The
Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the
National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences,
Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to
Antarctica. The program gained global acceptance with India's signing of the
Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the
Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983, superseded by the
Maitri base from 1990. The newest base commissioned in 2015 is
Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers. Under the program,
atmospheric,
biological,
earth,
chemical, and
medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 30 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic as of 14 October 2010.