Proposal for NCBS, 1989

The collections of T. M. Sahadevan are part of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) institutional archives. T. M. Sahadevan played a unique role in the history and establishment of NCBS. He retired as the Head of Developmental Activities in 2012. The material handed over by T. M. Sahadevan to the Archives at NCBS consists of varied material like the proposal to set up a Centre for Fundamental Research in Biological Sciences, the design of NCBS, monthly report files from July 1997 - September 1998, records and correspondence between the scientists, administrators and architects during the conception, construction and establishment of the institute, and architectural drawings and budgets concerning the civil work construction of the Centre.

The proposal for a Centre for Fundamental Research in Biological Sciences details the document basic aims of the Centre which was to encompass modern biology and biotechnology. The document spells out the philosophy that would govern the Centre.

The papers on the monthly reports of NCBS from July 1997 - September 1998 lists out details of the scientific activity, equipment bought, civil work carried out during these months. These reports have been drafted by the administrative officers of the time and addressed to Obaid Siddiqi, the co-founder and first Centre Director of NCBS.

An interesting part of the T. M. Sahadevan collection is the documents, records, and correspondence he preserved and labelled as Historical Records. These records capture a range of events, happenings, decisions taken during the initial formative years of NCBS, routine administrative correspondence Sahadevan carried out in his capacity of being the officer-in-charge, and other such documents. For instance, there are records of the sanction of funds by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, for setting up of a Centre for Fundamental Research in Biological Sciences, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to lease land from the university to set up NCBS, minutes of the meeting convened to discuss budgetary allocations to carry out civil work at NCBS and many other such documents that captures the past.