What is the Neutrino Observatory Project?

A neutrino is an electrically neutral fermion. Fermion is a particle that follows Fermi-Dirac statistics, which describes a distribution of particles over energy states in systems that consists of identical or similar particles that obey the Pauli exclusion principle.

In December 2017, the Union Cabinet committee on security approved the India based Neutrino Observatory Project. The project is being set up by developing and developed countries around the world to promote research in the field of particle physics.

The India based Neutrino Observatory project will be an underground project that will consist of a complex of caverns. The main cavern will house the main neutrino detector, two small caverns will be used for experiments of dark matter and neutrino double detector.

Mumbai based the Tata institute of fundamental research will be the nodal institute for the India based neutrino observatory project. The observatory will be built jointly with the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Atomic Energy.

Why in News?

The Minister of State in the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy, Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Thursday informed that India based Neutrino Observatory project is being planned in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district.