National Museum of Natural History

SMT. NAAZ RIZVI
DIRECTOR
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), a subordinate office of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, was open to public on 5th June, 1978 at Mandi House, coinciding symbolically with the World Environment Day with an objective to create environmental awareness on nature and environment through non formal medium such as thematic galleries, exhibitions, film shows and educational activities to all masses of society in respect to promote environmental awareness.

Realising that, as a National Institution, the National Museum of Natural History has an obligation to the entire country in respect of creating environment awareness and promoting conservation education, it was decided during the VII Plan to have regional offices in the form of Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH) in different parts of the country in a phased manner so as to extend the activities of NMNH at regional and state levels.

Accordingly, the first such Regional office was initiated in the 'Southern Region' in 1995 at Mysore (Karnataka State). The second one was developed for the ' Central Region' in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) in 1997. The third Regional Museum in the 'Eastern Region' of the country was established in Bhubaneswar (Orissa) and operationalised in 2004. The fourth Regional office was established in “Western Region” in Sawai Madhopur in 2008. A fifth Regional office in “North-Eastern Region” is upcoming at Gangtok (Sikkim). After fire incident in April, 2016, the NMNH is functioning from CGO complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Construction of permanent building of NMNH is under progress at ParagatiMaidan, BhaironMandir Marg, New Delhi.