Historical context of initiatives for Vikas and Atmanirbharta in India: A tale of Meghnad Saha and S S Bhatnagar as Science Leaders

The teacher-scientists in India sought  governmental support for research in agriculture as well as in science and industry after the first world war. However, the colonial government came forward to create only Imperial Council for Agriculture in 1929. Dr. Meghnad Saha  maneuvered to get Jawaharlal Nehru named as the Chairperson of a Planning Committee on behalf of the Congress Party by its President Subash Chandra  Bose in 1938. The onset of the second world war in 1939 hastened the decision  for nucleation of a Board for  Scientific and Industrial Research with Dr. S S Bhatnagar as its first Director . An year after the creation of CSIR in September 1942, the teacher-scientists of India under the aegis of National Institute of Sciences articulated plans for development in all domains. A resolution for the creation of National Research Council  under the statutory authority of the government was adopted in September 1943. Jawaharlal Nehru started to implement the plans for development as the Vice President of the interim national government from 1946. The teacher-scientists, their students and grand students realized most of the plans conceived over next three quarters of the century. However, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) Act  came into being eighty years later in August 2023. ANRF is anticipated to accelerate the pace of Vikas and Atmanirbharta towards the developed and competitive India by 2047. 

About the Speaker:
Professor Arun Kumar Grover, a condensed matter physicist, served as the 12th Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh from 2012 to 2018.  Earlier, he was at the  Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, where he worked for over four decades. His research spans magnetism and superconductivity, resulting in over two hundred research papers. Notable accolades include the BRUKER Young Scientist Award in 1982 and the Research Award for Foreign Specialists from the Science and Technology Agency of the Government of Japan in 1991 . He has also received recognition from organizations like the Department of Atomic Energy and the Materials Research Society of India. Beyond research, he is involved in various leadership roles such as the Vice President of the Indian Academy of Sciences and Chairperson of the Research Council of CSIR-NPL, New Delhi. Additionally, he has been instrumental in initiatives like the Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) and the commemoration of significant figures and milestones in Indian education and science. Serving as a mentor and advisor, he continues to contribute to the advancement of scientific research and education, with a current focus on exploring scientific heritage and the history of higher education in India.