In this chapter, we shall study India’s
achievements in the areas of science and
technology. Also, we are going to learn
about the important institutions in the
areas of science and technology and their
contribution.
Indian Atomic Energy Commission:
India’s first Prime
Minister Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru
wanted to nurture a
scientific temper
and bring about the
nation’s progress.
From this
perspective, he set
up the Indian Atomic
Energy Commission
on 10th August 1948. Dr Homi Bhabha
was appointed as the first Chairman of
the Commission. The objectives of the
commission were to produce electricity
from atomic energy, increase the yield of
food grains and make them last longer,
set up the technology for achieving this
and develop nanotechnology. In 1956, the
Department of Atomic Energy set up
‘Apsara’, a nuclear reactor functioning on
atomic energy.
In 1969, an atomic power station was
set up at Tarapur. A Reactor Research
Centre was set up at Kalpakkam in Tamil
Nadu to successfully use Thorium for
generating atomic power. The role of
reactors is important in developing atomic
power.
Factories manufacturing the heavy
water needed for the generation of atomic
power were set up at Vadodara, Talcher,
Tutikorin, Kota, etc. An institution calledHeavy Water Projects was set up to carry
out research on manufacturing heavy
water within the country. It was later
renamed ‘Heavy Water Board’. Dhruva Nuclear Reactor : In 1985,
a completely Indian made nuclear reactor
called Dhruva was started at Trombay
near Mumbai. The Dhruva nuclear reactor
uses uranium as fuel. At this center, 350
radioactive substances are produced. They
are used in industry, agriculture and
medicine.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Ltd.(NPCIL) : This Company was set up
in 1987 to generate electricity from atomic
energy. The objective of the company is
to master and develop the technology to
generate safe, cheap and environmentally
profitable power and make the country
self-sufficient.
Nuclear tests
First nuclear test at Pokharan :
India successfully
performed her first
nuclear test at
Pokharan in
Rajasthan on 18th
May 1974 in
consonance with the
policy of using
nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes and for selfsufficiency. The
reason why India
took this decision
was China’s nuclear
capability and
Pakistan’s desperate
efforts to acquire
nuclear weapons
with China’s help.
Dr Homi Sethna, the chairman of the
Indian Atomic Energy Commission and
Dr Raja Ramanna, Director of the Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre played a major
role in conducting this nuclear test. Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi took the decision
of carrying out a ‘nuclear explosion’.
Pokharan was chosen on the basis of the
required criteria for the location of the
nuclear tests : far away from human
settlement and no ground water reserves.
Do you know?
In 1974 when India carried out her
first nuclear tests at Pokharan, the
U.S.A. refused to give India the
technology for defence related fields
such as space research, communications
and missile development. As a result,
India adopted a policy of developing
its own missile development programme
without depending upon the U.S.A.
Thus, India joined the rank of nations
like the U.S.A, the U.S.S.R, France,
China and Germany who had their own
missile programmes.
assured that there would be no first use
of nuclear weapons by India. But the
USA imposed economic sanctions on
India immediately.
Missile development
Prithvi : In
1988, India
successfully tested
the missile Prithvi
and in 1989, the
missile Agni. The
entire world took
note of India’s
programme of
developing nuclear
missiles indigenously.
Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme (IGMDP) was
conceived by and carried out under the
leadership of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Defence Research and Development
organisation (DRDO) undertook the task
of building the missiles.
Prithvi-1, a surface to surface ballistic
missile was given to the Army, Prithvi-2
In 1958, Defence Research and
Developement Organisation (DRDO)
was established under the Department
of Defence of the government of India.
The objective of this organisation was
to make India self-sufficient with respect
to means, equipment and weapons
required for defence. After 1983, this
organisation developed several missiles
under the leadership of Dr A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam. Dr Kalam has made a great
contribution in the production of missiles.
Dr Kalam is known as the father of
India’s missile programme. He is also
refered to as the ‘Missile Man’ of India.was given to the Air Force while Prithvi-3
was given to the Navy. Prithvi had the
capacity to carry nuclear weapons of
500-1000 kg. Prithvi could travel a
distance of 150-300 km due to the nuclear
ballistic missile.
Agni : In order that China and
Pakistan get an idea of India’s missile
strength and India’s borders remain secure,
Agni-1 was tested. This military missile
had a range of 700 km. Later Agni-2 and
Agni-3 were also produced.
Akash and Nag missiles : In 1990,
the missile Akash was developed to fire
from land into air. This missile has a
capacity to carry 720 kilogram explosives
at supersonic speed and a range of 30
kilometres. The missile Nag was made in
order to destroy the tanks of the enemy.
It is of the ‘fire and forget’ type. India
has militarily become secure due to the
production of missiles.
Space research : In 1961, Indian
National Committee for Space Research
(NCSR) launched India’s first research
rocket from Thumba Equatorial Launch
Center in Thumba in the State of Kerala.
In 1969, our indigenously built rocket
Rohini-75 was successfully launched. The
next stage was the successful launch of
the first Indian satellite Aryabhatta in
1975 with help from the Soviet Russia.
This success proved that Indian
scientists can indigenously build and
launch a satellite. Indian scientists were
confident that they could acquire the
technology for sending a message from
the Earth Station and to assess the
working of the satellite.
Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) : After the success of the basic
programme in space research and rocketrelated project, Indian Space Research
Organisation was established on 15th
August 1969 in order to carry out further
space research. The headquarters of
ISRO are at Bengaluru. ISRO activated
the space station at Sriharikota in
Andhra Pradesh for launching our satellites
in space.
Bhaskar-1 : India launched remote
sensing experimental satellite Bhaskar-1
from the Soviet Russia in 1979 in order
to observe various things on the surface
of the earth by remote sensing technology.
This remote sensing technology would be
useful for India’s development by regarding
water bodies, mineral deposits and
forecasting weather. The photographs
taken with the help of this technology
about the bowels of the earth, environment
and forests were important. Another area
in which the information from this satellite
was useful was oceanography. In 1981,
‘Bhaskar-2’ was launched from Soviet
Russia.
APPLE (Ariane Passenger Payload
Experiment) : The first completely
indigenously built satellite by ISRO in
India, APPLE was launched on 19th June
1981 from the French Guiana. ‘APPLE’
was beneficial in the field of education.
The objective of providing emergency
telecommunication services was successful.
Indian National Satellite (INSAT):
In August 1983, the satellite INSAT 1-B
was launched in space. Because of this
satellite, a major revolution came about
in the areas of telecommunication,
television, radio, weather forecasting and
space research in India. Due to INSAT,
207 Akashwani or Radio stations could
be connected to each other. This
mechanism was also useful for search
and rescue of people caught in some disaster like a shipwreck or an air plane
crash, for forecasting weather, to look for
and follow cyclones or storms, in the
fields of telemedicine and educational
institutions. The telemedicine service
enabled the population from remote areas
to get advice and treatment from expert
doctors. Public Primary Health Centers in
villages have been connected with
superspecialty hospitals through INSAT.
Technological progress : A factory
manufacturing railway engines,
Chittaranjan Locomotive Works was set
up at Chittaranjan in Bardwan District in
West Bengal. Steam engines, electric
engines and engines running on diesel
were manufactured here. The first diesel
engine was manufactured at the Diesel
Locomotive Works at Varanasi. India
started exporting railway engines to Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh, Tanzania and
Vietnam.
Telex service : The Department of
telecommunications under the ministry of
Communications started the telex service
in 1963 to transmit typed messages from
one part of the country to another rapidly.
In 1969, the telex service started in
Devanagari script in Delhi. Later it spread
all over the country. This service began
to be used in different fields. With the
rise of internet after 1990, the significance
of this service reduced.
Satellite Communication Centre : In
order to establish satellite communication
with the help of an artificial satellite, a
domestic satellite communication earth
station was established in 1967 at Jodhpur
Tekra near Ahmedabad. This made it easy
to train scientists and technicians in setting
up and running an Earth Station within
the country. In 1970, a centre was
established at Aarvi near Pune, equippedfor international telecommunication service.
Pincode : From 15 August 1972, the
Post and Telegraph Department started the
six digit Pincode system in the country.
The Postal Index Code is intended to bring
efficiency in distributing the mail. In this
system the country was divided into nine
regions. The first digit of the Pincode
indicates the region, the second digit
indicates the Sub-region, the third digit
shows the main disbursement district while
the remaining three digits show the location
of the local post office. For Maharashtra,
40, 41, 42, 43, 44 are the first two digits.
In 1986, the speed post service was started
to send postage rapidly.
International Subscriber Dialling
Telephone Service (ISD) : In 1972,
Overseas Communication Service was
established in Mumbai for the management
of international telecommunication service.
In 1976, the International Subscriber
Dialled Telephone Service was started to
connect Mumbai and London directly on
phone. Alongside the telephone service,
services like telex, teleprinter and radio
images were started. In 1986, Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) took a
big leap in this field. Before that,
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) was a public sector company for
giving telephone service in big cities. In
the 1990s, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
held the distinction of being the main
internet service provider in India. The
contribution of Sam Pitroda in this field
is significant.
Mobile : On 22nd August 1994, the
mobile phone service started in India. At
this time a mobile handset cost Rs.45,000
and calling was at ` 17 per minute. By
1990, many private companies came in
this field. This made the service cheaper.Let’s discuss.
Find out about the various
changes that have taken place in
mobile phone technology. Discuss its
advantages and disadvantages.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL) : In 2000, the telecommunication
department was restructured. The
responsibility to make policy decisions
was retained with the Telecom Department
and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was
established to actually provide the services
to consumers. Along with the telephone
service, cellular phone, internet, broadband
services were also made available.
Oil and Natural Gas Commission
(ONGC) : In 1956, the Oil and Natural
Gas Commission was established to
search for the deposits of mineral oil
and natural gas and to increase their
production. After Digboi in Assam,
mineral oil deposits were found in
Ankleshwar area in Gujarat. Later,
mineral oil and natural gas deposits were
found in the gulf of Khambhat in
Gujarat.
In 1974, the Oil and Natural Gas
Commission started digging an oil well
in ‘Bombay High’ area with the help of
Russian scientists by a drillship called
‘Sagar Samrat’. From 1975, mineral oil
and natural gas began to be extracted
from there. Later, more than 8500 oil
wells and 33 natural gas wells dug
eventually in this area began to contribute
38% of the total mineral oil production
in the country and met 14% of the
country’s demand for crude oil.
Railways and Technology : The
technology adopted by railways has a big
role in the history of modern India. In order to bring efficiency, accuracy
and coordination in the reservation system
in rail travel, computerised reservation
system was started for the first time in
Delhi in 1984. In the same year, the
Metro was started in Kolkata.
In this way India has been making
progress in the fields of science and
technology. New inventions have been
made. India is an important 21st century
nation, which has always used technology
for establishing peace in the world. India
is making all these advancements in order
to be the foremost among nations in the
21st century.
In the next chapter, we shall learn
about the progress India has made in the
fields of commerce and trade.
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