75th Foundation Day of CSIR-National Physical Laboratory: Celebration of Achievements in Metrology for National Growth

Abstract

The CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), the National Metrology Institute (NMI) of India, is a premier laboratory, founded on January 04, 1947, under the umbrella of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, Government of India, by an Act of Parliament. It has now completed 74 glorious years after inception and entered into its 75th year, i.e. Platinum Jubilee Year. To commemorate its 75th Foundation Day, the CSIR-NPL organized a National Metrology Conclave (NMC) on January 04, 2021. On this auspicious occasion, the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi dedicated the National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND ® )—CRMs to the nation. He also laid the foundation stone of National Environmental Standard Laboratory. He addressed the august gathering in the gracious presence of Honourable Union Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Honourable Prime Minister inspired, motivated and appreciated the strides made by Indian Scientists for nation building, especially the role of CSIR-NPL and impact of metrology for self-reliant India. Honourable Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, inaugurated the exclusively designed poster gallery, displaying accomplishments and importance of metrology in the CSIR-NPL campus and released a book entitled, “Metrology for Inclusive Growth of India”. Several of the world metrology leaders also presented their visions, in the NMC, on the role of metrology in societal and industrial growth through online virtual platform. The main emphasis was placed on the importance and impact of the metrology in the success of several initiatives of Government of India, namely ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliant India), ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Vocal for Local’, etc. During all these years, the journey of the CSIR-NPL has been wonderful, splendid and magnificent on several aspects of celebrations, pride, recognition, global visibility and its services for the national cause. It has achieved many milestones, developed technologies of national eminence, organised many memorable events, successfully participated in various national missions’ time to time and published considerable amount of literature for knowledge generation in the form of research papers, patents, copyrights, books, monographs, technical peers, Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) and study reports, etc. The successful journey of these glorious years though looks easy, simple, normal and customary but in actual sense, lot of pain staking efforts, huge work, vicissitudes are behind all these accomplishments. The glimpses of the journey of CSIR-NPL from its inception to recently held NMC and the excerpts of addresses made by the dignitaries are also summarized in detail in this article.

Digital Avatar of Metrology

“…Figure 1 shows the linkage of NMS in the Indian context as a linkage of National and International associated bodies. The dissemination of measurement standards to industry, government, strategic partners, and academics in many parameters through apex-level traceable calibration certificates, training, and consultation services is critical and it translates into their economic growth and quality of life [8,[15][16][17][18]. However, organizations will be able to get more value out of their efforts in the future by identifying, comprehending, and addressing emerging risks related to metrology through its digital transformation.…”