The much-delayed process of India acquiring the associate membership of premier research institute CERN has already begun, Ratan Kumar Sinha, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India said. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.

Sinha, who is also the secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, said the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has given its nod to acquire the membership about two months back.

The process of approving India's membership for CERN was pending since the UPA days due to budgetary reasons. Sources pointed out that things started moving fast after Pakistan was granted the status of associate membership last year.

One of the major hurdles in the project was the financial contribution any country has to make for the project. This is also determined by its GDP and several other parameters. India's contribution to CERN is believed to be around Rs 40-60 crore every year.

"CERN's associate membership has been approved by the Cabinet. The process has been initiated. CERN also has to look into all aspects. We will be admitted soon," Sinha told PTI.India has been associated with the organisation since 1970s with scientists mainly from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), have been participating in experiments at CERN since the 1970s.

In the 1990s, the Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) at Indore delivered hardware for Large Electron-Positron (LEP), and the Indian High-Energy Heavy Ion Physics Team contributed to the construction of Photon Multiplicity Detector for the WA93 experiment at the CERN-SPS.

At present, the status of an Observer with Special Rights has been awarded in the past to Japan, Russia and the US in recognition of their substantial contributions to the construction of the LHC machine.