CSIR and DAKSHIN-RIS join hands to advance Science, Technology and Innovation for the Global South

1. At a Glance

• What it is: On 3 November 2026, CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) and DAKSHIN (the Global South Centre of Excellence at RIS) signed a Letter of Association (LoA) [1].
• How the partnership works: CSIR contributes its ready-to-deploy, affordable and adaptable technologies. DAKSHIN contributes its platform for working with Global South countries [1].
• Purpose: To strengthen South-South cooperation by transferring, adapting and deploying suitable science and technology (S&T) solutions in partner countries [1].
• Why it matters for UPSC:
• It shows how India's foreign policy towards the Global South (the Voice of Global South Summits and DAKSHIN) connects with its domestic S&T system.
• It links GS-II (International Relations) with GS-III (Science & Technology).

2. Why in the News

• 3 November 2026: CSIR and DAKSHIN signed the LoA to pair CSIR's technologies with DAKSHIN's Global South engagement platform [1].
• Priority sectors named: healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, the blue economy and the digital economy [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• Origin: The Prime Minister proposed a Centre of Excellence for the Global South at the 1st Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS). DAKSHIN was then inaugurated at the 2nd VOGSS [2][3].
• Full form: DAKSHIN = Development And Knowledge Sharing Initiative [2].
• Stated focus: Research on the development issues of developing countries [3]. At the 3rd VOGSS, the PM described its work as capacity building, skilling and knowledge sharing [4].
• Milestones:
• June 2025: ICRISAT and RIS launched the ICRISAT Centre of Excellence for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture (ISSCA) in New Delhi. ICRISAT also signed an MoU with DAKSHIN [5].
• 2025: DAKSHIN entered a formal partnership with UNDP India. It covers research and knowledge exchange on climate resilience, digital transformation, health and sustainable agriculture [7].
• 12 February 2026: DAKSHIN signed a Letter of Association with the International Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe [8].
• 3 November 2026: CSIR–DAKSHIN LoA [1].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Instrument	Letter of Association: a framework recording shared intent to collaborate, not a treaty [1]
Signatories	CSIR and DAKSHIN–RIS [1]
Date signed	3 November 2026 [1]
CSIR's parent ministry	Ministry of Science & Technology [1]
DAKSHIN's host	RIS (Research and Information System for Developing Countries), New Delhi [1][5]
DAKSHIN's mandate	Sustainable, affordable, locally relevant solutions through resource sharing, technology transfer, exchange of experiences and joint strategies, to speed up progress on the SDGs [1]
Areas the LoA covers	Joint policy studies; scaling up development interventions; capacity building (human resource development and skill upgrading); documenting best practices and success stories [1]
Priority sectors	Healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, blue economy, digital economy [1]
Guiding principle	Collective self-reliance of developing countries [1]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Geopolitical / Strategic

• It turns India's claim to speak for the Global South (through the VOGSS process) into practical cooperation on technology [1][2].
• It positions India as an alternative development partner offering affordable, adaptable solutions rather than costly or loan-heavy packages. This is an inference from the LoA's stress on affordability [1].
• It fits a growing DAKSHIN network: ICRISAT, UNDP, and partners in São Tomé and Príncipe [5][7][8].

Scientific / Technological

• CSIR's technology portfolio gains international use, and technologies can be implemented through industry in partner countries [1].
• The emphasis is on appropriate technology: solutions must be adapted to local conditions, not simply copied [1].

Economic

• The LoA aims to encourage entrepreneurship in partner countries [1].
• Its sector list (blue economy, digital economy) overlaps with India's export strengths, such as digital public infrastructure [1].

Social / Developmental

• Healthcare and agriculture are among the priority sectors, and the work is framed around the SDGs [1].
• Capacity building means human resource development and skill upgrading in partner countries [1].

Administrative / Governance

• An LoA states intent only. Results will depend on later project agreements, funding and partner institutions in each country [1].
• Two bodies under different ministries must coordinate: CSIR under the Ministry of Science & Technology and RIS on the foreign-policy side. This is an inference [1][6].

6. Recent Developments (last 12-18 months)

• June 2025: ISSCA launched, and ICRISAT signed an MoU with DAKSHIN [5].
• 2025: DAKSHIN formalised its partnership with UNDP India [7].
• 12 February 2026: DAKSHIN signed an LoA with the International Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe [8].
• 3 November 2026: CSIR–DAKSHIN LoA signed [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• DAKSHIN stands for Development And Knowledge Sharing Initiative [2].
• DAKSHIN is the Global South Centre of Excellence, hosted at RIS, New Delhi [1][5].
• DAKSHIN was inaugurated at the 2nd Voice of Global South Summit after being proposed at the 1st [2][3].
• The CSIR–DAKSHIN instrument is a Letter of Association, not an MoU, signed on 3 November 2026 [1].
• CSIR falls under the Ministry of Science & Technology [1].
• The LoA's five priority sectors are healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, blue economy and digital economy [1].
• The LoA aims to support South-South cooperation and collective self-reliance [1].
• ISSCA (ICRISAT Centre of Excellence for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture) was launched in New Delhi in 2025 [5].
• DAKSHIN signed an LoA with the International Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe on 12 February 2026 [8].
• DAKSHIN has a formal partnership with UNDP India (2025) [7].
• DAKSHIN's work is framed around speeding up progress on the SDGs [1].

8. CSIR Struggles to Move Technology Even Inside India

• The LoA assumes CSIR's technologies are "ready-to-deploy". At home, many are not yet used by industry.
• In 2021, Parliament's Standing Committee on Science and Technology said CSIR lab research is credible. It also found a gap between what industry needs and what the labs produce [9].
• The Committee asked for more ways to move lab work into the market. This is called technology translation (turning a lab result into a product people use) [9].

• NITI Aayog (2018) found technology transfer from CSIR was low. Its reasons were weak marketing and poor spread of information about the technologies [9].

• The money from licensing is very small

• In the last three years, CSIR helped create 148 startups through technology licensing (giving a company the legal right to use a CSIR technology for a fee) [10].
• These startups paid only ₹142.67 lakh (about ₹1.4 crore) in total royalty and premia, the fees paid for using the technology [10].

• Many licences do not lead to large-scale production.

• Why this matters abroad

• In India, CSIR knows the market and the companies, and the regulators are Indian. Even so, transfer is slow.

• In a partner country, all three are unfamiliar to CSIR. So the same problem is likely to be worse.

• Use the numbers carefully

• Different Parliament answers give different counts of CSIR technologies "developed" and "transferred" for the same years [10].
• Check the original answer before you quote a figure.

9. The LoA Has No Budget. India's Aid Money Flows Elsewhere

• The LoA records an intention to work together. It names no funds [1].
• A partner country still has to pay to buy, adapt and run a CSIR technology.

• The LoA does not say whether a grant, a loan or the partner's own budget will pay.

• Most Indian development money goes through Lines of Credit

• A Line of Credit (LOC) is a cheap loan India gives another government for a project. It is given under the IDEAS scheme (Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme) through the Exim Bank of India [11].
• India has given more than 300 LOCs worth about US$32 billion to 68 countries. They cover around 600 projects [11].

• Most of these are large infrastructure projects, not small technology pilots. Unless DAKSHIN–CSIR work is linked to this money, it stays on paper.

• Even funded projects move slowly

• Under IDEAS rules, an LOC lapses if no contract is awarded within 18 months of signing [12].
• The rules list the usual causes of delay: political conditions, statutory clearances (legal permissions), and getting land and infrastructure in the partner country [12].

• A CSIR technology placed inside such a project would face the same delays.

• The Global South has named this problem itself

• At the 2019 BAPA+40 conference (the UN's 40-year review of South-South cooperation), the G77 and China said developing countries suffer from inadequate funding. They also said they have limited access to the technologies that change economies [13].
• An LoA without money does not solve the funding half of that problem.

10. Who Owns the Technology Once It Crosses the Border

• "Transfer" means a licence, and a licence has terms
• CSIR earns from its technologies through royalty and licence fees [10].
• DAKSHIN's mandate stresses affordable solutions and technology transfer for the SDGs [1].

• These two goals can pull apart: should a partner country pay CSIR royalties, or get the technology cheaply?

• The UN framework leaves this to negotiation

• The BAPA+40 outcome document calls for technology to be shared on "mutually agreed terms" [14].
• This means each deal must settle who pays, who owns improvements, and who fixes the technology when it fails.

• The LoA does not answer these questions yet [1].

• Adapting a technology creates new intellectual property (IP)

• The LoA promises to adapt technologies to local conditions [1].
• If a partner's engineers improve a CSIR process, someone must decide who owns that improved version.
• If this is left unclear, partner firms may not invest, and CSIR labs may not share their full know-how.

11. How DAKSHIN and CSIR Can Turn Intent into Projects

• CSIR should publish a short list of Global-South-ready technologies, with targets
• CSIR has done this at home. Its MoU with Laghu Udyog Bharati aimed to transfer 100 technologies to small firms in 100 days. 15 technologies from 6 labs were transferred on the day of signing [16].

• The same method could work here: a fixed list for each of the five priority sectors, with dates and named partner countries.

• MEA should link CSIR technologies to existing LOC and grant projects

• Money already flows through IDEAS LOCs [11]. A CSIR technology could be added to an LOC project that is already approved, for example as part of a health or farm project.

• The IDEAS inter-ministerial committee already monitors LOCs twice a year. It includes MEA, the Department of Economic Affairs and the lending bank [12]. CSIR deployments could be tracked in the same reviews.

• Use ITEC to train the people who will run the technology

• ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) offered about 14,000 training places to officials and professionals from 114 countries in one year [6].

• Adding CSIR courses to ITEC would deliver the LoA's capacity-building promise without building a new system [1].

• Use triangular cooperation to fill the funding gap

• Triangular cooperation means two Southern countries working together with a third partner, often a donor or a UN agency, that adds money or expertise.
• Example: China, UNDP and Denmark ran a renewable energy technology transfer project in Zambia [15].

• DAKSHIN already has a formal partnership with UNDP India [7]. That could fund pilots for CSIR technologies.

• CSIR should report results, not just signings

• The 2021 Standing Committee asked CSIR to expand ways of moving technology into use [9].
• For this LoA, a useful public measure would be: how many technologies are running in partner countries, and are local firms producing them.

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: India has given 300+ Lines of Credit worth about US$32 billion to 68 countries, covering around 600 projects [11]
• Data: CSIR licensing created 148 startups in three years but earned only ₹142.67 lakh in royalty/premia [10]
• Data: ITEC offered about 14,000 training places to 114 partner countries in a year [6]
• Report/Committee: Standing Committee on Science and Technology (2021): CSIR research is credible, but there is a gap between industry needs and lab output [9]
• Report/Committee: NITI Aayog (2018): CSIR technology transfer is low because of weak marketing and poor information spread [9]
• Report/Committee: BAPA+40 outcome document (2019): technology sharing on "mutually agreed terms"; triangular cooperation formally recognised [14]
• Comparison: China–UNDP–Denmark renewable energy technology transfer project in Zambia, a triangular model that brings in a third funder [15]
• Scheme: IDEAS (Lines of Credit via Exim Bank), with an 18-month lapse rule if no contract is awarded [12]
• Scheme: CSIR–Laghu Udyog Bharati MoU: 100 technologies to small firms in 100 days, a model for a target-based transfer pipeline [16]

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-II:
• "India and its neighbourhood / bilateral, regional and global groupings"

• "Effect of policies of developed and developing countries on India's interests"

• GS-III:

• "Science and Technology: developments and their applications"

• "Indigenisation of technology and developing new technology"

• Possible question stems: 1. India's leadership of the Global South is increasingly expressed through technology partnerships rather than rhetoric. Examine with reference to DAKSHIN. (15 marks) 2. Discuss the significance of 'appropriate technology' transfer in South-South cooperation. How can institutions like CSIR contribute? (10 marks) 3. Evaluate the Voice of Global South Summit process as a tool of Indian diplomacy. What are its institutional outcomes? (15 marks)

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• Voice of Global South Summits (1st–3rd): where DAKSHIN was proposed and launched [2][4].
• RIS: DAKSHIN's host think tank; its role in development cooperation research [5].
• ISSCA / ICRISAT: a parallel South-South centre of excellence for agriculture [5].
• India–UNDP partnership: a multilateral route for DAKSHIN's knowledge exchange [7].
• CSIR technology transfer and commercialisation: the source of the "ready-to-deploy" technologies [1].
• SDGs and South-South / triangular cooperation: the framing of DAKSHIN's mandate [1].
• Blue economy and digital public infrastructure: two of the priority sectors [1].
• Indian Development Assistance and ITEC: the wider capacity-building framework. Useful context; not sourced in this note.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Technology transfer (Economy): The LoA's core aim is moving, adapting and deploying CSIR technologies in partner countries; the note analyses its limits.
• Sustainable Development Goals (Economy): DAKSHIN's mandate is framed around speeding up progress on the SDGs, so questions often link the two.
• Intellectual property rights (Economy): The note asks who owns improved technologies and royalties once CSIR technology is adapted abroad.
• Self-reliance (Economy): The LoA's guiding principle is collective self-reliance of developing countries, which the note keeps returning to.
• Blue economy (Economy): One of the five priority sectors named in the LoA, and a likely Prelims fact.
• Digital public infrastructure (Polity): The note cites India's digital public infrastructure as an export strength tied to the digital economy sector.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• LoA vs MoU: The CSIR–DAKSHIN instrument is a Letter of Association. The ICRISAT–DAKSHIN instrument was an MoU [1][5].
• Where DAKSHIN sits: It is hosted at RIS, not CSIR and not NITI Aayog. CSIR is the technology partner only [1].
• Full form: The "D" is Development and the "K" is Knowledge Sharing. Don't expand it as "Digital…" or "Dakshin = South" [2].
• Proposed vs inaugurated: DAKSHIN was proposed at the 1st VOGSS and inaugurated at the 2nd [2][3].
• ISSCA vs DAKSHIN: ISSCA is ICRISAT's agriculture-specific centre, launched with RIS. It is a separate body from DAKSHIN [5].

Verification note: These details were not confirmed on whitelisted sources and are left out of the facts above: the exact summit dates (12–13 January 2023 and 17 November 2023, reported by non-whitelisted outlets), RIS's administrative link to MEA, and CSIR's place under DSIR. The whitelisted sources also disagree on who heads RIS: the ISSCA release names Sachin Chaturvedi as Director General, while a 2026 non-whitelisted source names Sachin Kumar Sharma. Check before quoting any of these.