India has emerged as a global R&D platform with hundreds of centres, thousands of scientists and engineers, former CSIR Director Raghunath Mashelkar said Monday.

Addressing a conference by the National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (NIScPR), a CSIR institute, to commemorate "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav", Mashelkar congratulated the CSIR for its work during the Covid pandemic.

The Council of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR) has galvanised its different work to provide support to the public at large during the pandemic, he added.

"India has emerged as a global R&D platform with hundreds of R&D centres, thousands of scientists and engineers," Mashelkar said.

CSIR Director General Shekhar Mande said the agency has started responding to the problems of national importance with much required agility and swiftness.