My role as the Director General, CSIR October 2018- April 2022

????????It has been my privilege to have served as the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)- cum- Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Govt. of India. I joined CSIR in mid-October 2018 and served till April 2022.?CSIR is an autonomous Society funded by the Govt. of India with the Hon’ble Prime Minister being its President.?Today it is among the oldest and the largest publicly funded research organizations in India, and constitutes a chain of 37 laboratories.?The current annual budget of the organization is close to Rs. 5500 Crores. Apart from receiving financial support from the Govt., CSIR also receives substantial support in projects from other agencies and industries.

????????When I took over in October 2018, my immediate task was to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure, rejuvenate morale of the scientists across the organization, and more importantly, to expeditiously undertake developments in newer technological areas.?Prior to my arrival in CSIR, I had also been aware of the crumbling collaborations with the Industry.?In the meanwhile, Covid-19 pandemic stuck globally, affecting the ongoing programs significantly. However, this situation offered opportunities to initiate pan-CSIR program towards Covid mitigation.?The opportunity presented could only have been realized by collaborating extensively among all the laboratories of CSIR, by working closely with other academia, and by working intimately with the industry. Such an approach would ensure development and implementation of technologies for the larger use immediately.?With these points in view, I formed a Covid-19 Strategy Group in CSIR, which I chaired personally and which met daily starting from mid-March 2020 until recently.?The strategy was to work in five broad verticals- genomic surveillance, development of novel diagnostics, finding chemotherapeutic interventions, developing hospital assisted devices and managing supply chain networks. It was very heartening that all major Industrial houses committed themselves to work with CSIR upon my appeal.?Some of these aspects have been covered in my interviews on television, print media and in online talks delivered at different places (see for example the talk delivered at the Pune International Centre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyHHZ6_qHYI on 22nd September, 2020).?As a consequence of pan-CSIR strategy for Covid-19 mitigation, a few representative examples of the technologies that were implemented during the pandemic are:

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·??????CRISPR/Cas based diagnostics, termed as FELUDA

·??????New Genome sequencing methods and analyses

·??????Rapidly deployable make shift hospitals across the country

·??????Swasth-Wayu non-intubation ventilators

·??????Medical grade Oxygen plants based on Pressure-Vacuum Swing Adsorption

·??????Method for production for adjuvant in Covaxin vaccine, commercialized and used extensively by Bharat Biotech Pvt Ltd.

·??????Air sanitizers in Air Handling Units in closed rooms, and stand-alone air purifiers, with concealed UV implemented in many buildings including the Parliament houses of India.

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The detailed compendium of Covid-19 technologies developed in CSIR is available on its web site.

????????Thus, the onset of the Covid pandemic during my early tenure was an opportunity to rediscover the CSIR laboratories to realize their true potential. The awareness that the multidisciplinary nature of CSIR laboratories is the strength through which any important problem of humanity could be attacked, and that this potential could significantly be realized during the Covid period, has given a new self-assurance to the CSIR scientists in my opinion and now sets the stage for an important role of CSIR for future.

????????Among the many lessons learnt during the Covid peak period, the most important ones were the significance of collaborations with industry, engaging closely with policy makers and forming transdisciplinary teams across academic organizations. ?Thus, many other futuristic programs, not related to the pandemic, were also launched during my tenure.?All these programs have the components of International collaborations, transdisciplinary approaches, and engagements with all the stakeholders from the beginning of the projects.?Some examples of these newly launched initiatives are:

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·??????A cluster of Excellence on Net Zero technologies

·??????Green Hydrogen mission

·??????High Altitude Platforms for telecommunication/ surveillance

·??????BioJet Fuels from Agricultural residues

·??????Disaster resilience housing projects

·??????Aroma mission for promoting cultivation and processing of aromatic oils, involving a very large number of farmers across the country

·??????Indigenous design of the next generation 70-90 seater aircraft, and initiation of usage of renewable energy in aerospace sector

·??????Large-scale of mapping ground water and aquifers in arid and semi-arid regions of India

·??????Promoting circular economy through sustainable technologies in many different sectors

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These technology missions and many others that have been initiated during my tenure, promise to bring large benefits to the society.?The impact of these programs will likely be seen in the coming years.

Inclusive leadership: One of the major achievements during my tenure has been the promotion of inclusive development of the organization.?For instance, when I took over, none of the 37 laboratories had a woman Director.?During my tenure, 7 women Directors have been appointed, and more than half of the divisions at the Headquarters are headed by women leaders.?This I believe is a small but definitive step towards achieving gender equality.?An unwritten rule during my tenure that has been made known to all is that formation of any committee must have appropriate gender balance.?Consequently, the research councils (research advisory bodies) of all the 37 laboratories now possess correct gender balance, and many of these are headed by eminent women scientific leaders.

Participatory decision making and empowering young leaders: One key feature that I introduced during my tenure was to conduct monthly online meetings of the entire CSIR leadership across the country.?Chosen young scientists with potential of being future leaders were encouraged to attend these meetings.?Most major matters were discussed in these monthly meetings such as those on the course of futuristic projects, implementation of new ideas, and the trajectory to be followed for successful implementation of the projects etc.?Most of the strategic decisions on technology development were deliberated in these meetings, and were consequently implemented.?Thus, an attempt was made to bring the entire CSIR leadership closer through this endeavor, and which I believe has succeeded to a large extent.

Internationalization of CSIR activities:?In order to enhance the impact of its scientific and technological programs, during my leadership, a number of visits of scientific leaders in CSIR were promoted between African countries and India, EU nations and India, and other continents.?These spanned technologies including sustainable living, leather processing, mining etc.?Further, CSIR signed Memorandum of Understanding with multiple international organizations during my tenure, including Fraunhofer, Germany; CNRS, France; ITRI, Taiwan and Pasteur Institute, Paris.?As an example among these, the Pasteur Institute has its footprint in many developing countries working closely to eradicate neglected tropical diseases.?CSIR’s premier Institute- the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology has agreed to set up a Centre in collaboration with Pasteur Institute on similar lines.?Thus, during my tenure, large number of well-known international organization have been able to tie up activities with CSIR.

Science Advocacy:?In my capacity as the Director General, CSIR, I had an opportunity to be involved in Science advocacy with large number of stakeholders: public, political leadership, policy makers, industrialists, print and visual media and others.?Through these engagements with all the stakeholders many new initiatives have been undertaken such as those in new aerospace programs; attempts towards implementation of crop diversification for farmers, e.g. aromatic plants, floriculture etc.; cultivation of seaweeds in the coastal areas; promotion of BioJet fuels from agri-residues and others.?In addition, through talks delivered at various forums, such as those for administrative personnel, or through Indian missions overseas, I have advocated the scientific and technological implementation at the grass-root level, so that public benefits by the advances in these areas.?Moreover, I have strongly advocated start-ups across the country in order to adopt innovation movement in the younger generation of people.?Some of the recent talks I have delivered in this direction are available in the following links on YouTube:

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·??????Interview of Doordarshan on CSIR’s Covid-19 mitigation strategy, 12th May, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmgSlSYliSY

·??????Delivered in the TV studio of India Science Channel, 15th Aug 2020 titled India’s Scientific Glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0LpPMZD3YU

·??????Delivered online at the American Chemical Society, 23rd December, 2021 titled Science, Technology and Innovation, key drivers for Atmanirbhar Bharat:?https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/acs-webinars/india/aatmanirbhar-bharat.html?sc=211223_gem_ACSWebinars_Indiateam_drmande

·??????Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar memorial lecture delivered online at the Embassy of India at Moscow, 22nd February, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv5c2a9jNRo

·??????Delivered at the Administrative Staff College of India,10th March, 2022 titled Science, Technology and Innovations, primary vehicle for gaining our rightful place in the world order: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCw50D0ymY

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This is also an opportunity to admit some of the matters that I have not been able to resolve during my tenure. There are many, but the one that bothers me the most has been my inability to ensure Research Scholars (CSIR JRF/SRF's) getting Fellowship on time. Multiple issues including the bureacratic procedures in handling fellowship matters, reluctance of administration and finance personnel to move over to digital processes (this must rank as one matter cutting across all Govt Departments), and lack of support from stake holders (Universities/ Institutions) in streamlining, affected this matter. Ofcourse, the final blame lies in the authority, and I accept the blame of not having been to resolve the matter before I superannuated, despite my best efforts.

I hope that practices of the inclusive and participatory leadership I provided in the last more than three years will continue to be followed for long time.?I also hope that all the new missions that have been undertaken will help CSIR achieve new heights in the coming years.?It is only through sustained efforts that the true fruits of S&T can yield good results for our society. Organizations like CSIR have a major role to play in making India an affluent society, and support from all stakeholders- policy makers, bureaucracy, academic organizations, society at large, would be critical in achieving that goal.