Annual Report 2004-2005

Administration And Finance

Department of Science and Technology is the nodal Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The organisational structure of the Department has evolved over the years to respond quickly to the issues relating to the promotion and development of Science and Technology in the country. It has three Subordinate Departments viz. India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO) and Survey of India (SOI) under its Administrative Control. In addition to it, the Department also supports 18 autonomous research institutions/ other bodies and 5 science/engineering academies/ associations, which are working in diverse areas for the promotion of Science and Technology.

The Administration and Finance Divisions of the Department look after the support facilities for the Subordinate Departments and Autonomous bodies including the personnel and financial administration. The activities undertaken by the different wings during the period under report are given as under:

Recruitment Cell

The Recruitment Cell in the Department of Science and Technology is entrusted with the following functions:

(a) Recruitment of Group ‘A’ Scientific posts;
(b) Assessment of eligible departmental Scientists for in-situ promotion under Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS); and
(c) Considering the proposals regarding the recognition of institutions / organizations under various Ministries/Departments as Scientific and Technical and introduction of FCS therein.

During the year, action was taken to make recruitment to one post of Scientist C, two posts of Research Associates under Mission Mode Project on Seismology and two posts of Scientist F on Deputation/Short Term Contract basis and three posts each of Scientist B and Scientist C on direct recruitment basis. The posts are likely to be filled up soon. Assessment of eligible Departmental Scientists for in-situ promotion under FCS as on 01.07.2004 was done and the assessments due as on 01.01.2005 are being processed.

Parliament Unit

The Parliament Unit is assigned the responsibility of handling the entire parliamentary work of the Department. It ensures that the parliamentary work pertaining to the Ministry of Science & Technology is accomplished as per the prescribed schedule and procedures. The Unit maintains liaison with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Secretariats of Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha, and other Ministries/Departments (including Scientific Departments) with a view to fully discharge the parliamentary obligations of the Ministry of Science & Technology. The Unit also coordinates the visits of the Parliamentary Committees to various scientific institutions which are under the administrative control of the Department. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology and Environment & Forests recently visited the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials in Hyderabad, Indian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Liquid Crystal Research and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore and Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, in the month of September 2004.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests met on 10th August 2004 to discuss the Demands for Grants for the year 2004-2005 of the Department and submitted its recommendations in its 125th report presented to the Parliament on 18th August 2004. The action taken report on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee was also submitted to the Secretariat of the Committee as per schedule.

Welfare Cell

The Department of Science and Technology is concerned about the welfare of its employees. A Senior Officer of the rank of Director has been designated as Welfare Officer and a Cell is working under his supervision and guidance. A Benevolent Fund has been created with active participation and contribution of the employees of Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Financial Assistance is granted from the fund to the members or their dependents to help them out in distress. A Charitable Homeopathic Dispensary, Fitness Centre with modern facilities are functioning in DST Complex, which take care of health and fitness of employees. Besides above, a Sports and Recreation Club is functioning in this Department and its members take part in various sports and cultural activities in the Inter-Ministerial Tournaments/Competitions etc. and have won many medals/prizes during the current financial year.

Staff Position

DST has a total of 276 sanctioned posts of Group ‘A; and Group ‘B’ (Gazetted) officers. A detailed breakup is given below:-

The Department has a total number of 390 non-gazetted staff on its rolls. The detailed Groupwise break-up is given below:

Promotion of Official Language

For implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Government, there is a Hindi Section in the Department. During the period under report, concerted efforts were made for implementing the provisions of Official Language Act and Rules made there under and orders/instructions issued by the Department of Official Language from time to time regarding progressive use of Hindi in the official work of the Government of India. During the year, following works were carried out:

• All general orders, annual report, performance budget, cabinet notes, agreements etc. continued to be issued bilingually i.e. both in Hindi and English.
• Letters received in Hindi were invariably replied to in Hindi. Incentive Scheme for original noting/drafting in official work in Hindi is in vogue in this Department.
• Departmental magazine “Tarang” is being published regularly with adequate Scientific & Technical Articles.
• With a view to encourage original writing in Hindi, the DST introduced “Dr. Meghnad Saha Award Scheme”. Under the scheme, books written in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 were invited and 6 books were selected for Award by the screening committee of the Department. Dr. Meghnad Saha Award distribution ceremony was held on September 6, 2004 at Raman Auditorium in DST under the Chairmanship of Secretary, DST and 10 authors were awarded for writing scientific books in Hindi.
• ‘Hindi Pakhwara’ was organized from 14th to 28th September, 2004. During the Pakhwara, 10 competitions were organized and 73 successful candidates were given prizes.
• During the year, 5 employees were nominated for Hindi Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya Training and 12 employees for Hindi Shorthand/Typing training.
• During the year, two Hindi Workshops were organized in which 32 Officers/Employees were trained.
• The Officers of Hindi Section conducted inspections of 6 Subordinate Offices regarding progressive use of Hindi.
• Officers of Hindi Section also took part in the All India Official Language Conferences held at Pune and Goa and played active role.

Library

The DST Library continued helping the Officers and Staff Members of the Department by providing Library, Documentation and Information Services. The Library undertook following activities during the period under report:

Collection Development

A good collection having direct relevance to the information needs of the users is backbone of any Library/ Information Centre. Collection of books/reports was enriched by acquiring, processing and making available to its users over 300 books/ monographs on different subjects. In addition to this, over 200 books received on Gratis were also processed and made available to the users. Bibliographic details of all the books acquired by the Library were added to the online catalogue being maintained by the Library. Library continued subscribing to around 115 scientific/ technical journals and processing and making these available to its users

Documentation/ Information Services

The Library continued meeting the day-to-day information requirements of the users. Also, Documentation/Information Services such as Current Awareness Service, Newspaper Clippings Service, Photocopying Service, and Literature Searches to meet the specific needs of the users were also provided. Internet based information service was provided by searching the appropriate information available on the Internet and making it available after proper selection and editing.

E-mail based information services were continued to be provided to the users on topics of general interest to them. To supplement the resources of DST Library, Interlibrary Lending Service was extended to the users by borrowing books/ journals from other Libraries and in turn supplying books on Interlibrary Loan to these Libraries as per their requirements.

Modernisation of DST Library

As a part of implementation of modernization plan, the hardware/ software items such as High end Server, Pentium IV Computers (6 nos.), Laptop, Monocolour/ Colour Laser Printers, Networking Hardware, 10 KVA UPS, and LIBSYS Premia- the latest Library Management Software were procured and got installed. The catalogue of Library Books has since been ported on to the Library Server using the LIBSYS Premia Library Management Software Package and the access to the catalogue is now available to the users of Library over Intranet using Web OPAC. The Library has a plan to put up a networked User Facilitation Centre and necessary hardware has been procured for this.

The day-to-day activities of the Library are also performed using the latest computers. Almost all the professional/Semi-Professinal staff members are working on computers both in Hindi and English Languages. All the routine Library Forms are available in machine-readable form both in Hindi and English. Structural changes in the Library Hall and creation of new facilities such as Audiovisual Room are in advanced stage of processing.

Integrated Finance

The Integrated Finance Division (IFD) of DST has been entrusted with the responsibility of providing advice and support on all financial matters. The DST was allocated an amount of Rs. 890.00 crores (Plan) and Rs. 400.23 crores (Non-Plan) for the year 2004-2005. The Budget for 2005-2006 is Rs. 1668.30 crores (Rs. 1259.00 crores Plan and Rs. 409.30 crores Non-Plan).