| National Council of Science Museums | |
| Abbreviation: | NCSM |
| Type: | Society |
| Status: | Government |
| Purpose: | Educational |
| Headquarters: | Kolkata, West Bengal |
| Location: | India |
| Region Served: | Worldwide |
| Leader Title: | Director General |
| Leader Name: | A. D. Choudhury |
| Parent Organisation: | Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India |
| Num Staff: | 852 [1] |
| Budget: | (2020–21)[2] |
| Remarks: | Visitors 14409555 |
National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is an autonomous scientific organization functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for science communication through its network of science museums or science centres spread across India.[3] It is the largest chain of science centers/museums under a single administrative umbrella in the world. There are 24 own science centers or museums and one R & D laboratory and training centre. The NCSM has been built to co-ordinate all informal science communication activities in the museum space in the country.
The first science museum, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata under CSIR43, was opened on 2 May 1959. In July 1965, the second science museum of the country, the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM) was opened in Bangalore. After Kolkata and Bangalore, the work for the third centre in Mumbai was taken up in 1974. As the popularisation of science and technology through the science museums grew in scope and size, the Union Planning Commission constituted a task force in the early 1970s to assess the activities of the science museums. The task force recommended to set up science museums in different parts of the country at national, state and district levels and also recommended formation of a central coordinating agency. In 1978, it was decided by the Government of India to delink from CSIR the two science museums already operating at Kolkata and Bangalore and also the one being set up at Mumbai and put them under a newly formed society registered on 4 April 1978, as National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).[4]
The following are the list of science centres/museums developed by NCSM for various state governments and union territories across India.
| Science museums/centres | State/UT | Date of inauguration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Science Centre, Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh | 12 January 1995 | |
| Science Centre, Port Blair | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 30 May 2003 | |
| Mizoram Science Centre, Aizawl | Mizoram | 26 July 2003 | |
| Nagaland Science Centre, Dimapur | Nagaland | 14 September 2004 | |
| Manipur Science Centre | Manipur | 18 May 2005 | |
| Arunachal Pradesh Science Centre, Itanagar | Arunachal Pradesh | 3 December 2005 | |
| Shillong Science Centre, Shillong | Meghalaya | 27 February 2006 | |
| Sikkim Science Centre, Gangtok | Sikkim | 22 February 2008 | |
| Sub-Regional Science Centres, Kalimpong | West Bengal | 2 October 2008 | |
| Sub-Regional Science Centre, Solapur | Maharashtra | 14 February 2010 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Ranchi | Jharkhand | 29 November 2010 | |
| Dharwad Regional Science Centre | Karnataka | 27 February 2012 | |
| Chhattisgarh Science Centre, Raipur | Chhattisgarh | 13 July 2012 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Jaipur | Rajasthan | 29 December 2012 | |
| Pimpri Chinchwad Science Centre, Pune | Maharashtra | 8 February 2013 | |
| Jorhat Science Centre & Planetarium | Assam | 6 July 2013 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | 6 May 2013. | |
| Sub Regional Science Centre, Jodhpur | Rajasthan | 17 August 2013 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Pilikula | Karnataka | 1 October 2014 | |
| Sub Regional Science Centre | Puducherry | 3 May 2015 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Dehradun | Uttarakhand | 3 February 2016 | |
| Bargarh Science Centre, Bargarh | Odisha | 21 January 2020 | |
| Regional Science Centre, Chalakudy | Kerala | February 2021[5] [6] |