- Why in news
- On 21 September 2026, the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor held the first State Governments Nodal Officers Meeting for the I-STEM Portal. It aimed to bring State universities and R&D facilities onto the national platform.
- Launch
- The Prime Minister launched I-STEM in January 2020; the Office of the PSA conceived and supported it.
- Scale
- The portal lists over 31,000 instruments across nearly 4,000 institutions and has over 65,000 registered users.
- Listing threshold
- Publicly funded equipment costing above ₹20 lakh is to be listed on I-STEM.
- Meeting participation
- Nodal officers from 23 States and 4 UTs took part in the meeting.
- Integration of other portals
- Similar existing portals, such as CSIR's ANALYTICS portal, are being linked to I-STEM through API linkages.
Don’t confuse with I-STEM vs ONOS: I-STEM gives shared access to scientific equipment and facilities. One Nation One Subscription gives access to scholarly journals and resources.
Science and technology: 57 Prelims questions since 2013; most test the concept behind the news, not the news itself. In Mains, 12 news-triggered questions.
Why it matters
- Shared access cuts duplicate spending on costly equipment and widens access for State institutions, startups and MSMEs.
Problems
- State institutions may be slow to register, list equipment and keep data current, so coordination across States is hard.
Way forward
- State nodal officers should drive onboarding and equipment listing, and the portal should be used to plan future investments.
Put in your answer
I-STEM scale: Over 31,000 instruments across nearly 4,000 institutions are listed, an example of shared research infrastructure.
- 2014Mains GS3 · Q10Critically comment on declining scientific research in Indian universities
- 2026Mains GS3 · Q12How startups promote innovation and employment, and challenges to overcome
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: Lasting national platform for shared scientific infrastructure. Features are testable, but UPSC rarely asks such platforms.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.