and Institutions
Science-communication institutions and Article 51A(h) recur in SSC and Railway general awareness and in UPSC polity questions on Fundamental Duties.
An evidence-based, questioning approach to belief; made a Fundamental Duty by Article 51A(h).
CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research, New Delhi - formed from CSIR-NISCAIR and CSIR-NISTADS.
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the department under the Ministry of Science & Technology through which CSIR functions; the CSIR Director General is also Secretary, DSIR.
The completion of 75 years - the milestone Vigyan Pragati reached in 2026, having been launched in 1952.