Tribes of Andaman & Nicobar

Andaman & Nicobar Islands are the abode of probably the most primitive tribes of the world. Out of the 6 aboriginal tribes inhabiting these Islands five, namely, the Shompens, the Onges, the Great Andamanese, the Sentinelese and the Jarawas are primitive tribes. These primitive tribes especially the Sentinelese, the Jarawas, The Onge, The Great Andamanese and the Shompens were the sole inhabitants of the Andaman Islands until the Danish and British arrived in the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century. These tribes are believed to have been living here for 60,000 years. These primitive tribes have been living in isolation with each other; that is the reason why language of one tribe is not understood by another. 

                  The Shompens are Mongoloids and inhabit the Great Nicobar Island whereas the other four primitive tribes are Negritos inhabiting the Andaman Islands. All the tribals are non-vegetarians.

                  To prevent the primitive tribes from the exploitation by the outsiders the area inhabited by the primitive tribes has been declared as tribal reserve area. Entry into the reserve area without permission is liable for punishment with imprisonment and fine. Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti (AAJVS) , an autonomous body set up in 1976 looks after the welfare of these primitive tribes.

Total Tribal Population : 

Jarawa = 266

Shompens = 200

Onge = 97

Great Andamanese = 53

Sentinelese = 100

Nicobarese = 27000

1. Great Andamanese :

Great Andamanese inhabit the 'Strait Island' located 53 nautical miles from Port Blair towards the east. The Great Andamanese are a negrito tribe. The Great Andamanese tribe was killed in large numbers by the British during their occupation of the Andaman Islands, There population at that time was estimated to be above 6000. One such event known as the 'Battle of Aberdeen' killed thousands of Great Andamanese in a single day. Due to their decreasing population the Andaman and Nicobar Administration decided to colonize the tribes on isolated Strait island. Their population has grown to a number of 43 at present from a lowest known low of 10 in past. Since Andaman group of Island is very accessible, the culture of Great Andamanese is greatly affected by outside modern world. The popularity of Hindi movies and film-stars is one such example of outside influence. In spite of the all influences they still have retained much of their traditional cultures and customs. They are superstitious, for instance they believe that by chopping palm leaves into the sea water they are able to keep the sea storms away. 

                     The Great Andamanese are good artisans and they are comfortable with both traditional and modern tools. They prepare their own ornaments, baskets, tools and Earthen pots. The ornaments they wear is made up of leaves, barks, and shells which is worn during traditional functions and dances. They have their own system and practice of medicine for instance for chronic back aches they pierce their body with a small piece of glass in a belief that it will drain off the bad blood from the person and thus relieve him/her from the pain. Before the advent of glass pointed stones were used for the purpose of piercing.

The new generation is sent to school and few of the local youth have been absorbed into Govt. jobs in the Island itself. 

      The tribes of the Little Andaman are the Onges, the Jarawas from the interior of the South Andaman, (the outer group as they are referred to sometimes) and the Sentinalese of the North Sentinel island, not to be confused with the Great Andamanese tribes. Ten in number, Aka-Cari, Aka-Kora, Aka-Bo and Aka-Jero and Aka-Kede form the Yerewa group from the northern parts of Andamans, and the Bojigngiji group consisting of Aka- Juwai, Aka-Kol, Aka-Bojigyab, Aka Balawa and Aka Bea from the South Andamans (Temple, 1903). 

      Most of these names of the tribes/ languages are words from common day-to day life of the people, like for instance, Jero means 'canoe', Bea means 'fresh water', Bojigyab means 'speech-language', Juwai is 'pattern on arrows', while Kol means 'bitter/ salty' and all these words signify roughly the same sense in all these ten dialects/ languages. Aka- means 'tribe/ language' while -da is a suffix which is added to a noun when in isolation. 

1901 Census figures indicate a total of 625 Great Andamanese with the largest number, 218 from the Jero tribe. In 1921 these figures came down to 209 out of a total of 786, and 460 in all reported in 1931, out of which 90 were the great Andamanese. In 1949 the Forest Department tried to bring them together and settle them at the Bluff island, but because of their nomadic nature and different habits, these tribes did not stay together for long. In 1969 the A & N Administration offered to help them if they stayed in Strait island. By this time, they were too few, only 23 in all, and probably thought it wise to accept the offer and stay together. 

Very soon they all spoke one language which is Jero, with some words from the languages of the other tribes completely assimilated in Jero language. Since then their numbers have increased from 26 (1961 census), 23 (1971), 42 (21 males and 21 females) in the year 1981. The 1991 census shows their population as 47 and in 2001 census the figure is 43 (24 males and 19 females). Post Tsunami, all 43 have been reported safe. The numbers have mostly increased as a result of mixed marriages, since these people are free to mix with the people of the mainland, and have adapted to their way of life, speak Port Blair Hindi, dress like them, eat their kind of food, some of them have contractual jobs with the A&N administration, and it is not surprising at all that the younger generation does not know more than a few words of their language. Some of them do not know any Jero at all since most often they also communicate with each other in Local Andaman Hindi. The younger people like to spend maximum time in Port Blair at Adi Basera which is the base camp for the tribals provided by the A&N administartion

2. Jarawa :

Jarawa tribes were once the most feared tribals among all the aborigines of these Island group till 1995-96. Jarawa's are 'Negriod' tribes - They are short heighted and dark in colour. The term "Jarawa" is coined by the Great Andamanese people which means "The other People" because Jarawa's never had friendly relationship with the Great Andamanese.

Jarawa's live in so called "protected areas" in Middle Andaman, South Andaman and Interview Island. The Jarawas are excellent craftsmen as evidenced by the skill of making various metal tools and arrows. They are fond of red clothes though majority of them are found nude. As for food they are non-vegetarians and they mostly eat pork. It is known that the Jarawas do not kill deers for food. Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti (AAJVS) looks after all their basic needs like food, health and housing. 

They were very hostile in past and were known to attack with poisonous arrows. Every year during 1980's there were confirmed reports of villagers and workers been killed by Jarawa arrows. Various human expeditions by contact teams consisting of officals of Tribal welfare and anthropological society were undertaken in past near the interview island, where the team left eatables, red cloth, coconuts and plastic goods as gifts for the Jarawas. 

                     All the description is now a recent past as now they have developed the understanding that the other fair skinned humans are not their enemies. With friendly contacts it was learnt that lots of negative details painted about them were untrue - few of them being : they eat human flesh, their sweat and saliva is poisonous etc. 

                     As per government policies the entry into their area is forbidden. This is done to avoid their exposure to the outside world to and save them from the diseases from which they dont have natural immunity and other exploitations that may happen over time. Isolation will also help to retain their ancient culture. The "isolation" though is under constant threat due to the presence of outsiders in their area. The Andaman Trunk road passing though the South Andaman, Baratang and Middle Andaman runs deep within the Jarawa protected area. Daily hundreds of vehicles pass through the road thereby providing ample oppurtunities for both Jarawas and outsiders to interact with each other. Initially the travelers gave biscuits, fruits and other eatables to the Jarawa's and in return Jarawas allowed them to be photographed. Since 2002 when the Baratang Island limestone caves and the Mud volcano were opened for tourists, many tour operators have started a practice of selling 'Jarawa Sighting' tour packages. Photography inside the Jarawa reserve area is forbidden by law. A handful of police personal [locally called bush police] are deputed to ensure the isolation of Jarawas but the small number of police personal is not suficient to monitor the entire traffic along the Andaman Trunk Road.

3. Onge :

The Onge's are a negrito tribe residing in Little Andaman. According to 1971 census they were 117 in number which have shown little variation till then. They live at 2 different colonies : ' South Bay ' and ' DugongCreek ' in Little Andaman. South Bay is accessible via land route passing through Harminder Bay which is only a few kilometres away from Hutbay - the main market place of Little Andaman. Official permission is required to enter the Onge reserved area. The best vehicle to reach South Bay is a Tractor as there is no defined roadway. Dugong creek is an isolated settlement accessible only by water route. Dugong Creek settlement suffered severe damages in the 2004 Tsunami. 

While the Onge men go out to the forest for hunting , the women will stay back at home and search the local area for roots and tubers under the soil. They have little interest in cultivation as agriculture was unknown to them before contact with modern world. Few years ago they never boiled their food because the concept of cooking was unknown to them. They use bows and arrows to catch fish along the shallow sea coasts. The fishing line and fishing net is still not popular among them. The local delicacy is honey : The Onges rub some special herbs to avoid the bee stings while they collect the honey from the hives. Hair dressing is done with the help of sea shells as razors and they paint their face / body with white clay.

                     The Onge children now go to school and they speak Hindi. The Department of agriculture has helped them to raise local crops and huge coconuts plantations. Tobacco and alcohol is very popular among the Onge, which was readily accepted by them as gift from outside world. An incident of death of 8 male Onge is reported in December 2008 (8 Dead and 15 hospitalised), when they consumed some toxic fluid assuming it as alcohol.

4. Shompen :

Shompen reside in the interiors of Great Nicobar Island (Southern-most piece of land belonging to India). The total population of Shompens is estimated to be 214 whereas during 1901 Census the population recorded was 348 approximately. They are of medium height with Mongoloid features. They were believed to be hostile earlier but in recent decades they have not shown any hostility and now have established trade relations with Nicobarese. The main activities of Shompens are hunting, food-gathering (They collect wild yams, roots, fruit, honey and insect larvae) and fishing. They love to hunt pig with their spears and they take help of pet dogs while hunting. . They are nomads and wander from place to place within the jungles. They live in self-made huts. They are shy in nature and avoid to interact with others. Administration provides them free food, utensils, drinking water and medical facilities. A school is present near their area to impart formal as well as non-formal education. The Shompen, who according to 1991 census, are only 131 in number, are found to reside in the Great Nicobar Island which has an area of 865 Sq km. The island is hilly in terrain with full of vegetation. According to Man (1886) the Shompen are the original inhabitants of the Great Nicobar but later on they were pushed to the interior part of the island. According to Kloss (1903) the Shompens are an isolated group of primitive Malayans'. The existence of this tribe was first reported by Pastor Rosen, a Danish missionary in 1831 but Admiral Steen Bille was the first person to pay a visit in this area. Later on in 1881, Frederik Adolph de Roepstorff accompanied by Col. Cadell, Chief Commissioner visited the area and found the Shompen. E.H. Man, met these people in 1884. Later on these tribal people were visited by different people. The Shompen settlements are generally irregular in shape, and they prefer to build these either on the slopes of the hill or at the bottom of a valley The village is normally situated near some water source. The east coast Shompen prefer the interior and the slopes of the hills while the west-coast Shompen prefer the interior and the slopes of hills for their settlement. The houses are normally rectangular or square with a gabled roof. The economy of the Shompen is based on gathering, hunting and fishing. They also spend some of their times for pig rearing. 

Shompen males often visit Campbell Bay to barter various products they collect, especially wild honey. Sometimes, they go there to collect ration (they are not dependent on ration) which they bring to their village. The Shompens feel happy to remain undisturbed in their habitat.

5. Sentinelese

: The Sentinelese are 'negroid' tribe and they inhabit the small North Sentinel Island (North Sentinel - Area: ~60 sq. km.) The sentinel islanders i.e. the Sentinelese because of the geographical separation from other islands have maintained strict isolation from rest of the world. In fact they are currently the only known Primitive people known in the world to live in complete isolation. 

          They are very hostile to outsiders and do not allow anybody to enter the North Sentinel Island and therefore not much is known about them. The attack with their self made bows and spears, which they otherwise use for fishing and hunting the wild pigs. Their population is an estimated value of about 100 based on the photographs and assessment of the contact teams sent periodically by Andaman and Nicobar administration. The contact teams usually consists of Officials from Directorate of Tribal welfare and anthropological scientists. 

          Sentinelese fish in the coastal waters with bows and arrows and hunt wild pigs available on North Sentinel island. Sentinelese use small canoes (boats) made by digging wooden logs. They do not know about using oars for their canoes and only use long poles to propel. The movement of their canoes are therefore restricted to shallow waters only. The Sentinelese do not use any covering (read clothes) over their bodies [both men and women are naked].

6. Nicobarese :

The Nicobarese have Mongloid features and they are a large population of over 27,000 (2001 census). They are horticulturist and pig-herders inhabiting large permanent villages mostly close to sea shore. They are not divisible into tribes, but there are territorial distinctions. Thus they may be fairly divided into six groups : the people of Car Nicobar, Chowra, Teressa with Bompoka, the Central Group, the Southern Group and the single inland tribe of the Shompen on Great Nicobar. The differences to be observed is language, customs, manners and physiognomy of the several groups may, with some confidence, be referred to habitat and the physical difficulties of communication. Nicobari Families are patriarchal and as a rule live jointly. This joint family is known as Tuhet. There is no individual ownership, but the Tuhet owns land, coconut and pigs. Love marriage is very common and the age of marriage is sufficiently high. The chief article of food is the coconut, next in importance been Pandanus pulp , fish and rice.

Source:-

http://www.exploreandaman.com/tribal.php

What Does Non-Attachment really means?

Non-attachment doesn’t mean being cold as a stone. Emotions don’t cease to exist as you learn to let go.  You just relate to them differently because you understand their ephemeral nature.  And that, thank goodness, means there’s a lot less to get riled up about.

For example, even great spiritual teachers:

• Cry

• Smile

• Laugh

• Play

They may have moments when impatience or frustration arises, too.  They’re ultra human, and not indifferent in the least.

But, they don’t entangle themselves in these emotional states by firing up aversion for the “negative” or wanting to extend the “positive.”   They allow emotions to rise and dissolve.  They don’t feed emotions, fuel drama, or express distress by engaging in knock-on negative behaviors.  They have perspective.

This takes considerable practice, but virtually everyone has the power to tame their mind through cultivating mindfulness and awareness.

The Beauty of Non-Attachment

When you understand the true meaning of non-attachment:

• Expectations no longer rule your life.

• Emotions arise, but you have space.  You have perspective.  Emotions don’t catch and torment you every time.

• You relate to the world as it is rather than to your concepts about it, which never bring lasting happiness.

• You have a clarity of mind so you’re able to see through to the truth of things.

• You’re not bothered by much, but that doesn’t mean you tolerate harmful behaviour.

• The problems of this world evoke compassion rather than anger.

• You don’t chase after happiness.  You just enjoy it when it’s present, and release it when it dissolves.

• You’re able to allow life to unfold without needing to control everything.

• You don’t stop loving.  You love even more.

• Your heart only grows bigger and bigger and bigger, when you see all the unnecessary suffering in this world.

• You feel naturally compelled to help, but you’re not attached to the outcome.

• The sense of spaciousness and freedom you feel bring a genuine contentment that can never be found in temporary experiences.

You are free because you’re in charge of your mind and emotions instead of them bossing you around.  And, with this freedom, you can taste the distinct flavour of every experience with no need to squeeze it tightly to your chest.

What is the cause behind the manipur blockade?

The tragedy of the current communal flashpoint in Manipur is that for a long time there has been a sense of foreboding that things were headed this direction, and few did anything about it. What is surprising is the blindness on the part of all involved in the business of peace-making, and those waging supposedly people’s struggles, to the fact of a peculiar geographical destiny which has bound and still binds much of this troubled frontier, and that any effort to break this unseen bondage will likely result in deadly conflicts. This has been particularly true of multi-ethnic and multi-religious Manipur. Indeed, if geography predetermines conflicts as Robert Kaplan explains in The Revenge of Geography, Manipur would be a fine demonstration of this theory.

Thankfully, no ethnic carnage has happened. Although there have been pockets of arson and violence, there have been no human casualties, which gives hope that better sense can still hold. There are also signs now that the immediate cause for the heightened ethnic tension — that of the indefinite blockade along Manipur’s two major lifelines, the Imphal-Dimapur road and the Imphal-Silchar road, imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) since November 1 — may end soon. Following commendable groundwork done by a group of citizens calling themselves the Goodwill Mission, the UNC has indicated on Monday that it is open to talks with the Manipur government on the matter. The latter on its part had extended invitations to the former for such talks on several occasions. The Central government too has woken up to the reality and has finally decided to send 4,000 paramilitary troops to open the highways in case the blockade remains.

Root of the crisis

The roots of any conflict can never been in black and white, but if a single overwhelming reason for the current crisis is to be identified, it is the primeval notion of an exclusive ethnic homeland so current in places like Manipur. The belief is that such homelands are a given and have existed since time immemorial. Communities who claim to be natural heirs and custodians of these homelands think of others as aliens. The trouble is, those thus excluded, as all traditional ethnic communities, have their own notions of homeland, and these more often than not overlap, and sometimes completely, with the ones in which they are supposed to be aliens. Depending on the state of economic bases of the communities in question, these homeland notions understandably vary. For instance, settle agriculturists, shift cultivators and hunter gatherers will have different relationships with land. 

Nagas, Kukis, Meiteis and many other smaller ethnic groups in Manipur are thus in a web of overlapped homelands. Under the circumstances, the unanswered question is, whose homeland is to be given precedence, especially when they overlap? The lack of courage and imagination on the part of the enlightened civil society as well as governments to address this question is what keeps places like Manipur perpetually on the edge.

Furthermore, these homelands have undergone a great deal of skewing with the advent of modern land revenue administration, brought in by the British beginning 1826. The clear-cut division between the hills and plains in Assam and Manipur is one of these. After the Treaty of Yandaboo, 1826 that concluded the Burmese occupation of Assam and Manipur, the British annexed Assam and made it a province of Bengal, but left Manipur as a protectorate state. No sooner, the British realised the need to demarcate revenue from non-revenue lands in Assam and came up with the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation in 1873, by which an Inner Line was drawn roughly at the base of the hills surrounding the revenue-earning fertile Assam valleys. The non-revenue hills beyond were left unadministered, except for occasional punitive expeditions to punish tribes who raided the plains in the lean seasons.

This segregation of the hills from the plains continued till the time of Indian independence. In the Government of India Act, 1919, the hills beyond the Inner Line were termed as Backward Tracts and continued to be left unadministered. In the Government of India Act, 1935, these Backward Tracts were redesignated and clubbed into two categories: “excluded areas” and “partially excluded areas”. 

The excluded areas were to remain unrepresented in the provincial assembly and governed directly by the Governor of the province. The partially excluded areas were to have some representations in the provincial government through representatives appointed by the Governor.

Although the British did not draw an Inner Line in Manipur, they brought in the tried and tested non-revenue space management norms from Assam. They left the fertile and intensely cultivated revenue lands of the Imphal valley to be administered under modern revenue norms while the sparsely populated non-revenue hills were generally left unadministered, but under the charge of the British Political Agent in the then kingdom, in his official capacity as the President Manipur State Darbar. This pattern of administration soon came to be institutionalised and was retained after independence. Today, the Imphal valley is under the modern revenue administration as defined by the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, introduced while it was still a Union Territory in 1962, but not the hills, where customary laws continue to shape administrative norms. In the valley, the state is deemed to own all lands, and individual owners lease their small possessions and pay taxes in return. However, this principle of eminent domain is disputed in the hills.

Different interpretations

Viewed against this backdrop, the UNC blockade should be open to different interpretations. The UNC was demanding an assurance from the Manipur government that what they deem as their ancient homeland — or Nagalim, reflecting the vocabulary of the Naga militant group, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) — will not be divided into districts without their consent. 

In particular, they did not want the Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills given this status, as they consider Kukis as migrants who settled in their land and who can only be their tenants. The Manipur government, which was expected to create this district together with Jiribam, a small enclave of predominantly non-tribal population, deferred the decision in the wake of the UNC protest, but a December 8 midnight cabinet meet, for whatever its wisdom, decided to go ahead and create not just these two districts but five more by splitting altogether seven existing districts, thereby stiffening the UNC’s blockade stance.

What then can be the way forward? First and foremost, conflict resolution in such a scenario cannot be a bilateral matter between the Central government and any single party, as it seems to be the case in the ongoing Naga peace talks. A chain can be as strong as the weakest link, and the Centre will have to look for a broader and more inclusive solution to suit what essentially is a multilateral issue. Second, everyone will have to agree to a shared homeland. The lofty goal of “shared sovereignty” and “competencies” being negotiated between the NSCN(IM) and the Centre cannot be the solution to the problem of the region unless this sharing extends to all other stake holders.

Source:- Pradip Phanjoubam is editor of ‘Imphal Free Press’ and author of ‘The Northeast Question’.

India loses its pioneer in black hole research work

Professor C.V. Vishveshwara (77), who did pioneering work on black holes, passed away in Bengaluru on Monday night. In the 1970s, while at the University of Maryland, he was among the first to study “black holes” even before they had been so named. His calculations gave a graphic form to the signal that would be emitted by two merging black holes – this was the waveform detected in 2015 by the LIGO collaboration, and contained the so-called “quasi normal modes” – a ringdown stage that sounds like a bell’s ringing sound that is fading out. Known to all as ‘Vishu’, he had a great sense of humour. In 2015, at a conference to commemorate the detection of gravitational waves, he jokingly said that he should now probably be known as Quasimodo (after having first discovered the quasi normal modes).

Inspired by his father C.K. Venkata Ramayya who was a writer and Padmashri awardee, Prof. Vishveshwara also drew cartoons, many of which have been published in physics conference proceedings. 

“Though I have many wonderful memories of the 1979 Einstein symposium [held at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad] the best one was Vishu’s lecture entitled ‘Black Holes for Bedtime.’ To me it was a magical experience; an exotic cocktail of science, art, humour and caricature,” says Prof. Bala Iyer, a long-time collaborator of Prof. Vishveshwara, who is now at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences in Bengaluru.

Prof. Vishveshwara was the founding director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru. He has written several books including Einstein’s Enigma, or Black Holes in My Bubble Bath.

He is survived by wife, Prof. Saraswathi, and daughters Smitha and Namitha who are both scientists.

Injustice to the Konda dora adivasis in chinna jangampeta

It was 7 a.m. on January 6. Adivasi farmers of Chinna Jaggampeta in the Nathavaram mandal of Visakhapatnam district were getting ready to tend to their farms.

Even before they realised what was happening, the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO), a team of about 50 armed policemen, led by the Inspectors from Narsipatnam and Nathavaram, and about 70 labourers from the neighbouring descended on the village. They forcibly packed 70 adivasis — including women, the elderly and children — into police vans. They chopped off and carried away the paddy crop that was nearing harvest.

Such a scene was similar to the one witnessed in films like Mother India , where zamindars and local financiers grabbed farmers’ produce forcibly. It has now been done by the district administration with the support of policemen, and reportedly at the behest of a local non-tribal political leader who has been eyeing the 22-acre piece since 1974. The Konda Dora adivasis themselves do not know since when they have been tilling the land. “It has been ages. We regard Chinna Jaggampeta as our native soil,” said Pydiraju, a farmer, who has cleared the Intermediate and is among the educated adivasis.

The 50 families have been growing one crop of paddy on 11 acres and cashew, coconut and palm on the other 11 acres. They have developed a unique cooperative system, where none is the owner of any plot and the entire produce is shared equally after the harvest.

Only source of livelihood

“This year, we had a good crop. We produce about 30 bags from each acre and every family gets around six bags of rice. This is our only source of livelihood. The festive mood was just setting in, as the harvest time was nearing. And the authorities came down and destroyed our crop,” said Vellagada Parvathi.

According to her, there were about 10 policewomen and they used considerable force to bundle them into the vans. “The next day, we found our lush green fields turned into a barren tract,” she added. Labourers were brought from the neighbouring villages. Generators, high power lights and tractors too were brought in. “They worked from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. the next day and our entire produce was harvested before time and taken away,” lamented Satya.

In 1974, Ankam Reddy Nookaraju, a local non-tribal politician, obtained a sale agreement (not a registered sale deed) and, based on that, procured a pattadar pass book. He had been staking his claim of ownership ever since. In 2011, both the adivasis and Mr. Nookaraju — also called Jameel — went to court. The case is pending in the High Court, said Mr. V. Kiran of Rythu Swarajya Vedika.

source:- the hindu

Q) Discuss the India's relation with CERN?

1.  India’s involvement in CERN(European Organisation for Nuclear Research) began in the 1960s with researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, participating in experiments at CERN. 

2. In the 1990s, scientists from Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, too got involved.

3. Researchers from TIFR, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology and other institutes built components for an accelerator (LEP) and detectors (L3, WA93 and WA89). 
IIT-Madras is also actively involved in the LICE and CMS experiments.

4. India was granted Observer status to the CERN Council in 2002.

5. Now, India got Associate member status, which was declared by the Sekhar Basu, Chairman of the atomic energy commission and secretary to the dept of atomic energy.

(note:-
To be the associate member, India has to pledge 11.5 million Swiss francs, which 10% of the member's pledge.)

What India gets by being an associate member?

• Becoming associate member of CERN will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers in various CERN projects and bring back knowledge for deployment in the domestic programmes. It will also provide opportunities to Indian industries to participate directly in CERN projects.
• From now onwards, India can take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Finance Committee and Scientific Policy Committee). 
• Indian industry will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts, which will open up opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology. 
• Indian scientists will become eligible for staff appointments.

What are contributions of India to the CERN:-

1. Indian physicists, engineers and technicians have made substantial contributions to the construction of the LHC accelerator and to the ALICE and CMS experiments, as well as to accelerator R&D projects.
2.  Researchers from TIFR, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology and other institutes built components for an accelerator (LEP) and detectors (L3, WA93 and WA89).

Note:-

q) Where is the HQ of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research?

- Geneva, Switzerland.


Little Information on CERN:-

- It is founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe's first joint ventures and now has 22 member states.

- CERN COUNCIL is the Organization’s supreme decision-making authority and is composed of two delegates from each of CERN’s twenty-two Member States and determines the Organization’s policy in scientific, technical and administrative matters.

- The Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) and the Finance Committee (FC) are the two main advisory bodies of the Council and meet in the days leading up to the Council Session.