Sir — At the time of inauguration of the large hadron collider experiment by CERN in a place straddling between France and Switzerland, many Indian scientists participated, including quite a few from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Variable Cyclotron Centre, both of Salt lake in Kolkata, besides other renowned scientific research establishments in India. The scientific community of Europe was all praise for their contribution.
This year, India is on the verge of losing its status as an associate member of CERN as the Union Government could not or did not finish the necessary paperwork for being qualified. This is absolutely shocking. Pakistan, meanwhile, is qualifying. It would be worthwhile to know that an Indian scientist is researching on the ‘string theory’, which delves into areas beyond ‘God Particle’ and has won an international prize for his efforts already.