National Council of Science Museums

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National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is an autonomous body under the Government of India’s Ministry of Culture. It promotes science through a network of museums and science centers across the country, and it is the world’s largest such chain under a single administration. NCSM runs 24 own science centers or museums, plus one research and development laboratory and a training center. It coordinates informal science education and museum activities across India.

History: The first science museum in India, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) in Kolkata, opened on 2 May 1959. The second, Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM) in Bangalore, opened in July 1965. A third center in Mumbai began in 1974. In the early 1970s, a Planning Commission task force recommended creating national, state, and district science museums and a central coordinating body. In 1978, the government moved the Kolkata and Bangalore museums, along with the Mumbai project, into a new society called the National Council of Science Museums, registered on 4 April 1978.

Headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, NCSM serves audiences worldwide. As of 2020–21, its budget was about ₹740 crore (roughly US$88 million) and it employed about 852 staff (as of 31 March 2019). In 2019–20, the network hosted around 14.4 million visitors. NCSM operates museums for various state governments and union territories across India.