Preamble 

Under the objectives to design, develop and fabricate science museum exhibits; demonstrate equipment and scientific teaching aids for science education; to popularize science and creating scientific temper among people, the Regional Science Centres (RSC) are developed across the India by the National Council for Science Museum (NCSM), Government of India. The NCSM collaborates with like-minded institutions and develop Science Centres/Museums for different States and Union Territories of India.

A total of  49 science centres and science museums have already been developed by NCSM, while 4 are under development. Over the years, as the demand for creation of new science centres grew, the Government of India supported the growth by increasing the fund size or by sharing the capital fund requirement with the state governments. Normally, for setting up a new science centre in the regional or sub-regional level by NCSM, the total capital fund required is shared equally by the central government and the state government. The plots of land on which such centres are set up are provided by the state governments.

RSC, Dehradun

The RSC in Uttarakhand State is developed by NCSM in collaboration with Uttarakhand State Council for Science & Technology (UCOST) in its premise at VIGYAN DHAM, Jhajra, Dehradun. The RSC is develop with 50:50 share basis of capital among NCSM and Govt. of Uttarakhand on the provided land. The total area of RSC is 30450 m square which comprise Science Park and RSC building.

The Science Park encompass Dinosaurs park, outer interactive exhibits based on scientific laws, and planetarium, while, the RSC building host Fun Science Gallery, Himalaya Gallery, Frontiers of Technology Gallery, Innovation Hub, 3D Theater, Auditorium of 200 sitting capacity, Exhibition Hall, Library and Meeting Hall. Some of the attractive features of the scientific law based interactive outer exhibit in Science park are Gravity chair, Whispering garden, Musical Bar, Sympathetic swing, Birding Cage, Eco tube, and Perspective house etc. along with proposed planetarium. In addition, Intelligent materials, New trend in nuclear power generation, cloud computing, Robotics, and Carbon nano-tube & graphense etc. are some of the attractive features of the inner exhibits in the RSC Building. The Himalaya Gallery depicts almost every subject related to Geology, geography, tourism, culture & traditional knowledge system of Himalaya through attractive exhibits. It also harbours replica of “holy Amarnath Cave”.

Innovation hub is a multi-disciplinary laboratory equipped with moderate set of tools and scientific instruments. The facility is set up to promote creativity and innovations by the young minds. This would not only ensure more effective utilization of the science centre, but would redefine its usages and role in fostering problem solving and project based learning. This facility provides hands-on/ practical learning and engagement in the process of science, technology and innovation to the students. Innovation hub provides resources and technical input to innovative ideas of school students.

Objective

1. To portray the growth of Science and Technology with a view to popularize Science and develop scientific temper amongst the people in the state.
2. To develop the understanding of Science among people by which they appreciate it and adopt rational thinking in their day to day life
3. To supplement Science education among students and constantly discover ways of science popularization
4. To raise S&T based issues important/ crucial to society and to integrate them in decision making process of policy makers
5. To preserve the heritage of Science in the State

Uttarakhand lies within Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) which embodied with the great array of natural resources, pilgrimage sites (Char Dham), scenic beauty and adventure tourism. Lakh of pilgrims and tourists visits this state every year. Dehradun is state capital which has been home to over 300 high schools, including some old Irish Christian Missionary schools since long. It is also known as “City of Schools” and “School Capital of India”. In order to harness the potential of education hub and tourism, RSC wll play a crucial role by developing a centre of choice of students and tourists. Besides, it will also cater the need of development of scientific temperament and rational thinking among Uttarakhand people, which will be instrumental to make them aware on conservation of natural resources.