ABSTRACT
Until the Second World War (1939–-1945), India’s industrial backwardness was Indians’ concern. Though still working under British auspices, the Indians sought to dovetail their country’s post-independence interests into the British exigencies of war. In 1941, the government agreed to establishing an Industrial Research Fund for fostering industrial development in the country. What was now needed was a mechanism for utilizing this fund. Accordingly, in 1942, a registered society was set up in Delhi under the name Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Being the solitary scientific organization of its type, CSIR nurtured many institutions. In August 1948, the Indian Atomic Energy Commission was set up under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. An entirely new vista was opened by the International Geophysical Year and India was introduced to the new field of satellites that sowed the seeds for space programmes in India. Indians at large consider the nuclear, missile, and space programmes to be their most notable successes in post-independence scientific enterprise.
