New Science Museum To Promote Science Culture In Country

The Ministry of Culture is creating new science centers/museums through the Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science in the Country (SPOCS). The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is an independent organization under the Ministry of Culture, Government.

• The Government of India is the implementing agency for developing Science Centres/Cities/Museums/Innovation Centres under the SPOCS scheme.

New science museums opened in the last four years: 

• Of these, one Science Museum/Science Center is functioning under the administrative control of NCSM – Palampur Science Centre, Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) which was established on 14 May 2022.
• Whereas three of these science museums/science centres were handed over to the states/union territories -
  • Bargarh Science Centre, Bargarh (Odisha) 21 January 2020
  • Udaipur Science Centre, Tripura - 28 February 2021
  • Sub-regional Science Centre, Bodhgaya (Bihar) – 20 July 2023

Efforts to promote science culture in the country:

• All Science Centres are open to the public, including school and college students. Apart from this, various NCSM Science Centres have been organised for school and college students. They also organise many annual events like science fairs, science seminars, science dramas, science demonstration lectures, travelling science exhibitions etc.
• Additionally, all ASI site museums are also open to the public.
• On special days, students from local schools are also invited to participate in various cultural programmes, competitions, heritage walks etc.
• Students under 15 years of age get free entry to the museums.
• The government initiatives for the year 2019 include the National Mission on ‘Inter-Disciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems’ and ‘The Global Cooling Prize’.
• Vayu (Wind Augmentation and Purification Unit – WAYU) devices are being installed to deal with vehicular pollution.
• The Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship Program is being run for the students for the purpose of gaining training and exposure in foreign countries.