Syllabus: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Background: INO and JUNO
- Both INO (India-based Neutrino Observatory) and China’s JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) were designed to study neutrinos, subatomic particles that interact extremely weakly with matter.
- Their detectors needed enormous size to increase chances of neutrino interactions, making both projects large-scale underground facilities.
Progress on JUNO
- China has completed JUNO and released its first scientific analyses.
- JUNO’s collaboration features researchers from numerous countries including Russia, U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Brazil, Pakistan, and others.
- No Indian researchers appear on its author list, a pattern earlier seen in China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample programmes.
- JUNO’s second preprint reported a precise measurement of θ12, consistent with previous studies, strengthening prospects of identifying neutrino mass ordering.
Failure of INO
- INO planned a 50-kilotonne detector inside a mountain in Theni, Tamil Nadu, using rock as natural shielding.
- Large-scale construction, involvement of the Department of Atomic Energy, and poor public communication created local fear and political opposition.
- INO underestimated procedural complexities and the degree of public sensitivity, hampering its ability to manage local concerns.
- Delays coincided with China’s rapid progress on JUNO, reducing India’s chances of securing international funding within a competitive landscape.
Scientific Stakes
- Neutrinos exist in three flavours and oscillate between them.
- Determining neutrino mass ordering is a key unsolved problem, linked to parameters θ12, θ13, θ23.
- INO and JUNO were conceived to use known θ13 values to resolve this ordering; JUNO is now advancing toward that goal.
Implications for India
- Missing this scientific opportunity means India may struggle to participate in the next generation of neutrino experiments, which will require greater sophistication and resources.
- The narrative of “resource constraints” often masks administrative reluctance or failure to plan for local community impacts.
- India is capable of Big Science, as seen in major telescopes and conservation science, but success requires readiness not only from scientists but also from bureaucratic systems, political leadership, and local stakeholders.