About Us

It was year 2002, when, for the past several years, the retired scientists of NPL had been feeling the need of forming an association, which could help them to interact with each other and to share some valuable information for which they had no other source. Some efforts in this direction had earlier also been made primarily by Dr. V N Bindal and by Dr. A P Jain by bringing together some retired scientists to deliberate upon this issue, but their persistent efforts bore fruit only when a meeting of about a dozen retired scientists of NPL was held on December 19, 2002, in the NPL Conference Room. Dr. Krishan Lal, the then Director, NPL, had also been invited to attend that meeting at which Dr. A R Verma – the eldest of the Former Directors of NPL – was also present. Various issues of common interest were considered at that meeting, and after a detailed discussion, it was decided to name the planned association as “NPL Former Scientists Forum”.

This was followed up as a collaborative effort on voluntary basis, and the First Formal Meeting of the Forum, held on January 17, 2003 (attended by 32 retired scientists of NPL in the TEC Conference Room of the Laboratory), marked the birth of this Baby. To ensure that something concrete emerged out of that meeting, a 2-page note on “Points for Consideration” formed the basis for deliberations at that meeting. At that meeting it was decided to have a Management Committee with three Office Bearers, viz. the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer, and the present incumbents of these positions were unanimously elected. It was also decided that all the scientists who had volunteered themselves to interact with the various Members/Prospective Members for promoting the cause of the Forum (called Coordinators) be associated with the Management Committee as its Members. It was also felt that it was necessary to have a Constitution for the Forum, for which a Committee, of five Members, with Dr. S K Sharma as its Convener, was also constituted.

In January 2004, the Forum had completed one year of its existence. During that short time since its formation on January 17, 2003, the membership of the Forum stood at a figure of 110, as on January 9, 2004, when the 5 th meeting of the Management Committee of the Forum was held. The First Annual General Body Meeting was held on November 25, 2003 at which Sh. G.K. Arora, then Secretary, had the privilege of presenting a report on the activities of the Forum. The Forum had the blessings of Dr. A R Verma, Dr. A P Mitra, Dr. S K Joshi and Dr. E S R Gopal – former retired Directors of NPL – who had very willingly accepted to be associated with the Forum as Patrons, and had been providing guidance and advice.