Celebrating 80th Foundation Day of CSIR-NPL, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurates the World's second "National Environmental Standard Laboratory" and the World's fifth "National Primary Standard Facility for Sol...

• On 5 January 2026, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh marked the 80th Foundation Day of CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL) by inaugurating two apex metrology facilities: the National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL) and the National Primary Standard Facility for Solar Cell Calibration (NPF-SCC).
• NESL is the world's second such facility; NPF-SCC is the world's fifth, placing India in an elite club of solar-metrology nations.
• Significance for UPSC: links national quality infrastructure, renewable energy targets, environmental governance, and the CSIR ecosystem — cross-cutting GS-II and GS-III.