R. Chidambaram was Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (until Dr. Krishnasamy VijayRaghavan replaced him in March 2018) and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory to the Cabinet of the Federal Government.Some of his initiatives as Principal Scientific Adviser, including the setting up of the Core Advisory Group for R&D in the Automotive Sector (CAR) to increase academia-industry interaction, the creation of RuTAGs (Rural Technology Action Groups) for effective need based technology delivery in rural areas, the establishment of SETS (Society for Electronic Transactions and Security), are making significant impact.