The Anthropological Survey of India (An.S.I.) is an institution one of its unique kind anywhere the world. It has been mandated to study the bio-cultural attributes of the Indian populations since its establishment, about 65 years before. Over the decades, the An.S.I. grew from strength to strength to acquire an unparalleled blend of holistic perspective to study the human surface of the country. The activities include collection, preservation, maintenance, documentation and study of ethnographic materials as well as ancient human skeletal remains. Of late, the Anthropological Survey of India went about an all-round modernization of its infrastructure to usher in the DNA technology to study the phylogenies of Indian populations, the anthropological genetics of diseases and the frontier areas of Anthropology. Over the years, the Survey has generated information from grass-root level through sustained research by its head office, Kolkata, seven regional centres (Port Blair, Shillong, Nagpur, Mysore, Dehradun, Udaipur, Kolkata), one sub-regional centre (Jagadalpur), three field stations Sagar, Ranchi, Visakhpatnam and camp office (New Delhi).
The Survey published various books, monographs, Research Reports and other occasional publications. Survey also publishes its quarterly newsletter and biannual house journal. The survey organizes various conferences, seminar, workshops and exhibition in collaboration with universities and other academic institutions of the country.