During the first two decades since independence, the central Government focused its attention on creation of S & T infrastructure in terms of setting up national R & D laboratories and institutions of excellence. This approach delivered concrete results visible in country’s achievements in space technology, nuclear sciences, green revolution, white revolution etc.

However since 1970, it started getting recognized that unless the expertise from academic and R&D institutions is also put to use at the grass-root level in districts and villages the full potential of the S&T would remain untapped. It is with this concern that over the last three decades government has been making concerted efforts to set up appropriate S&T infrastructures in the form of State Councils and State level Government Department for Science and Technology to ensure that application of scientific knowledge is taken up to tackle the problems of development at state level.

In order to fulfil the aims and objective of the Scientific Policy Resolution including above concern, a strong need was felt to evolve a National Science and Technology plan as an integral part of the overall socioe-conomic development of the country. At the Central Government level, the process of S&T planning started during fourth plan period with the setting up of National Committee on Science and Technology (NCST) in 1971. However, S&T planning became a regular feature only from the sixth plan period (1980-85) onwards.

At the State level, the idea of S&T planning was mooted by Bharat Ratna Late Shri C.Subramaniam the then Minister of Planning, Science and Technology through his letter dated 18.09.71 to the Chief Minister and Governors of all the States and Union Territories emphasizing the need for planning for S&T at the State level. This letter was the first step towards inviting the State Government to set up State Councils for Science and Technology in each State under the Chairmanship of their respective Chief Ministers. While some states responded to this appeal, most of the state governments could not fully develop the concept of setting up S&T Councils. Thus this process of setting up State level Planning Infrastructure for Science and Technology remained almost dormant till the beginning of the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980). It was during the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85), that the first steps were taken by the Planning Commission to allocate specific resources for S&T activities in the States and the need for setting up of State S&T Councils was once again emphasized. At the Center, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), was assigned the responsibility of playing the catalytic role of assisting the State Governments in establishing State S&T Councils for the application of Science and Technology for the development of the States and Union Territories. To start with, DST under one of its Plan scheme “Assistance for Development of State Councils for Science and Technology, initiated a series of debates with representatives of States and Union Territories to examine the role that they could play through the setting up of state S&T councils for the socio-economic development of the States.

Thus the launch of scheme “Assistance for Development of State S&T Councils” in 1980 catalysed the activities in states to take a definite shape.