P.M. Bhargava: The Indian man who saw tomorrow in a cell

The double-helix structure of DNA was postulated in 1953. By 1959, Pushpa M. Bhargava, a chemistry PhD who switched to biology, wrote a note to create a Biological Laboratory of India. By 1977, Hyderabad had the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology carved out of the space of the IICT. A new biography by Bhargava’s long-time associate Chandana Chakrabarti ‘The Man and The Making of Modern Biology in India’ brings to life the fascinating story of India’s modern biology, its tryst with irrationality, homoeopathy, fish ‘prasadam’, bureaucracy and the man who saw tomorrow in a cell. Edited excerpts from an interview with The Hindu’s Serish Nanisetti.

Dr. Bhargava or as everyone called him PMB did his schooling in Uttar Pradesh, and PhD in chemistry at Lucknow University. He was homeschooled until Class IX, as schools considered him too advanced for his age. After PhD he knew the future belonged to biology at cellular level and switched to that field and trained himself for it. While writing the book, I discovered the 1959 note that he had typed out for an institute of biology and CCMB was an exact match of that vision decades later.

Hussain Zaheer of Central Laboratories for Scientific and Industrial Research (CLSIR which became Regional Research Laboratory) knew him from Lucknow and invited him after his PhD. Although Lucknow University offered him a job, he felt it had limited prospects and chose Hyderabad instead. He first worked as a lecturer at Mahabub College, then joined the Chemistry Department at Osmania University, before Mr. Zaheer found him a position at CLSRI. He lived at Zeenat Mahal, Tarnaka, sharing a house with scholars, including Abdul Rahman and K.T. Achaya.

He grew restless doing chemistry at Osmania, feeling it wouldn’t take him far, and became convinced biology was the field with a future. He decided the only way to make the shift was to go abroad. He got a post-doc with Charles Heidelberger at the University of Wisconsin, working on a molecule still used in cancer treatment. There he encountered the excitement around Francis Crick’s DNA work, met his future wife Manorama, and developed his political views during the McCarthy era. He then did a second post-doc at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Mill Hill, UK, where his actual transition from chemistry to biology took place, largely self-taught.

Bhargava drafted a note in 1959 proposing a national biological laboratory, arguing India was missing the molecular biology revolution. The proposal was repeatedly rejected by committees, as traditional chemists and biologists opposed it. He organised an international seminar on modern biology at Regional Research Laboratory to demonstrate the field’s importance and kept resubmitting the note, including again in 1964.

The 1973 oil crisis prompted him to write directly to Dr. Nayudamma, the new CSIR Director-General, warning that India could not afford to fall behind in biotechnology (ethanol as a biofuel took off in 70s led by Brazil). This led to a committee, and on April 1, 1977, CCMB was formed on paper, evolving from the Department of Biochemistry.

Rather than judging candidates only on academic knowledge, he tested their powers of observation and their willingness to disagree with him, even when he stated something incorrect with authority. He recruited talent such as Lalji Singh, who worked on sex determination in organisms, including temperature-dependent determination in crocodiles. There was no hierarchy in CCMB. Everyone addressed each other by first name, including him, that set it apart from other institutions. There was a shared-resource system where grant money went into a common pool rather than individual labs duplicating equipment.

Bhargava avoided foundation-stone ceremonies, insisting a laboratory be dedicated only once fully functional. He invited Rajiv Gandhi two years in advance to dedicate CCMB, fixing the date for November 26, 1987, even though construction was far from complete at the time of the invitation.

No. He set up the Guha Research Conference, which grew out of dissatisfaction with the Indian Science Congress and became a leading forum for molecular biologists. He also wrote a science textbook for children for NCERT. And he created a massive exhibition on the scientific method, which was dismantled during the Morarji Desai government. His contribution to science and rationality was not limited to labs. He famously took on the case of ‘fish cure’ teaming up with Jana Vignana Vedika demanding that it cannot be called medicine. Now it is called fish prasadam. He made a case before a national panel for ‘ban on cow slaughter in 1966’ that had RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar as its member along with Shankaracharyas (the committee never submitted the report). He opposed government funding for homeopathy, and challenged attempts to introduce astrology as a university science course, taking the case to the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Supreme Court.

I obtained his diaries dating back to 1948 and recorded extended interviews with him. including a long stretch of them in Deauville in France. The manuscript was completed and shown to him in 2016; he approved it before his death in 2017. Then COVID-19 intervened and finally now it has been published.

Published – August 08, 2026 09:06 pm IST