THE POKHRAN TESTS

On May 11, 1998, India conducted three nuclear bomb test explosions at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range.
Codenamed Operation Shakti, these tests would display India’s capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kilotons.
It helped India enter the highly guarded club of countries with capability to deploy nuclear weapons.

History

Setting of research institute and department of atomic energy:
India’s nuclear programme can be traced to the work of physicist Homi J Bhaba.
In 1945, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was opened in Bombay which was India’s first research institution dedicated to the study of nuclear physics.
In 1954, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was founed, with Bhabha as director.
While Nehru publicly opposed nuclear weapons, privately, he had given Bhaba a free hand to lay foundations for both civilian and military uses of nuclear technology.
Under him, the DEA operated with autonomy and away from significant public scrutiny.

The discriminatory NPT

In 1968, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) came into existence.
The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before January 1, 1967 which were the US, Russia (formerly USSR), the UK, France and China.
It effectively disallows any other state from acquiring nuclear weapons.
While the treaty has been signed by almost every country in the world, India is one of the few non-signatories.

Pokhran-I

On May 18, 1974, with support from Indira Gandhi, India carried out its first nuclear test at the Pokhran test site.
Pokhran-I, codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha, would be billed as a “peaceful nuclear explosion”, with few military implications.
There was near-universal condemnation and countries like the US and Canada imposed significant international sanctions on India.
In 1983, the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) funding was increased and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was put in charge of India’s missile programme.

Pokhran-II

In March 1998, Pakistan launched the Ghauri missile – built with assistance from China.
Two months later, India responded with Operation Shakti.
While the 1974 tests were ostensibly done for peaceful purposes, the 1998 tests were the culmination of India’s nuclear weaponisation process.
Consequently, the Indian Government declared itself as a state possessing nuclear weapons following Pokhran-II.
In context of India’s fast-growing economy and market potential, India was able to stand its ground and thus cement its status as a dominant nation state.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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