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Business Standard
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Smiling buddha to Operation Shakti
On the morning of May 18, 1974, at 8:05 sharp, some 110 kilometres from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan's Thar desert, the push of a button announced India's entry into the closed club of nuclear nations. The reverberations of that test, conducted underground in arid Pokhran, and called Pokhran-I (codename Smiling Buddha), were felt around the world. With this detonation, India had become the only country outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the P5, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China – to have conducted a confirmed nuclear weapons test. China had tested its first just 10 years ago, in 1964, two years after the Indo-China war. India termed it a 'peaceful nuclear explosion', but it was in effect a decisive and unequivocal declaration that it had nuclear capability. The country's nuclear journey gained pace in the late 1950s under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru through Project Phoenix. It was mainly to promote civilian nuclear energy, but with physicists like Homi Bhabha, the 'father of the Indian nuclear programme', laying the groundwork for weapons development. The Atomic Energy Act of 1962 gave further control to the central government over atomic energy resources. After Nehru died in 1964, the efforts shifted mostly towards peaceful goals under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Gandhian scientist Vikram Sarabhai. However, with Shastri's successor, Indira Gandhi, the momentum towards weaponisation resumed. A small, secret team of scientists and engineers worked through the 1960s and early 1970s to build the necessary infrastructure and technical capabilities. The 1971 Indo-Pak war, during which the US sent warships to the Bay of Bengal, further galvanised India's resolve, culminating in Gandhi authorising the development of a nuclear test device in 1972. India had already opposed joining the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it saw as discriminatory. In later years, while it participated in negotiations for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), it did not ratify it for the same reasons. Pokhran-I invited strong, sharp reactions from the world. India faced immediate sanctions. Major nuclear suppliers shut their doors to it. Less than a year later, led by the US, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was formed to restrict and regulate the supply of nuclear material and know-how to countries that hadn't ratified the NPT. The US further tightened export controls by passing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act, 1978. An editorial in The New York Times read: 'Such great talent of resources has been squandered on the vanity of power, while 600 million Indians slip deeper into poverty. The sixth member of the nuclear club may be passing the beggar bowl before the year is out.' India continued with its programme through the '80s and '90s, aware that neighbouring Pakistan was also acquiring nuclear capability. Meanwhile, the original five nuclear weapons states kept a close eye on India, which had by now opened its economy to the world. Twenty-four years after Smiling Buddha, the hot, barren Pokhran would once again witness a country's determination to exercise its sovereign right to security, despite the intense scrutiny and the threat of sanctions. It was again in the month of May, when average temperatures in Pokhran hover above 40 degrees Celsius, that India conducted its second test – a series of five nuclear tests, actually; three on May 11 and two on May 13, 1998. Pokhran-II, codenamed Operation Shakti, with the devices named Shakti-I through Shakti-V, carried out under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also invited intense criticism from the global community. Besides the Western world, countries in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia also reacted adversely. While India stood its ground, it made known its 'no-first-use' policy. India's record since has established it as a nuclear-responsible country. In 2008, it signed a civil nuclear agreement with the US, and the same year, it received a waiver from the NSG. It has since signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with Japan, Australia, South Korea, France and Vietnam, among other countries.
India.com
20-05-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Who was Pokhran's hero Raja Ramanna... he rejected Saddam Hussein's huge money offer of..., made India a nuclear power by...
Who was Pokhran's hero Raja Ramanna... he rejected Saddam Hussein's huge money offer of..., made India a nuclear power by... It was in 1978, when Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein invited an Indian scientist to visit his country as a personal guest. As per the schedule, this Indian scientist reached Iraq and was given a tour of the nuclear centre. Everything was going well when something happened which created a very strange situation for this Indian scientist . Actually, Saddam Hussein gave a shocking offer and asked him to head Iraq's nuclear programme. Saddam Hussein said, 'You have done a lot for your country. But, I want you to stay here now. You take over our country's nuclear programme. I am ready to give you whatever amount you want in return.' The Indian scientist was surprised to hear this offer and rejected with great respect. The scientist took a flight to India the next day and returned to his country. The name of this scientist was Dr. Raja Ramanna, who played the biggest role in making India a nuclear power. It was Ramanna who carried out India's first nuclear test Pokhran-I in the desert of Rajasthan. Born on January 28, 1925 in Tumkur, Karnataka, Raja Ramanna studied science at Madras Christian College. After this he went to London. Here he did his PhD in Physics from King's College. He returned to India in 1949. On returning to India, Homi Bhabha called him to join the Indian nuclear program. Raja Ramanna worked twice as the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Center. Ramanna was awarded Padma Vibhushan It was during Raja Ramanna's tenure that India conducted its first nuclear bomb test in 1974. For this work, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan. Later, he was also the Minister of State for Defence and a member of the Rajya Sabha. The incident that happened with Raja Ramanna in Iraq is also compared with Pakistan's scientist AQ Khan. On one hand, Ramanna had rejected Iraq's offer. On the other hand, AQ Khan had sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Why was he named Smiling Buddha? In 1972, when Indira Gandhi was visiting the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, she allowed the scientists to build and test a nuclear device. Ramanna was the director of BARC at that time. This device was called a 'peaceful nuclear explosion' and was named 'Smiling Buddha'. This is because the test was done on the day of Buddha Purnima.
India.com
18-05-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Pokhran 1974: India's first nuclear test was delayed by 5 minutes due to...
Representational Image/AI-generated Pokhran nuclear test: On May 18, 1974, exactly 51 years ago, India shook the world by conducting its first nuclear test at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range, deep inside the barren Thar desert in Rajasthan. Under Pokhran-I, codenamed the 'Smiling Buddha', India successfully detonated a nuclear fission bomb, joining a select group of elite nations with nuclear weapons capability. Why India's first nuclear test was delayed? A little known incident from the historic day of May 18, 1974 is that India's first nuclear test faced a delay of around five minutes. Let us find out why. According to details, while all preparations for the nuclear test were complete, and a scaffold was set up five kilometers away where top military officials and scientists were to witness the detonation. As the scheduled time started winding down, scientist Virendra Sethi was asked to inspect the test site for one final time. However, after completing the inspection, Sethi's jeep broke down, forcing him walk two kilometers on foot to reach the control room, due to which the test was conducted at 8:05 AM, a five-minute delay from its scheduled time of 8 AM. How India's nuclear dream became a reality? India becoming a nuclear power as early as 1974, less than three decades after independence, was a remarkable achievement by a country which was still marred by economic and food insecurity, fought multiple wars with its hostile neighbors, defied the US hegemony, and yet showed the resilience and fortitude to become a strong military power. Apart from the iron-willed leadership of Indira Gandhi– India's then Prime Minister– the Pokhran nuclear test was the fruit of seven long years of hard work by a team of brilliant nuclear scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, who worked tirelessly on developing India's nuclear capabilities. The 75-member team, which also included India's rocket pioneer Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, led by then BARC director Dr. Raja Ramanna, worked laboriously from 1967 to 1974 on India's top secret nuclear project, which culminated with the country's first nuclear test on May 18, 1974. Dr Kalam would later go on to lead India's second series of nuclear test under Pokhran-II in 1998. India's Iron Lady Indira Gandhi and the Pokhran nuclear test During a 1972 visit to BARC, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had reported given verbal permission to scientists to build a plant for nuclear testing. The whole operation was highly classified, and no country, not even the United States, was kept in the loop, till the day of test. India's surprise nuclear test infuriated the US who imposed a wave of sanctions on the country, including halting the export of nuclear material and fuel to India. But during this crucial hour, India found support from the Soviet Union (USSR), a staunch adversary of the US during the Cold War days. Indira Gandhi's stance on nukes differed from Shastri, Nehru Notably, India's top political leadership differed in their opinion about whether India should weaponize nuclear capabilities. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru maintained an ambivalent stance on the development of nuclear weapons, despite growing security concerns in wake of the 1962 India-China war, and Beijing's nuclear test at Lop Nur in 1964. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who succeeded Nehru as Prime Minister, also resisted domestic pressure for India to develop nuclear weapons, and instead attempted to secure security guarantees from nuclear powers during his 1964 UK visit. However, Indira Gandhi's stance on nuclear weapons are completely opposite to her predecessors, including her late father. After coming to power in 1966, Indira Gandhi essentially gave a green signal to BARC scientist to develop nuclear weapons capabilities, and ensured that the project was kept top secret, away from prying eyes of New Delhi's rivals, who could've attempted to sabotage the operation by any means possible. Ultimately, owning to Indira Gandhi's resolve, and the tireless hard work of our nuclear scientists, India conducted its first nuclear test on May 18, 1974, at the Pokhran Test Range in the remote Thar desert in Rajasthan.
India Gazette
18-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Mallikarjun Kharge extends greetings on 51 years of India's first nuclear test
New Delhi [India], May 18 (ANI): Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday extended congratulatory greetings on the 51st anniversary of India's first nuclear test codenamed 'Smiling Buddha' near Pokhran in Rajasthan. He credited the leadership of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the success of the operation despite many adversities. '51 years ago, India conducted its first Nuclear Test, code named 'Smiling Buddha' and became the 6th nation in the world to carry out such tests. Our scientists and researchers achieved this extraordinary feat through their ingenuity and dedication. We are deeply grateful to them,' Kharge posted on X. 'Indira Gandhi demonstrated exemplary and dynamic leadership, displaying remarkable courage even in the face of adversity, a legacy that endures,' the Congress leader said. On May 18, 1974, India became the sixth country to carry out its first nuclear test, shocking the entire world. A nuclear device was detonated in Rajasthan, near Pokhran, and the operation was code-named Smiling Buddha. The work for the nuclear test was approved by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1972, after which a team of scientists and other experts began working on the same at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The Pokhran-I test was conducted underground in the remote Rajasthan desert, earning it the name of 'peaceful explosion' since it was carried out for non-military purposes. India became the first nation to conduct a nuclear test and the sixth country in line to do so, apart from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). A team of 75 people, including scientists and engineers, worked on designing and developing the nuclear bomb. Follow this, India conducted its second nuclear test, known as Pokhran-II or Operation Shakti, in 1998 under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Recently, the tensions between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian army in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, has rekindled debates about nuclear weapons, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the nation would no longer tolerate nuclear blackmail and will respond to any terrorist attack with strict and decisive action. (ANI)
Hans India
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Nuclear Dawn: 51 Years Since 'Smiling Buddha' Changed India's Global Standing
Fifty-one years ago, on May 18, 1974, India silently yet dramatically altered the global power balance when it successfully detonated its first nuclear device beneath the sun-scorched sands of Rajasthan's Pokhran. This historic achievement made India the first nation outside the five permanent UN Security Council members to demonstrate nuclear capability. Codenamed "Smiling Buddha," the operation firmly established India's technological prowess, strategic independence, and national determination on the international stage. The Pokhran-I test was executed under extraordinary secrecy during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's leadership. Just one day before the test, she authorized the final step with the simple directive to Dr. Ramanna: "Please go ahead. It will be good for the nation." This followed her initial approval of the project during a BARC visit in September 1972. A dedicated team of 75 scientists and engineers, under the guidance of Raja Ramanna, PK Iyengar, and Rajagopala Chidambaram, had worked meticulously on the project from 1967 to 1974. Their efforts culminated in success when scientist Pranab Rebatiranjan Dastidar pressed the firing button at 8:05 am on that fateful morning. The operation's codename drew inspiration from Gautama Buddha, with the test coincidentally occurring on Buddha Jayanti. Following the successful detonation, Raja Ramanna sent a cryptic message to the Prime Minister stating, "The Buddha has finally smiled." While India officially described the test as a "peaceful nuclear explosion," Raja Ramanna later clarified in a 1997 interview: "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." The international community responded swiftly by establishing the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a coalition of 48 nuclear supplier countries formed to regulate nuclear technology exports. India maintained nuclear restraint for 24 years before conducting five additional tests in May 1998 during Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II) under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. These tests, which included a thermonuclear device, firmly positioned India as the world's sixth declared nuclear power. The 1974 test's legacy remains profound—it demonstrated India's scientific capabilities, established its strategic autonomy, and forever altered the nation's position in global affairs, effects that continue to resonate fifty-one years later.
