Pokhran-II
From 11 to 13 May 1998, India conducted a series of nuclear explosions which it openly declared as nuclear weapon tests. It had termed its previous nuclear explosion in 1974 as “peaceful” – naming it “Smiling Buddha” accordingly.
In May 1998, India successfully conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The tests were carried out under the leadership of APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India and former Head of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) during PM Vajyapee prime ministership.
India flirted with nuclear power for the first time in 1974 with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister. Gandhi conducted the Pokhran-I test in 1974 on Buddha Purnima. The test was called a “peaceful nuclear explosion” to pacify the western powers and avoid the threat of sanctions from them (it didn’t work).
However, this wasn’t enough to place India on the same page as other nuclear states. For the next two decades, many prime ministers tried to revive nuclear research – most notably PV Narasimha Rao – only to surrender to American surveillance satellites and the threat of sanctions.
In 1995, Rao approved a nuclear test but it was aborted after the CIA detected suspicious movement at Pokhran. A report in New York Times on December 15, 1995 forced the US Ambassador to New Delhi Frank Wisner to return to India with photographs of the hole being dug at the test site and caveats of impending sanctions if India went ahead with it.
A year later, Rao tried to conduct the tests again but it was put on hold because of a call from CIA officials.
In 1996, Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power and tried to fulfil his long-standing dream of converting India into a nuclear state. Vajpayee asked his private secretary Shakti Sinha to locate chief scientific adviser Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who was also the secretary of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
However, before the plans could have been shaped, his government fell in just 13 days. The two leaders who followed Vajpayee – HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral – did not bother with the nuclear programme, and the plans were put in cold storage. The Bharatiya Janata Party came back to power in March 1998 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee once again became the Prime Minister of India. Vajpayee and his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra controlled the entire operation from the Prime Minister’s Office.
On May 11, 1998, at around 3:45 PM, India tested three devices – a thermonuclear device (Shakti I), a fission device (Shakti II), and a sub-kiloton device (Shakti III). On May 13, India detonated two more sub-kiloton devices – Shakti IV and V.
On the 11th and 13th of May, India conducted a set of five nuclear tests, stunning the world. Those tests set India on a road that led to a global acknowledgement of India, not merely a nuclear power. It helped to get the global high table to make space for India.
Dr Abdul Kalam, the Chief Scientific Adviser and the Director of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Dr R. Chidambaram, the Director of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), were the chief coordinators of this test. They, along with the other members of the small team, used to disguise themselves as army officials to avoid drawing any attention towards them from US spies.
On May 11, three bombs were tested. The first one was a fusion bomb and the rest were fission bombs. These three included 45 kt thermonuclear, 15 kt fission, and sub-kt nuclear. The rest two fission bombs were tested on May 13. These were also sub-kt bombs of power 0.5 kt and 0.3 kt. The bombs were flown in from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to Jaisalmer. They were transported to Pokhran in an army convoy of four trucks in three trips, and this required three trips. This was done on May 1 at 3 am.
After the tests were conducted, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the media. He confirmed that nuclear tests were successfully completed in Pokhran and there was no release of radioactive elements into the atmosphere.
Pakistan retaliated by issuing a statement accusing India of starting an arms race.
Then, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif authorized nuclear tests, which were conducted on May 28, 1998, and on May 30, 1998, the country conducted its own tests code-named Chagai-I and Chagai-II. Pakistan's move was opposed by the opposition and the US.
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