Professor Birbal Sahni, FRS, established the Institute in the year 1946 to explore and develop palaeobotany as a science in itself, visualizing its potential in solving issues of origin and evolution of plant life, other geological issues including exploration of fossil fuels. Originally plant fossil and related studies based, the mandate of the BSIP was recently expanded to combine it with other areas of palaeosciences, and creating modern facilities to achieve this end. The newly widened mandate aims to look at

• Understanding origin and evolution of life through time
• Understanding climate change in recent and deep geological times
• Understanding past civilization and human history
• Application of palaeosciences to exploration programmes of oil and coal industry

BSIP is striving to attain excellence in R&D through a dedicated scientific team together with integrated innovative ideas in basic and applied research. In its broadest sense, the BSIP seeks to interpret plant life evolution and geological processes involved, and environmental evolution through time.