Nobel laureate David Gross today said India has responsibility and an opportunity to be one of the great scientific power centres of the world, while noting that a "tendency" here "to delay funding" has severely damaged beneficial impact of some major projects.
"India has enormous potential (and) as such India has responsibility and an opportunity to be one of the great scientific power centres of the world in all areas," Gross said at Nobel Dialogues here in response to a question on the country's position in scientific field.
"You should have the aspirations and ambitions as set by your Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) yesterday (during the inauguration of Nobel exhibition)," he said.
Prime Minister Modi had yesterday outlined India's ambitious development programme in science and technology during the inauguration of the Exhibition at science city.
"Given its (India) size and ambition and potential, it should not be a minor collaborator in major scientific projects around the world, but it should lead," said Gross, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Gross was participating in the Nobel Dialogue 2017 along with eight other Nobel laureates held at Mahatma Mandir here as part of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.
"India has explored many possibilities to participate and lead in many major scientific projects around the world in the last 10 years but unfortunately when major projects are approved or are about to be approved, the tendency here to delay funding has severely damaged beneficial impact of those projects," he said.
"Two examples that I know of are LIGO India, which plans to study gravitational rays, many years after it were discovered, is moving at a snail's space," he said.
"Another is Neutrino Observatory, which has suffered due to many legal and political problems," he said.
India Neutrino Observatory is a particle physics research project under construction to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300-metre deep cave under Ino Peak near Theni, in Tamil Nadu.
Gross said China, on the other hand, is seizing all the available opportunities to lead in the scientific field.
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