{"id":242401,"date":"2023-05-15T20:17:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T14:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=242401"},"modified":"2023-05-15T20:17:25","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T14:47:25","slug":"why-india-went-nuclear-25-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/why-india-went-nuclear-25-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Why India went nuclear 25 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cWhy India went nuclear 25 years ago\u201d <\/b><\/strong>published in\u00a0the Indian Express <\/strong>on\u00a015th\u00a0May 2023.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS \u2013 3: indigenization of technology and developing new technology.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: About India’s nuclear test.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: This year marks the 25th year of Pokhran nuclear test.<\/p>\n

About the Pokhran nuclear test<\/h2>\n

India carried out a series of three nuclear detonations. These included a 45 KT (kiloton) thermonuclear device, a 15 KT fission device and a 0.2 sub KT device.\u00a0 India declared itself a nuclear weapon state<\/strong> on May 11, 1998. A second test followed two days later and having attained the requisite degree of techno-strategic capability. Following that, India announced a self-imposed moratorium<\/strong> on further testing.<\/p>\n

The US denounced India for refusing to be bounded as a non-nuclear weapon state under the strictures of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). The US and most of its allies imposed sanctions on India. South Asia was described as the \u201cmost dangerous\u201d place in the world and humiliation was poured on India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: India nuclear regime after Pokhran-II Nuclear test<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Why India became a nuclear power?<\/h2>\n

China as nuclear power<\/strong>: China acquired its nuclear weapon in October 1964 to address its insecurity in relation to the US and the former USSR.<\/p>\n

China – Pakistan coalition<\/strong>: Soon, in the mid-1960s, China and Pakistan entered into an opaque strategic partnership focused on nuclear weapons to advance their shared security interests that were hostile to India. Pakistani scientists who had access to Western nuclear technology shared their designs and blueprints with their Chinese counterparts.<\/p>\n

Experts maintain that Pakistan acquired the nuclear weapon in the late 1980s, courtesy to China. This enabled a secret test to validate the warhead design in Lop Nor in May 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: Aligning the triad: On India\u2019s nuclear deterrence<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

How does India view a nuclear-powered state?<\/h2>\n

The US and USSR in the Cold War envisaged nuclear power as a counterforce strategy. But, India, on the other hand, sees the nuclear weapon has a single purpose \u2014 the core mission \u2014 to deter the use of a similar capability. This is visible in India’s No First Use policy.<\/p>\n

At a time when the nuclear policies of other countries rattling and becoming more pronounced, India\u2019s commitment to pristine deterrence and nuclear restraint should remain persistent.<\/p>\n

India’s nuclear policy aids the extended southern Asian region and brings China and Pakistan to the negotiation table. This will be a test of Indian acumen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: \u2018No First Use\u2019 nuclear policy depends on circumstances: Rajnath Singh<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What should be done?<\/h2>\n

The introduction of the CDS (chief of defence staff) is a work in progress. So, the civil-military command and control needs to be regularly reviewed and simulation exercises conducted.<\/p>\n

The role of the Defence Minister in the Indian nuclear ladder needs to be reviewed as part of the rewiring of the higher defence management pyramid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: <\/strong>India\u2019s nuclear doctrine after 25 years of Pokhran \u2013 Explained, pointwise\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:\u00a0The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cWhy India went nuclear 25 years ago\u201d published in\u00a0the Indian Express on\u00a015th\u00a0May 2023. Syllabus: GS \u2013 3: indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Relevance: About India’s nuclear test. News: This year marks the 25th year of Pokhran nuclear test. About the Pokhran nuclear test India carried out a… Continue reading Why India went nuclear 25 years ago<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10500],"class_list":["post-242401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704766701},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}