India's Nuclear Journey

 

Hello everyone. Today let's talk about India's Nuclear Policy and how we created our own nuclear bomb.

Wait!!!. Are we a nuclear power? And why does a country like India which has never attacked any country require a nuclear bomb? And having a nuclear bomb, how did we convince the world that we are a responsible nuclear power? What is our atomic policy?  

To answer all these questions we have to go back to the period when the advent of a nuclear program started. This is how the so-called "third-world country" shocked the world with its achievements. 

The story of how India created its own Nuclear bomb.

Nuclear Energy - A New Era

You guys would have watched this movie. Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan was a cinematic brilliance personally. 

So you must know how the United States and Nazi Germany were in a race to create their own nuclear arsenal. Both countries gathered the best scientists and tried to create the bomb. But on 18th May 1945 Nazi Germany surrendered and on 16th July 1945, the  US tested its first nuclear bomb. Eventually, it dropped it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan which ended World War 2. The US stood as the only country which had a nuclear bomb then.

However, a small group of scientists in India wanted to explore Atomic Energy. One of them was

Dr. Homi Jahangeer Bhabha. Bhabha called PM Nehru and convinced him to set up the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948 which would research Nuclear potential in India.

Meanwhile, the US was not only the one to have a nuclear bomb. On 18th October 1951, the Soviet Union (Russia) successfully conducted its nuclear tests. Then the UK conducted in 1952 and France in 1960.

Remember India was only keen on Atomic Energy research and not on Nuclear Bomb. In 1954,  Dr. Homi Bhabha presented his vision to make India's energy independent. This is known as the Three Stage Plan.

Here is a very interesting flow chart from "The Hindu" that describes the Three Stage Programme.

1st Stage: Natural Uranium using heavy water will be converted to Plutonium and can be used for generating electricity.

2nd Stage: Using fast breeding reactors we can make Plutonium in large numbers.

3rd Stage: Using Thorium, we will get Uranium-233 Isotope which gives clean nuclear energy.

This was revolutionary because India doesn't have Uranium reserves but we have plenty of Thorium. In fact, 25 % of Thorium's world reserves are found in India. All these are good Ani. Using it for giving clean Nuclear energy is a good step. But what's the need of the bomb? 

Nobody including PM Nehru and Dr. Homi Bhabha think of creating a nuclear weapon. But this all changed in 1962.

When China attacked India. India faced a huge defeat. PM Nehru got China's intentions totally wrong.

People started questioning India's defense under Nehru. But still, we didn't think of having a nuclear bomb until.... this happened.

China tested its first atomic bomb in 1963 and joined the group with the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union the only countries having nuclear weapons. An emergency meeting was held with Prime Minister Nehru on whether India should have its own nuclear bomb as our neighbor has it and considering China's close relations with Pakistan. Secondly, the USSR which was considered a friend to India didn't say a word against China. Now more than giving nuclear energy it was an issue of National Security. 

PM Nehru gave the green flag to the scientists and India started its nuclear journey.

INDIA'S NUCLEAR JOURNEY

In 1963, the first atomic reactor went critical in Thumba, Kerela and it was a resounding success. But after this, the initial journey wasn't a good one. In 1964, PM Nehru passed away leaving a void in the leadership of India. In 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the second Prime Minister of India.

His opinion too was similar to that of PM Nehru. In one of the meetings PM Shastri said that India developing a bomb is not a way to show aggression but instead a way to defend itself from attacks

When China's nuclear capabilities were recognized in 1965, Dr. Homi Bhabha gave an interview on All India Radio saying this...

" India will make a nuclear bomb in 18 months"

So by the end of 1966, we could have the atomic bomb in our hands but......

On 11th January 1966 just after signing an agreement with Pakistan after the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, PM Shastri passed away.

If this was not enough, another incident took place after one week.

 Dr. Homi Jahangeer Bhabha who proposed the atomic bomb was killed in a plane crash near the Alps on 26th January 1966. The flight was going from Mumbai to New York.

Both of them were mysteriously killed. PM Shastri due to a heart attack and Dr Bhabha due to a plane crash. Conspiracy theorists say that both of them were killed by the CIA(American Intelligence) as they didn't want India to create a nuclear bomb and these two were willing to do it.

(Suspicious if you ask me).

In 1966, Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister and Atomic Energy Commission was led by Dr Vikram Sarabhai.  Dr Sarabhai's views were very different from those of Homi Bhabha's. He didn't want to make a nuclear bomb and continued to work for clean nuclear energy. Now Dr. Sarabhai's work in Atomic Energy was a great revolution and I think it needs a separate blog to explain, let's not divert from the topic. While they are working let me draw your attention elsewhere.

You remember those countries that had nuclear bombs in 1967- the US, UK France, the Soviet Union, and China. Also, these countries were permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). These countries made a plan.

In 1968, they introduced Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT). Basically, this treaty says that no country should test nuclear power, and the countries that had tested it before 1967 can only have nuclear bombs.

It was clearly a biased treaty that only gave powers to the elites and not other countries. Most of the countries agreed to sign this. India opposed the treaty and agreed to only sign it if the Elite 5 would also give up their nuclear bombs.

THE BUDDHA SMILED

Ok, let's go back to India again. In 1971, we had another bad news. Dr Vikram Sarabhai passed away due to cardiac arrest and Dr Raja Ramanna took over as the AEC chief.

He then discussed the potential of a Nuclear Bomb with PM Indira Gandhi. PM Indira Gandhi gave a green signal and a new team- Dr. Raja Ramanna, Dr Homi Sethi, Dr PK Iyengar,. and Dr. R. Chidambaram was formed. In 1974, India tested its first atomic bomb and this Operation was called Operation Smiling Buddha. 8 kilotons of arsenal was detonated in Pokhran, Rajasthan.

Now this test was important because this was the first test that was conducted by a country that was not in the elite 5 group and violated the NPT. But India was watched by the US very closely.

In 1977, when the first Non-Congress Government came, the US thought this was a good chance to learn about India's nuclear ambitions. It bribed India with Heavy water and uranium in exchange for an American on-site inspection of nuclear materials. PM Morarji Desai declined this offer.

PM Desai was well aware of the plans of the US. He also played a major role in convincing the world that India is a responsible nuclear state. However, the US declared it as a failed test and still didn't believe that India had nuclear capabilities.

To disprove this, India had to do one more nuclear test. And one more reason is that Pakistan too is trying to conduct nuclear tests. So it was more important to do it.

JOURNEY CONTINUES......

In 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi plans for nuclear weaponization and then in 1990 PM V.P Singh also plans it.  Both of them started executing the plans and played a major role in gathering resources and equipment.  

In 1994 PM Narasimha Rao gives a go-ahead signal to the scientists. In 1995 they conducted the test.

CIA spy-satellites detected their activity and the US warns India of sanctions if they continue.

The very next year India attempted for the second time but US officials personally came to warn of sanctions. Even if we want to conduct nuclear tests the CIA detects it. In 1996 the US comes with the CNBT(Comprehensive Nuclear Ban Treaty) which bans any country from now on to conduct nuclear tests.

HOW INDIA FOOLED CIA

In 1996, PM Vajpayee came to power. He gave the go-ahead to the scientists and again a new group of scientists was formed. This included Dr R. Chidambaram, Dr Anil Kakodkar and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

On 11th April 1998, a secret meeting in Delhi was held to discuss this. The date decided to detonate the bomb was 27th April 1998. But it was postponed due to Dr Chidambaram's daughter's wedding. On 7th May 1998, the equipment was carried to Pokhran during the night as the chances of satellite detection were low. The DRDO officials detected the timings and scientists continued to work at night.

There was one more problem. CIA could detect people in the region. If there is even a slight doubt about civilian activities, the CIA could identify them as scientists and this whole plan could fail.

So, the scientists dressed up as army men to hide their identity. Not to create any suspicion they didn't allow any pot-belly scientist in the site. There was minimal security and not a lot of people. Even they changed their names like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's code name was Maj. Gen.Prithviraj. They had code names to talk about it loudly.

For example, the shafts they used were coded as "Whiskey" and "Tango".

Last Image of the shaft before detonating

So everything was ready, now it was one button away.  On 11th May 1998, morning the wind was blowing towards the civilian areas so there was a chance of radiation spreading. By Noon the wind stopped and....

 the tests were conducted at 15:45 hrs.

CIA admits it was an intelligence failure on their side. Nevertheless, the US imposed heavy sanctions on India. India wanted to show the world that it was a responsible nuclear power.

So in 2003, PM Vajpayee brought the nuclear policy.

THE NUCLEAR POLICY:

There are two aspects to this nuclear policy

1. No first use

2. Credible Minimum Deterrence

Let's see one by one

1. No first use

No first use means that India will only use a nuclear bomb if another country attacks it with a nuclear bomb. India will use nuclear weapons only to retaliate and defend its borders. The policy also says that India will not use a nuclear bomb against a non-nuclear country.

2. Credible Minimum Deterrence

Let's understand it word by word. Deterrence means India will show its nuclear power to a country in such a way that the country will think 10 times before it drops a bomb on India. Minimum in this context means India doesn't have to show all of its nuclear arsenals.

Currently, India has 160 nuclear arsenals but it doesn't mean they would use all the 160 arsenals at one time. So using it according to the necessity of the situation.

Credible- Any country's nuclear policy is considered credible when the country can withstand a nuclear disaster. The country should have the power even after the nuclear attack to strike back at the enemy.

Wait Ani, but dropping the nuclear bomb is catastrophic right? Why India is going into something that only causes destruction?

Well, see, no country wants a nuclear bomb. Even India doesn't want a nuclear bomb. But India also opposed that this power is concentrated in a few of the hands and if they don't give up the power they are continuously plotting against India there is no way but to create our own nuclear weapons.

But by this policy, India proved to the world that it is a responsible nuclear power.

But the problem isn't over.

INDO-US CIVIL NUCLEAR DEAL

As India's Population was growing the ever need for clean energy demand was more. But India needs the resources to create energy. So the Indian Government under PM Manmohan Singh in 2004 wanted an Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

But that was a very difficult process. It was an alliance government. The Communist Party of India vehemently opposed it. CPI was the second largest party in Lok Sabha having 60 seats. If it leaves the alliance the government would collapse. Moreover, the opposition BJP was also opposing it.

Finally, in 2008 the deal was signed. Internationally India was praised. But back at home, PM Manmohan Singh had to take a floor test in Lok Sabha. After the CPM left the alliance had to prove 272 majority. And they proved it. It also gave them the election victory in 2009 defeating the BJP.

It's a separate story of politics and it needs its own post.

Today India represents the global stage for energy efficiency and supports clean and green energy.

In 2022 PM Modi inaugurated India's first indigenous fast-breeding reactors. 

This is the story of how India became a nuclear power and how it devised its nuclear policy.

You realize that even if one step had been missed the entire plan would have crumbled. Every PM and every scientist contributed to the efforts of making this country a nuclear state.

Of course, challenges prevail. As India is trying to enter a permanent member council its first move would be the disarmament of nuclear weapons of all the countries including India for world peace. Hope it happens sooner.

Thank you for being so patient. This is the longest blog I have ever written. Hope I didn't bore you.

See you next time with another interesting blog. Thank you.