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Science and Technology in India

As India celebrating 75 years of its formation of Republic, we encapsulate some defining moments of the nation’s journey in the field of science and technology

Today, India is considered as one of the top five superpowers on the planet, with Indian scientists contributing enormously to facilitating the country’s rapid development and progress. While it was the Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who initiated several reforms in higher education and set up pioneering science and technology institutions like TIFR, DRDO, BARC, IITs, DST… the policies of subsequent governments ensured that we continued to stay on the growth and development track. The present-day government under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is giving significant emphasis to creation of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ focusing on creation of a strong indigenous R&D and manufacturing infrastructure across the country.

At this junction, we look back in history at some of the major milestones achieved by the country in the area of science and technology:

1945: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) – Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha asked Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for help and cooperation to begin nuclear research program in India. In 1945, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) was born, and thus started India’s journey in the world of nuclear energy development.

1954: India’s first Atomic Establishment at Trombay – Under the leadership of Dr. Homi Bhabha, the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) was established in 1954. Later, the institution was renamed as BARC in 1967 to help consolidate all research and technology activities. Today, BARC is India’s premier research and development facility in nuclear science and engineering, giving the country a strategic edge in nuclear power.

1956: India’s first atomic reactor ‘Apsara’– This first nuclear reactor was designed by BARC and built with assistance from United Kingdom. Apsara is a light water swimming pool-type reactor with a maximum power output of one megawatt thermal (MWt), and it first went critical on August 4, 1956. The reactor is utilised for various experiments including neutron activation analysis, radiation damage studies, forensic research, neutron radiology, and shielding experiments.

1958: Formation of Defence Research and Development Organisation – DRDO was formed in 1958 from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment (TEDs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). It has a network of laboratories engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life science, materials, missiles and naval systems.

1959: Launch of Television – Television was introduced in India on September 15, 1959 in Delhi, and the programs were broadcasted twice a week for an hour a day. Initially, the topics covered were community health, citizen’s duties and rights, and traffic and road sense, but in 1961 the broadcasts were expanded to include school educational television project. The first major expansion began in 1972, when a second television station was opened in Bombay, and it was followed by stations in Srinagar, Amritsar, Calcutta, Madras and Lucknow.

1964: The first Indian jet trainer – The two seat intermediate jet trainer HAL HJT-16 Kiran (Ray of Light) were built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on September 4, 1964. The jet called Kiran-I was powered by the Rolls Royce Viper Mk 11 delivered to the Indian Air Force in March 1968. Later the trainer jet was upgraded with hardpoints under each wing for weapon training and redesignated as the Kiran-IA.

1969: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – Established in 1969, ISRO is India’s pioneer space exploration agency with a vision to develop and harness space technology in national development. Over the years, ISRO has gained place among the elite space agencies in the world owing to its unique and cost effective technologies. Recently, it conducted several remarkable space probes like Chandrayaan – 1 lunar orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan – 1) and ASTROSAT space observatory.

1974: Pokhran – India’s first successful nuclear bomb – After Indira Gandhi had authorised scientists at BARC to design nuclear device in September 1972, it took nearly two-years of preparation to conduct the first nuclear test. Code named ‘Smiling Buddha’ the test was conducted on May 18, 1974 in the deserts of Pokhran, Rajasthan. This made India the world’s sixth nuclear power country.

1975: Launch of Aryabhata – Named after the ancient Indian astronomer – Aryabhata, the country launched its first satellite into space on April 19, 1975. The satellite was constructed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was launched into space aboard a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from Kapustin Yar, the then Soviet Union’s rocket launch and development site.

1978: India’s first test-tube baby – On October 3, 1978, Ms. Bela Agrawal delivered India’s first test-tube baby under the medical care and supervision of Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay. The child later named ‘Durga’ was conceived via in-vitro fertilisation, and the event took place just 67 days after the world’s first test-tube baby – Marie Brown, was born.

1982: Launch of India’s first satellite – Insat-1A was a multi-purpose satellite system designed to provide two high power TV broadcast and twelve telecommunications national coverage transponders, in addition to providing meteorological services. The Insat-1A was launched by a Delta 3910 launch vehicle on April 10, 1982 but was abandoned on September 6, 1983 when its attitude control propellant was exhausted.

1983: Research base at the South Pole – The country established its first scientific base station in Antarctica named Dakshin Gangotri. The station was built in record time of eight weeks by an 81-member team, and was powered by solar energy. The base was used to conduct scientific tests on radio transmission, physical oceanography, chemical analyse of freshwater lakes in the areas, geomagnetism, geology and glaciology.

1984: First Indian in Space – The Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma spent eight days aboard the Salyut 7 space station along with two Soviet Cosmonauts. They had departed on April 2, 1984 in a Soyuz T-11 spacecraft. This manned mission saw Sharma conduct several scientific and technical studies in the area of biomedicine, remote sensing and construction of hydro-electric power station in the Himalayas.

1988: Launch of C-DAC – In 1987, when US President Ronald Reagan refused to sell their supercomputers CRAY, India decided to develop it indigenously. In 1988, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing or C-DAC was launched under the leadership of Dr. Vijay Bhatkar. With a deadline of three years and a budget of around Rs. 30 crore, India’s first super computer PARAM 800 was developed in 1991.

1991: DNA Finger Printing – During his study of evolution of sex chromosomes in a species of snake, Dr. Lalji Singh observed and recorded specific pattern in the DNA sequences, which he named the ‘Bkm sequences’. He made use of this technique to identify people based on specific characteristic of their DNA, and was able to solve several court cases over disputed paternity and criminal cases. He pioneered the concept of ‘DNA fingerprinting’ in India.

1993: Launch of Pentium Chip – Vinod Dham is popularly known as the ‘Father of the Pentium Chip’ for his contribution to the development of highly successful Pentium processors from Intel. Responding to consumer’s demand of computers with faster processing speed, Intel changed the game with the launch of its breakthrough chip – the Pentium.

1994: India’s first heart transplant surgery – On August 3, 1994 a team of 20 surgeons led by Dr. Panangipalli Venugopal performed India’s first successful human to human heart transplant at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The entire operation took nearly 59 minutes and the patient lived for at least 15 more years.

1998: Pokhran – II – Operation Shakti stunned the world community as India conducted a series of five nuclear weapons tests – one fusion or thermonuclear weapon, two fission devices and two sub-kiloton devices, which proved to the world India’s capability in development of nuclear arsenal. Pokhran – II was the first Indian test of a nuclear weapon after 1974.

2000: Launch of indigenous fighter jet – Tejas, the single seat, single-engine, lightweight, high-agility supersonic fighter aircraft made its first maiden test flight aboard Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in January 2000. The aircraft’s design and development program was led by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the supervision of Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL).

2002: The Simputer – A low cost alternative to conventional computers, the Simputer was a self-contained, open hardware Linux-based handheld computer. It was devised to bridge the digital divide, but it did not succeed in taking off. Launched in 2002, it was the brainchild of seven scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, and was led by Dr. Swami Manohar. While it did not succeed, it remains an important home-grown development in computer manufacturing.

2003: Kalpana Chawla space disaster – Kalpana Chawla, was the first Indian-origin woman to go space on a 16-day mission aboard NASA space shuttle Columbia. On the morning of February 1, 2003, the space shuttle was to return to Earth. At the time of launch, a briefcase-sized piece of insulation had broken off and damaged the thermal protection system of the shuttle’s wing. On its entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, the hot gas caused the break-up of the wing and the shuttle leading into an explosion killing all seven astronauts on board.

2008: Chandrayaan – 1 – The country’s first unmanned mission into space became a reality with Chandrayaan -1’s moon mission. The mission launched on October 22, 2008 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre – Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. The goals of the mission included high-resolution mapping of the moon’s surface; near infrared, low energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray spectra, and preparation of a three-dimensional atlas of regions of scientific interest.

2009: INS Arihant – After five decades of hard work, on July 26, 2009 India formally launched its first indigenously designed and constructed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) – the INS Arihant. Powered by ISROs nuclear reactor, the submarine is designed to span the ocean depths at high speed and launch ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons in the range of over 3,000 km.

2013: Mangalyaan – On November 5, 2013 India’s Mars Orbiter Mission lifted off from Sriharikota powered by PSLV C-25. After spending about a month in orbit around the Earth, the spacecraft Mangalyaan began its journey unto Mars. Almost a month later, the spacecraft entered the Mars’ orbit, putting India in the elite club of five countries which have successfully sent missions to Mars. At a cost of Rs. 450 crore, it was the cheapest mission to Mars, and India had succeeded in the very first attempt.

2017: ISRO tests its first cryogenic engine – ISRO successfully tested its indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) for GSLV MkIII on February 17, 2017. It was tested for a flight duration of 640 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri, this test was carried out after a similar successful test for 50 seconds on January 25, 2017. The test is a significant milestone as it is the last in series of engine before the first flight of GSLV MkIII.

2019: Chandrayaan – 2 Moon mission – India made a failed attempt to make a soft landing on to the lunar surface, and missed out on the opportunity of being the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, after erstwhile USSR, US and China. While the spacecraft has successfully entered the lunar orbit, the lander Vikram missed the primary landing site and went for the second. Thereafter, the visuals went missing as it had a crash landing.

..and Now with Mission Moon – Chandrayaan 3, we have created history by soft landing on moon and being the first country to explore the south pole of the moon..

While each of the above scientific events have contributed in transforming India into a global superpower, there have been some major scientific revolutions based on government policies that have also played a strategic role in taking the benefits of these developmental changes to the masses:

The Green Revolution – Post-independence, India was going through its worst agriculture disaster owing to re-occurrence of famines as the country was witnessing wide spread poverty and hunger. In 1960, the government made a policy decision to initiate the ‘Green Revolution’ under the guidance of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The country resorted to the use of modern agricultural methods and technology – high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, tractors, irrigation facilities, pesticides and fertilisers. This Green Revolution led to increase in food production and resulted in India becoming one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers.

The White Revolution – After the huge success of the Green Revolution, the Indian government initiated ‘Operation Flood’ also known as the ‘While Revolution’ aimed at increasing milk production. It helped create a nationwide milk grid linking producers to consumers by eliminating the middlemen. The mission was to make India self-dependent nation in milk production. Pioneered by Dr. Verghese Kurien the revolution was a huge success, making India one of the largest producers of milk in the world.

The Yellow Revolution – It started in 1986- 87, to multiply the production of vegetable oils, especially mustard and sesame seeds. During the Yellow Revolution, nine oil hybrid seeds – peanuts, mustard, soyabeans, saffron, sesame, sunflower, niger, flaxseeds and castor seeds were planted. Within 10-years of the launch of the program, India’s oil production doubled from 12 million tons in 1986 to 24 million tons in 1997. The Yellow Revolution also offered farmers several support incentives associated to processing equipment, irrigation equipment, fertizers, pesticides, etc.

The Blue Revolution – Also known as ‘Neel Kranti Mission’, the Blue Revolution was launched in the year 1985 with the objective of developing, managing and promoting fisheries so as to increase farmer’s income and sustain livelihood. This revolution tripled the production of fish in India – both island and marine sector by 2020, transformed the fish and aqua industry into a modern industry using technology and processes, increased income through development of innovative marketing platforms and also ensured food security in India. Dr. Arun Kishnan and Dr. Hirlal Chaudhuri are known as Father of ‘Blue Revolution’ in India.

The Golden Revolution – The period between 1991-2003 is known as the period of India’s ‘Golden Revolution’, as the country saw a phenomenal rise in production of honey and horticulture products under the supervision of Nirpakh Tutej, who is considered to be the father of the ‘Golden Revolution’ in India. During this period India became the world leader in the production of a variety of fruits like coconut, mangoes, cashew nuts and the second largest producer of vegetables and fruits in the world

Conclusion Since ancient times, Science and Technology have always been an integral part of India’s culture, and Indian intellectuals have pursued higher education vigorously and engaged relentlessly in development and innovation activities. While the government of India has played a key role in creating conducive environment, it is Indian scientists like Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Har Gobind Khorana, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Venkatraman, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, Homi Bhabha… who have made the country proud with their extraordinary vision and work. India has evolved from humble beginnings into being a ‘Global Superpower’ and is all set to play a leadership role in all spheres of science and technology..

-Manoj Mahanta

-Team,ScienceNow