When Buddha finally smiled: 51 years since India's first nuclear test
Fifty-one years ago, on May 18, 1974, the arid sands of Rajasthan's Pokhran witnessed a silent roar that echoed across the world. With the successful detonation of its first nuclear device, India stunned the world and reshaped the global nuclear order. That single explosion made India the first country outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to demonstrate nuclear capability.advertisementCodenamed 'Smiling Buddha', the operation established India's technological prowess, strategic autonomy, and national resolve on the world stage. The operation, known as Pokhran-I nuclear test today, was conducted in extreme secrecy under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
'Dr Ramanna, please go ahead. It will be good for the nation," Indira Gandhi said on May 17, 1974. This was two years after she greenlighted the project during a visit to BARC on September 7, 1972.
Indira Gandhi at nuclear test site (Photo: X/INCIndia)
A team of 75 scientists and engineers, led by Raja Ramanna, PK Iyengar, Rajagopala Chidambaram and others had worked on it from 1967 to 1974.advertisementThe Ministry of External Affairs described the test as a 'peaceful nuclear explosion", as several countries raised concerns about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In response to India's nuclear test, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was formed. This group of 48 nuclear supplier countries collaborated to regulate the export of nuclear-related equipment and technology apart from the material provided to non-nuclear powers.WHY WAS IT CALLED SMILING BUDDHA?The operation's codename, Smiling Buddha, was inspired by Gautama Buddha. Coincidentally, the test took place on Buddha Jayanti, the day celebrating the Buddha's birth.Raja Ramanna, who was then the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, sent a secret message after the testing to the Prime Minister saying, 'The Buddha has finally smiled."WHAT WAS THE DEVICE?The nuclear device tested in 1974 used an implosion-type design, similar to the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It worked by using high explosives to compress a plutonium core until it triggered a nuclear explosion. About 6 kg of plutonium from the CIRUS reactor was used, and a polonium–beryllium initiator, codenamed Flower, helped start the chain reaction. The implosion system was developed in Chandigarh, and the detonation system in Pune.Indian engineers at BARC fully assembled the bomb, which was hexagonal, about 1.25 meters wide, and weighed around 1,400 kg. It was mounted on a metal tripod and transported to the test shaft using a rail system, which the army kept camouflaged with sand to maintain secrecy.WHO PUSHED THE BUTTON?advertisementThe device was detonated on 18 May 1974 at 8.05 IST and scientist Pranab Rebatiranjan Dastidar was the one who pushed the firing button.Physicist Raja Ramanna, a key figure behind the nuclear test, in his autobiography, 'Years Of Pilgrimage' recalled that on the day of the detonation, there was some argument about who would press the button. 'I put an end to it by suggesting that the person who had been responsible for fabricating the trigger should, in a manner of speaking, pull it. Dastidar was chosen to press the button'' Ramanna wrote.Dastidar, a Padma Shri awardee, was the Group Director at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and later served as Director at the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He also contributed to the development of the reactor for India's first indigenous nuclear submarine, INS Arihant.He passed away on February 11, 2022, in California.PEACEFUL EXPLOSION OR BOMB?While the Ministry of External Affairs officially termed the test a 'peaceful nuclear explosion,' the reality was more complex. In a 1997 interview with the Press Trust of India, Raja Ramanna clarified:advertisement'The Pokhran test was a bomb, I can tell you now An explosion is an explosion, a gun is a gun, whether you shoot at someone or shoot at the ground I just want to make clear that the test was not all that peaceful.'POKHRAN-IIFollowing the 1974 test, India refrained from further nuclear testing for over two decades. Then, in May 1998, India conducted a second series of tests under Operation Shakti—also known as Pokhran-II—using advanced indigenous technology developed over the previous 24 years.
The site where Shakti-3 nuclear device was detonated underground on 11 May 1998. (Photo: AFP)
India conducted a series of five nuclear tests over the span of two days in 1998. On May 11, the country detonated a thermonuclear device (hydrogen bomb), a fission bomb, and a sub-kiloton device. Two additional sub-kiloton tests followed on May 13. These successful tests positioned India as the sixth nation to openly demonstrate nuclear weapons capability, joining the ranks of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China.
Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Defence Minister George Fernandes, India's 'missile man' APJ Abdul Kalam and Atomic Energy chief R Chidambaram display the victory symbol during a visit to the Shakti 1 test site, where India tested nuclear device in Pokhran. (Photo: AP)
advertisementHOW THE WORLD REACTEDJAPAN'It is extremely regrettable that India conducted such testing, resisting the global trend to ban nuclear testing, while the international community including Japan had repeatedly requested the new Government of India to exercise maximum self-restraint on nuclear policies. Japan strongly urges the Government of India to stop its development of nuclear weapons immediately.'AUSTRALIAThe Australian Government conveyed 'condemnation of the tests in the strongest possible terms' and announced a series of measures against India.At the Disarmament Conference held by the United Nations on May 15, 1998, the Australian representative, John Campbell, had stated, 'Australia could only conclude that this was the act of a Government that had the utmost disregard for accepted international norms of behaviour. India's actions were a slap in the face to the overwhelming majority of the international community determined to work towards the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world.' advertisementKOREAThe Republic of Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, 'country was concerned over the nuclear tests conducted by India on May 11 and 13, 1998. Korea's Foreign Ministry had stated that the tests were all the more regrettable for coming at a time when international efforts to achieve a nuclear-weapons-free world had advanced with the adoption of the CTBT.' MALAYSIA'The action by India was a serious setback to efforts to keep the region free of nuclear weapons. It also undermined the efforts of the international community towards attaining a complete ban on nuclear testing. Malaysia was particularly disappointed that India had taken such a step in the light of the overwhelming adoption of the CTBT.'NEW ZEALAND'New Zealand joined the many calls of other concerned countries urging India to make the commitment not to conduct any further tests. It also called on India to join the NPT and sign the CTBT as a matter of urgency.'
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