India becomes associate member of CERN

India formally became an associate member of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) with the government completing the internal approval procedures for the agreement it signed in November 2016.
Prior to it, in September 2016, CERN Council had adopted a resolution upgrading India’s position as associate member from earlier ‘observer’ status (since 2004).

Benefits for India

• Now, India can take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Scientific Policy Committee and Finance Committee). However India will not have voting rights on decisions of the council.
• It will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers from India in various CERN projects and bring back knowledge for deployment in the domestic programmes.
• It will open up new avenues for Indian scientists to engage with their counterparts in front line research in physics and engineering. Also, Indian scientists will become eligible for staff appointments.
• It will help to boost India’s science credentials and give access to high end scientific technology. It will also make Indian scientists eligible for staff appointments in CERN.
• Besides, Indian industries will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts. Thus, it will open up opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology.

About European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN)

• CERN as an organisation is world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory. It is situated in North West suburbs of Geneva on France-Swiss Border. It was established in 1954.
• Members: It has 22 member states, four associate members (including India, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine) and three International Organisations have observer status.
• Functions: The laboratory helps scientists and engineers probing fundamental structure of Universe using the most sophisticated scientific instruments and advanced computing systems.
• Provide the necessary infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research including particle accelerators.
• Achievements: CERN operates the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
• It is associated with the discovery of the Higgs Boson which is popularly known as the God particle.

India-CERN

• India has been actively involved in CERN’s activities for over 50 years. Indian physicists, engineers and technicians have made substantial contributions to various projects of CERN.
• In 1991, India and CERN had signed a Cooperation Agreement, setting priorities for scientific cooperation. Since then India and CERN have signed several other protocols.
• Indian scientists had active in construction of the LHC in the areas of design, development and supply of hardware accelerator components, software development and deployment in the machine.
• They also had played significant role in the CMS (Compact Muon Experiment), one of the two large experiments that led to discovery of God particle.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2017