Explain India's nuclear policy.
Solution
India has opposed international treaties aimed at non-proliferation because they were selectively applicable to the non-nuclear powers and legitimised the monopoly of live nuclear weapon powers. Thus, India opposed the indefinite extension of the NPT in 1995 and refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
India conducted a series of nuclear tests in May 1998, demonstrating its capacity to use nuclear energy for military purposes. Pakistan soon followed, thereby increasing the vulnerability of the region to a nuclear exchange. The international community was extremely critical of the nuclear tests in the subcontinent, and sanctions were imposed on both India and Pakistan, which were subsequently waived. India's nuclear doctrine of credible minimum nuclear deterrence professes ‘No first use’ and reiterates India's commitment to global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament, leading to a nuclear weapon-free world.
