Page 9 - Annual Report_21-22

From

Director’s Desk

It gives me immense pleasure to present the annual report for 2021-22 at the 59th Foundation day of CSIR-Institute of
Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT). The institute has upheld its R & D activities irrespective of the difficulties
extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But CSIR-IMMT continued to adhere to its mandate to carry out industrial
research, help industries grow in scale and new products, niche basic research, propagate research culture and societal
work through science and technology intervention, and skill development amongst youth and disseminating knowledge.
The institute is constantly endeavouring with new contemporary goals, objectives and milestones. The institute’s focus
on sustainable mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, design and manufacturing of new functional materials,
providing engineering design, and tackling environmental issues related to the above fields make it unique. With India’s
high growth rate and schemes like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan)’, the metal
requirement will go up. This region is an excellent opportunity to exploit mineral deposits to give final marketable raw
metal to finish products using IMMT’s expertise. Let me discuss the lab’s performance for the year 2021-22 in detail.
In 2021-22, the total plan and non-plan budget from CSIR was Rs 53.74 crores against ECF of Rs 23 crores (including
GST), which is close to 42% of the CSIR contribution. The lab’s R&D activities are primarily funded like earlier by NALCO,
Vedanta, Tata Steel, JSW, JSPL, NMDC, CMPDI, NTPC, DMRL, OMC, MOIL, MSPL, Rourkela Steel Plant, NSPCL, Ministry of
Mines, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Science & Technology. The total number of external
projects (GAP, SSP, CNP) executed is 107, whereas CSIR projects (Network, Young Scientists, MLPs) executed is 29. The
institute also gave seed grants in 24 OLPs to the young Scientists to encourage them to pursue R&D work in their area
of interest. We have published 151 papers in SCI journals, with a ~22% increase. The researchers filed ten patents,
and four patents were granted. There are also three technology transferred and twenty-six MoUs signed in 2021-22.
Institute conducted five skill development and training programs during this period. All these are possible because of
the tremendous work done by the Scientists and Staff members of all the departments.

During the last year, many events were primarily organized in virtual mode and a few in hybrid mode with the support of
the IMMT CNeM department. Events like National Technology Day, International Conference FIMTA-2021, NCNST-2021,
APTIC 2021, and the National workshop on IPR were through virtual mode. Few events like 80 CSIR Foundation day,
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58 IMMT Foundation day, and CHEMCON-2021were organized through hybrid mode. Several events were conducted
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in person per COVID-19 guidelines like Republic Day, International Mother Language Day, JIGYASA programs, Skill
Development Programs and workshops.
Several IMMT scientists received awards during 2021-22. The major ones are Dr N.K. Dhal received “NESA Eminent Scientist
of the year Award 2021”, Dr Kali Sanjay- NESA Fellowship of the Year Award-2021, Dr N.K. Dhal - J.W. Hershberger Gold
Medal 202, Dr Mayadhar Debata & Dr Sriparna Chatterjee - IIM Bhubaneswar Chapter Award 2021. Many researchers
have received awards for their papers or posters at the conferences: Dr Kamali Kesavan, Dr Sourav Ganguly, Dr Swagatika
Dash, Sh Satyasish Rout, Payoja Praharaj, Sh Salila Kumar Sethy,

Ms Manisha Singh and Dr Pravas Ranjan Behera. The following researchers of the institute were also honoured with the
Membership in national & international bodies, Membership in journal editorial board and fellowships: Dr Bikash K. Jena
– Member of NASI; Dr. Sriparna Chatterjee - National Core Committee member of INSA-INYAS; Dr B. Bhoi - Chairman of
The Indian Institution of Engineers, Odisha State Centre and Mr A.R. Sheik - Chevening CRISP fellowship. A fit body makes
a healthy brain. To encourage fitness as an integral part of staff’s daily lives, the institute organized “FIT India Movement
2.0 – cyclothon” during the 1 week of September 2021. It also hosted Nayudamma Memorial Cricket Tournament from
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23rd to 26th November-2021 jointly with CSIR-Sports Promotion Board (SPB), New Delhi, in which many institutes/
organizations participated and made it a grand success.