Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India


The Principal Scientific Adviser is the chief advisor to the government on matters related to scientific policy. It is currently a Secretary level position created in 1999 by the AB Vajpayee government. At the time, the position was a Cabinet rank position, with the first PSA being APJ Abdul Kalam. This was followed by Rajagopala Chidambaram who held the rank of a Minister of State and was the PSA for 16 years. The current PSA is K. VijayRaghavan.
The 'Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser', through the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council helps scientific cross-sectoral synergy across ministries, institutions and the industry.

Appointees

There have been a total of three PSAs so far:

Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser

The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India advises the government in science and technology policies and interventions that are of strategic socio-economic importance to the country. This is done in collaboration with various ministries, institutions, academia and industry. The PM-STIAC is one of the catalysts for such tasks and also overseas the implementation of the tasks.

Nine National Missions

On 6 March 2019, the PSA announced nine new science and technology missions with a focus on 'Science for People and People for Science':
Other major projects include Research Clusters, Earth Museum, Brahmaputra River System, I-STEM Facilities Map and Energy Security.

Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)

The Council allows the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to ascertain the status, challenges and interventions needed in the science and technology domain so as to advise the PM is as best a manner as possible. The PM's STIAC increases the collaboration and focus needed to answer complex problems in appropriate time periods. One of the ways this is done is through it missions.

Members

Members include: