Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute
About Company
Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute
Genesis of CSMCRI
With a coastline of about 3,500 miles, inland sources in Rajasthan and Little Rann of Kutch, and the rock salt mines in Mandi, India have possibilities of attaining a high position in salt production among the salt-producing countries of the world. As is known, apart from being an indispensable item of food, salt is an important raw material for the manufacture of several heavy chemicals e.g. soda ash, caustic soda, and chlorine. Besides, salt is used in food processing industries, such as fish curing, meat packing, dairy products, and fruit and vegetable canning.
India had been an importer of salt for a long time as her own production was not sufficient to meet the demand. The position deteriorated further after partition when the extensive rock salt deposits in Punjab and the marine salt works in Sind went to Pakistan. Soon after the attainment of independence in 1947, India was faced with the problem of meeting the acute shortage of edible salt in various parts of the country. The Government set up an interdepartmental committee under the chairmanship of Shri H.M. Patel, who was then the Cabinet Secretary, to examine and report on the measures for overcoming the shortage of salt. The committee submitted several short-term proposals to the Government and also recommended that a Salt Expert Committee be appointed to investigate the problems relating to the production, quality, and utilization of salt.
The need for salt research was recognized by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi as early as 1940, when, at the instance of Dr.S.S.Bhatnagar, a Salt Research Committee was established to formulate a program of research on the production and utilization of salt. This Committee was later amalgamated with the Heavy Chemicals Committee and revived in July 1948 with Dr. Mata Prasad as the Chairman.
In April 1948, the Government of India constituted a Salt Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Shri P.A. Narielwala to advise the Government on the measures necessary to place the Indian salt industry on a sound footing. After examining a number of salt works in India, the Committee came to the conclusion that if the quality of salt is to be improved and the salt works are to operate economically and efficiently, it would be necessary (i) to devote more attention to research, (ii) that model factories be set up in the principal salt-producing centers to serve as demonstration units for both small scale and large scale manufacture, and (iii) that research stations be established to investigate methods of improving the quality and the yield of salt and also of recovering the byproducts.
In September 1951, Shri C.C. Desai, the then Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Production and Supply, proposed that a Central Salt Research Institute be established under the aegis of CSIR for carrying out research on marine salt, and salt from inland lakes and sub-soil brine. It was suggested that the Institute be located at some center in Saurashtra; the Ministry of Works, Production and Supply would support any proposal for a grant from the Salt Development Cess for setting up the Institute.
Meanwhile, the Government of Saurashtra made a generous offer to place any of their buildings in Saurashtra at the disposal of the CSIR for housing the Institute. If no building was found suitable, the Saurashtra Government offered to pay for the building, provided the Institute was located in Saurashtra.
This offer from the Saurashtra Government was considered by the CSIR, particularly in view of the proposal from the Ministry of Works, Production and Supply that the Institute should be located in Saurashtra. Shri P.N. Kathju, the Planning Officer of the proposed Institute, carried out a preliminary survey of possible sites, both on the north coast and south coast of Saurashtra, for the location of the Institute. Bhavnagar, which is a flourishing centre of higher education in Saurashtra was considered to be suitable for locating the Institute. The Saurashtra Government offered to place at the disposal of the CSIR a magnificent building, “Raj Hotel”, for housing the Institute, two bungalows, and 125 acres of land for the Experimental Salt Farm (ESF). In view of the facilities offered by the Saurashtra Government for the establishment of the Institute, the CSIR decided to set up the Institute at Bhavnagar.
Hon. PANDIT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, Prime Minister of India
“I think that in paying special attention to scientific and industrial research during the last four or five years we had laid a solid foundation of science on which we could build a splendid edifice of New India. Without a strong foundation, no structure can last for any length of time. Just as the foundation of a building is not seen, but the entire structure is supported by it, so our efforts in advancing science may not yield immediate results in terms of money but I have no doubt that they have been directed along the right lines”. “The other important aspect is that the whole of our country should rise to prosperity. For this reason, we have located the national laboratories in different parts of the country. We do not want one part of our country to grow at the expense of another. The path of progress has to be followed by all of us and not by a selected few. These research laboratories are just symbols to focus our attention on newer aspects and to raise the country as a whole. I do not view these laboratories from the consideration that they will handle particular problems which lie within their scope. I look upon them as temples of science built for the service of our motherland”.
“I do not wish any worker to come to these laboratories merely with the aim of earning his living. What I wish is that our young men and women who come here should have a zeal for working out problems that would have great consequences. That would give vitality to these Institutes. They should realize that service to science is real service to India – no, even to the whole world; science has no frontiers”.