..........................................Course Developed by Dr. Sambit Mallick

The institutionalization and professionalization of scientific research, resulting in the growth of the scientific community in India, has traversed a tumultuous turmoil since the colonial period. The struggle over the colonial science policies and economic exploitation in the areas of industry, mining, forests, etc. and decline in production in artisan-based industry like handloom, and later, after Independence, the efforts to build scientific infrastructure to develop and industrialize India present us with a continuing theme of challenges confronting the scientists in building institutions to pursue science in India.

One of the most important scientific research institutions that were set up during the colonial regime was the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784. The Asiatic Society, modeled after the Royal Society of London, was established to carry out historical, anthropological and sociological research on Indian history, culture and ancient texts. The researchers were mostly British administrators, who carried out research, and the Asiatic Society provided a forum for scholars to exchange their ideas and research findings. The amateurs with their Eurocentric perspectives studied the Indian society to guide their administrative practices and legal system that saw the emergence of the Geological Survey of India, the Botanical Survey of India and the Meteorological Survey of India during the colonial period. Scientific research began in universities during the mid-nineteenth century with the establishment of University of Calcutta, University of Bombay and University of Madras in 1857. The nineteenth century also witnessed the establishment of scientific institutions by Muslim intelligentsia. The Delhi College, the Aligarh Scientific Society and the Bihar Scientific Society were established by the Muslim intelligentsia. Intelligentsia drawn from different religious groups realized the significance of modern science for material and cultural transformation of India, and attempted to democratize science in their own way by establishing scientific institutions and using the local or vernacular language as the medium of democratization (Mallick 2006). The leadership of these institutions conceptualized science in a variety of dimensions, viz., science as a systematized body of knowledge, science as a method of knowing and ultimately, science as a tool to shape the future goal of India. Consequently, scientific research was organized by establishing full-fledged academic departments and laboratories in the early decades after India's independence.