PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Nuclear Question
Critically examine India’s persistent refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) despite being recognized as a de facto nuclear power.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
_ R1 de facto power (2008 deal + NSG waiver + MTCR/Wassenaar/AG) → still outside NPT > refusal principled, not obstinate R2 recognition without accession → objection is to the treaty’s design, not to disarmament
Body flow
| NPT discriminatory (1967 freeze – weapon-states vs the rest) → Jaswant Singh “nuclear apartheid” → realist ground (won't cap while China armed ~ survival first) + structural flaw (no disarmament obligation, no timeframe → non-proliferation, not disarmament) > charge borne out: SIPRI modernisation + US- Russia collapse + New START lapse (Feb 2026) + 2026 RevCon third failure → India reframes “responsibility” as equality (Chacko & Davis) → norm kept, treaty refused
Counter-view
| integration incomplete: NSG blocked (China links to Pakistan) → de facto formal recognition — critics: treaty-like benefits without binding obligations → strain on the regime
Conclusion routes
_ R1 realism tempered by a normative claim + demand for a universal, verifiable, non-discriminatory order R2 not freedom to test but a fairer bargain > the time-bound disarmament the NPT never delivered
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
