NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SCIENCE MUSEUMS
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SCIENCE MUSEUMS National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is the largest network of science centres and museums under a single administrative umbrella in the world. The first science museum, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata under CSIR, was opened on May 2, 1959. In July 1965 the second science museum, Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) was opened in Bangalore. After Kolkata and Bangalore, the work for the third centre at Mumbai was taken up in 1974. 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 April 4, 1978 as National Council of Science Museums (NCSM). Twenty five science centers and museums of NCSM located in different sites in India have a total floor area of 156684 square metres and was visited by over eight million people