India's nuclear policy
Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "India's External Relations"
Meaning
India's nuclear policy is the path India took on atomic energy and atomic weapons. It began in the late 1940s under the scientist Homi Bhabha, and its first aim was peaceful atomic energy. The Atomic Energy Commission was set up in 1948 and the Department of Atomic Energy in 1954. Nehru opposed nuclear weapons and called for full disarmament, meaning all countries giving up such weapons. India refused to sign the NPT (1968) and the CTBT (1996) because it saw both as discriminatory: they let five powers keep their weapons and barred everyone else. India tested a device in 1974 and showed it could build weapons in 1998. Its doctrine rests on no first use and credible minimum deterrence.
Example
After China tested a bomb in October 1964, the Jana Sangh demanded an Indian bomb. India held its five Pokhran-II tests in May 1998. In 2003 the Cabinet Committee on Security set out the doctrine, under which civilian leaders control the weapons through the Nuclear Command Authority.
Don't confuse with
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): this is a global treaty that India has never signed. It is not India's own policy.
- Credible minimum deterrence: this is one part of the policy. It means keeping only enough weapons to make sure any attack is punished.
Related concepts
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Pokhran-I
- Nuclear Suppliers Group
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
- Pokhran-II
- Credible minimum deterrence
- No first use